How does Javon Johnson look?

[Hayes30]

Aren't they looking at RayQuawndis Mitchell as well? I thought he visited recently.

Yes and imo he should be a priority 6'6 PG who has really improved his 3 point shooting.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

View attachment 70402

In conference games:
We are averaging 66.71 ppg (4th) and giving up 74.86ppg (last)
Our scoring margin is only above OK State's (with their game last night factored in)
We are third in FG% and FT%, but dead last in FG % defense (both overall and 3pt %)
We have moved up to a respectable 4th in 3 point FG %

Impressively, we are still 2nd in average attendance behind only KU.

https://static.big12sports.com/custompages/pdfs/mbasketball/Big12MBB_Stats.pdf

 

[Clonefan32]

I must be missing something. Prohm, at the outset, said 'defense' was the thing this team needed to improve. All last summer he was touting that. So, in essence, he 'knew' what was preventing this team from having a better record. The problem is either the coaching or the individuals. Either way, it's on Prohm to figure it out.

I'm old enough to remember the "this team's identity is going to be defensive toughness and grinding out close games" portion of the year. Boy is that funny looking back.

 

[TacoCorp]

View attachment 70402

Conference only stats for the sake of completeness.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I must be missing something. Prohm, at the outset, said 'defense' was the thing this team needed to improve. All last summer he was touting that. So, in essence, he 'knew' what was preventing this team from having a better record. The problem is either the coaching or the individuals. Either way, it's on Prohm to figure it out.

One can look at the metrics --



#45 offense
#141 defense
#82 overall

...and still not have a clue how to fix it.

But the general point that our fundamental problem is on the defensive end is true.

For comparison, our bad 2018 team was...

#75 offense
#111 defense
#82 overall

...worse on offense but much better on defense. That team was more uniformly bad as opposed to being okay on one end and an embarrassment on the other.

 

[Doc]

I get the "kids these days don't learn defensive fundamentals on the AAU circuit, back in my day our coaches were drilling that stuff into us for a decade even before college scouts started taking a look at us" thing that you are saying.

I wonder why everybody else isn't bad at defense then, too. We are easily the worst defensive team in the Big 12 but might be #3 on the offensive end.

I actually think we just structurally had a bad defense once we moved Jacobson to the 4 and lacked size on the wing.

 

[Halincandenza]

One can look at the metrics --

View attachment 70406

#45 offense
#141 defense
#82 overall

...and still not have a clue how to fix it.

But the general point that our fundamental problem is on the defensive end is true.

For comparison, our bad 2018 team was...

#75 offense
#111 defense
#82 overall

...worse on offense but much better on defense. That team was more uniformly bad as opposed to being okay on one end and an embarrassment on the other.

Well those were the ranks for that year but the actual efficiency numbers (Ken Pom) show a different story. The 2018 team had a worse defense (103.3) compared to this year (100.4). While weirdly the offense has the exact same rating of 109.9.

Defense also very close to Prohm's first team which had a rating of 100.3. But that year the offense was obviously elite at 121.2. Which I believe would be the top offense in the country this year.

 

[LLCoolCY]

I actually think we just structurally had a bad defense once we moved Jacobson to the 4 and lacked size on the wing.

This, ISU defense wasn't great structurally last year but just having big/long guards and wings naturally cause disruption in passing lanes and make double teams more effective to protect the slow posts. Shayok THT, NWB, Haliburton created a bunch of deflections and protected SY and MJ from needing to move and playing help defense.
Prohm's recruiting reflects that with the incoming class this year. Blackwell, Walker, Johnson Dubar, and Foster area all fast and long for their positions and just by athleticism can help protect the smaller Bolton/Jackson/Solomon. At least that is my hope.

 

[rochclone]

Well those were the ranks for that year but the actual efficiency numbers (Ken Pom) show a different story. The 2018 team had a worse defense (103.3) compared to this year (100.4). While weirdly the offense has the exact same rating of 109.9.

Defense also very close to Prohm's first team which had a rating of 100.3. But that year the offense was obviously elite at 121.2. Which I believe would be the top offense in the country this year.

