Demarion Watson

[AuH2O]

I don’t disagree, but if Curtis would have been just average Saturday instead of super human, that’s the spot we would have been in.

There were definitely a few minutes vs KU where good shots were tough to come by. The great thing about our prior rotation was having our best scorer in Jones coming in with the guys that don’t score much in Heise and Chatfield.

So you might be right, but TJ might be comfortable living with grinding it out and banking on a super human offensive effort from one of the stars or Heise coming alive from 3.

 

[CycloneVet]

I was interested in seeing how it got adjusted after the Milan injury, and shocker, it couldn’t have worked better. Beating the number 9 team in the country by 17 should quell any roster management questions going forward. It wont, more than likely, but it should.

It might decrease the roster management questions but it will likely revert to shot selection and if guys are sweating enough

 

[CycloneVet]

It's really hard to think of an ISU comp for Demarion. That's a good question.

Hogue and Watson have played almost the same number of games (Hogue - 70, Watson - 69). Watson has 6 made 3P and Hogue had 50. Hogue's last game as a Cyclone he scored 34 against UConn.

Hogue was rugged and athletic, and was a lot more of a garbage guy his Jr. year. But he was always a pretty solid and confident shooter of the corner 3.

It isn't like Demarion and TJ haven't probably had all the conversations about what he needs to develop. It might be there, and he just hasn't had the confidence to turn it loose. Who knows.

Hogue had a swagger too. Dude was a badass

 

[AuH2O]

Hogue had a swagger too. Dude was a badass

The dude played with a toothpick in his mouth and sidekicked a Mountaineer in the sternum while getting a rebound.

Hogue was the most Otzball player that played under Fred.

 

[iastatefan1]

The dude played with a toothpick in his mouth and sidekicked a Mountaineer in the sternum while getting a rebound.

Hogue was the most Otzball player that played under Fred.

Loved watching hogue, during warm ups he would always shoot these high arcing rainbow threes and try to make over the backboard shots. Not sure that would fly under otzelball, but when it came game time he payed hard and was a DAWG.

 

[nfrine]

Loved watching hogue, during warm ups he would always shoot these high arcing rainbow threes and try to make over the backboard shots. Not sure that would fly under otzelball, but when it came game time he payed hard and was a DAWG.

Milan and several others do that during warm-ups this year. Surprisingly accurate too....

 

[Cyientist]

Watson's offensive rebounds in traffic was impressive. He was also more aggressive than I thought he would be with going back up with it. I have a feeling he'll be able to finish more of those when it's not against Kansas' frontcourt.

 

[VeloClone]

Watson's offensive rebounds in traffic was impressive. He was also more aggressive than I thought he would be with going back up with it. I have a feeling he'll be able to finish more of those when it's not against Kansas' frontcourt.

Yeah, I didn't have a problem with him taking any of those offensive rebounds back up. If we get it that close to the bucket we need to force the issue and KU was having big foul trouble in their bigs as well so they needed to keep the pressure on them.

 

[FinalFourCy]

Well yeah he improved throughout his career but he clearly was a very solid shooter in his 2 years here, more than just a garbage bucket getter. He didn’t just get “consistent minutes” - he was a key player, averaging ~10 and 7 and shooting nearly 40% from 3 (making 25 3’s his JR year and 25 again his SR year).

Respectfully, I don’t see any correlation between them and I don’t really see a “Hogue-like trajectory” for Watson had he gone JUCO. I think it’s perfectly fair to assess his development here in 2.5 years, and offensively he just can’t do much, and his offensive game hasn’t developed much. I don’t think there’s some alternate universe where he develops like Hogue and turns into a double figure scorer and good shooter. And that’s OK. He clearly has shown TJ in spurts he can make an impact on the defensive end.

That is quite the projection based on 35 minutes (Watson’s junior year playing time) and you clearly didn’t watch Hogue at IHCC.

Hogue wasn’t a better shooter his first two years. He barely took 3s and was little more than a cutter/finisher on a team that played little half court offense. Not a stretch to say Watson would have been similar in the same situation

At Iowa State as a junior Hogue played on a team that needed his defense and rebounding, allowing him to get a ton of minutes. That’s a big advantage in terms of developing and playing with confidence. Yet, he still only attempted 2 3P per game.

Hogue was 8/26 on 3Ps in conference play as a junior. It’s odd to make definitive statements of Watson not being similarly capable, after only 35 minutes of playing time this year. Watson could go 8/26 if we needed him to play 500+ minutes in conference. Fwiw, Watson is 4/9 in 345 career Big 12 minutes

It’s very likely Watson would be better having consistently played his first 2.5 seasons, but he’s already similar to Hogue as a junior, just on a better team.

 

[moores2]

That is quite the projection based on 35 minutes (Watson’s junior year playing time) and you clearly didn’t watch Hogue at IHCC.

Hogue wasn’t a better shooter his first two years. He barely took 3s and was little more than a cutter/finisher on a team that played little half court offense. Not a stretch to say Watson would have been similar in the same situation

At Iowa State as a junior Hogue played on a team that needed his defense and rebounding, allowing him to get a ton of minutes. That’s a big advantage in terms of developing and playing with confidence. Yet, he still only attempted 2 3P per game.

Hogue was 8/26 on 3Ps in conference play as a junior. It’s odd to make definitive statements of Watson not being similarly capable, after only 35 minutes of playing time this year. Watson could go 8/26 if we needed him to play 500+ minutes in conference. Fwiw, Watson is 4/9 in 345 career Big 12 minutes

It’s very likely Watson would be better having consistently played his first 2.5 seasons, but he’s already similar to Hogue as a junior, just on a better team.

This is such a blanket statement. Who do you think was on the floor when Hogue got a ton of minutes? Literally 4 guys who could space the floor all by themselves. Little different when your 5 isn't hitting 3s at a 40% clip.

 

[rosshm16]

Dustin Hogue is a certified junkyard dog and charter member of the @rosshm16 Cyclone Ring of Honor.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

There were definitely a few minutes vs KU where good shots were tough to come by. The great thing about our prior rotation was having our best scorer in Jones coming in with the guys that don’t score much in Heise and Chatfield.

So you might be right, but TJ might be comfortable living with grinding it out and banking on a super human offensive effort from one of the stars or Heise coming alive from 3.

Just need to force more turnovers and get run outs during that shift.

 

[AuH2O]

Just need to force more turnovers and get run outs during that shift.

Yes, and it goes both ways. Offense struggling a bit more is one thing. Bad offense turning in to runouts due to liveball turnovers and missed shots negates the gains you have in a good defensive lineup.

That's a lot of what ended up dropping Watson out of the rotation last year. The defensive benefits were a bit reduced because the offensive dropoff led to more opportunities for the opponent to score in transition and avoid ISUs half-court defense. The analytics last year showed there was a pretty huge dropoff between the 8 in the rotation and guys like Pavs and Watson.

But this is a new year and a new team. The improvement in the guys around him might make enough of a difference that Demarion is a good option for increased role and a continued role even after Milan gets back.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Yes, and it goes both ways. Offense struggling a bit more is one thing. Bad offense turning in to runouts due to liveball turnovers and missed shots negates the gains you have in a good defensive lineup.

That's a lot of what ended up dropping Watson out of the rotation last year. The defensive benefits were a bit reduced because the offensive dropoff led to more opportunities for the opponent to score in transition and avoid ISUs half-court defense. The analytics last year showed there was a pretty huge dropoff between the 8 in the rotation and guys like Pavs and Watson.

But this is a new year and a new team. The improvement in the guys around him might make enough of a difference that Demarion is a good option for increased role and a continued role even after Milan gets back.

Not like we have the luxury of choice with Milan out.

 

[Drew0311]

Not like we have the luxury of choice with Milan out.

FIzer has one year of eligibility. Let's bring him back

 

[PantherCyclone]

How does it translate for someone who can’t really shoot and has never shown the ability to do so?

To be fair, Watson led the team last year in FG% and 3pt% according to ESPN Stats.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Watson's offensive rebounds in traffic was impressive. He was also more aggressive than I thought he would be with going back up with it. I have a feeling he'll be able to finish more of those when it's not against Kansas' frontcourt.

Dude is well put together. Adams bounced off him like he was a cement truck.

 

[Billups06]

Loved watching hogue, during warm ups he would always shoot these high arcing rainbow threes and try to make over the backboard shots. Not sure that would fly under otzelball, but when it came game time he payed hard and was a DAWG.

Off topic but related to Hogue and Otzelball. That's one reason Fred's team were always decent (ranked in top 50) at rebounding/Def rebounding %. They always had some dudes whose rebounding and defense would fit perfectly under Otz: Ejim, Hogue, Royce White to an extent.

 

[AllInForISU]

To be fair, Watson led the team last year in FG% and 3pt% according to ESPN Stats.

Ha. Thats the way to skew stats to make your point

 

[isucy86]

Couple times against KU felt our guards missed opportunities to get Watson on baseline alley-oop. Maybe the coaches look for that as option within PnR offense. KU stuffed defenders in the free throw circle to take away Gilbert drives. So a baseline back-cut might be there.

My guess is Watson has best hops on the team. But I was surprised that Chatfield got up there on his dunk.