You can’t/shouldn’t compare those ratings with the 3 pt line move. Much easier to be efficient defensive now than last year or two years ago. Much more difficult to be efficient offensively this year when every average shooter now takes a 3 pt shot two feet further back then they should.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Well those were the ranks for that year but the actual efficiency numbers (Ken Pom) show a different story. The 2018 team had a worse defense (103.3) compared to this year (100.4). While weirdly the offense has the exact same rating of 109.9.

Defense also very close to Prohm's first team which had a rating of 100.3. But that year the offense was obviously elite at 121.2. Which I believe would be the top offense in the country this year.

I was quoting Bart Torvik, so it might be slightly off from KenPom.

I prefer the rankings because it puts you relative to the rest of the sport and then adjusts for variations between years. Scoring is down across the whole of college basketball this season with the wider three-point line and referees swallowing their whistles more on the freedom of movement rules, so holding a team to 100.0 points now is less impressive than having done it a few seasons ago when everybody was scoring more frequently.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I actually think we just structurally had a bad defense once we moved Jacobson to the 4 and lacked size on the wing.

Agree -- the Jacobson defending experience at the 4 has been a disaster.

I just do not know who you replace him with.

Griffin and Lewis have not exactly made an overwhelming case for themselves.

That is where having Horton-Tucker back would have been nice, but I digress.

 

[Hayes30]

Agree -- the Jacobson defend at the 4 has been a disaster.

I just do not know who you replace him with.

Griffin and Lewis have not exactly made an overwhelming case for themselves.

That is where having Horton-Tucker back would have been nice, but I digress.

Lewis has easily played the best ball of his career this season. Why are so many people still down on him? He has shown enough offensively this season to be a big part next season.

 

[BryceC]

And this would be compounded since having to further respect the perimeter threat would open things up for the inside game both on post and the dribble drive.

Our 3pt% is tied for 6th in the league. It's .7% off the average of the league. The difference between us and the top team is 3.9%. If our shooting percentage were the same at TT's, we would have made 24 more threes this season, less than 1 a game.

The three point percentage thing is another thing that's completely overblown.

 

[VeloClone]

Lewis has easily played the best ball of his career this season. Why are so many people still down on him? He has shown enough offensively this season to be a big part next season.

 

[Frak]

Lewis has easily played the best ball of his career this season. Why are so many people still down on him? He has shown enough offensively this season to be a big part next season.

Being lost on defense on a team that is lost on defense is not the best way to get playing time. This team has zero idea how to guard the high ball screen. They've resorted to just switching everything, but help defense and rotation has been awful. Running 3 guard with all 3 being 6'2 or under is not the answer, nor is having an immobile 4. This team really needed Griffin to take a huge step and be a 10+ppg scorer and he hasn't done anywhere close to that.
If it were me, I'd start with an assistant change or two. Then send 3-4 guys packing and find the best scoring wing grad transfer possible and a JUCO PG.

 

[Drew0311]

I am expecting Javon to average about 5 and 2 next season. Possibly 5 and 3.

 

[CyTwins]

I am expecting Javon to average about 5 and 2 next season. Possibly 5 and 3.

I think that's pretty low. I'd go 8-10 and 4-5

 

[Doc]

Agree -- the Jacobson defend at the 4 has been a disaster.

I just do not know who you replace him with.

Griffin and Lewis have not exactly made an overwhelming case for themselves.

That is where having Horton-Tucker back would have been nice, but I digress.

My dream is that Johnson and Blackwell both fill secondary playmaker and multi-positional defender roles next year. And if those guys can create a little, then Jackson and maybe Grill can settle into roles as shooters and defenders, and then we figure out how to best use Solo’s low post game combined with an improved Conditt, and then we add a Deandre Kane like transfer to take some pressure off of Rasir, and then DStone rains jumpers.

A guy can dream, right.

 

[Halincandenza]

You can’t/shouldn’t compare those ratings with the 3 pt line move. Much easier to be efficient defensive now than last year or two years ago. Much more difficult to be efficient offensively this year when every average shooter now takes a 3 pt shot two feet further back then they should.

I think you can compare. It is different this year but the 3 point line is only one factor. There have been other down years offensively similar to this year on Ken Pom.

 

[CycloneErik]

I'm old enough to remember the "this team's identity is going to be defensive toughness and grinding out close games" portion of the year. Boy is that funny looking back.

Dude, it was funny going in.