I’ll add Melvin Ejim to the list, too. He was serviceable, albeit with stone hands, as a Freshman. I don’t think anyone, including probably his mom, saw him as a future BigXII player of the year.
***Official 2019-2020 Transfer Thread***
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I’ll add Melvin Ejim to the list, too. He was serviceable, albeit with stone hands, as a Freshman. I don’t think anyone, including probably his mom, saw him as a future BigXII player of the year.
Him and Jared Homan had the worst stone hands their freshman and sophomore seasons. It was crazy how many times they dropped the ball when it was passed to them. Thankfully they corrected it and had great careers.
I actually forgot about Melvin not being able to catch passes, and then it seemed like he was able to catch everything. I miss him.
Interesting. Thank you.
How about we look at efficiency stats, though, not just counting stats?
A.) Minutes = 52.1% / PRPG! = 0.8 / ORTG = 105.3 / USG = 12.6% / TS = 50.6% / R% = 10.4% / AST% = 8.2% / TO% = 9.8%
B.) Minutes = 52.2% / PRPG! = -0.1 / ORTG = 88.6 / USG = 12.8% / TS = 48.0% / R% = 9.0% / AST% = 10.2% / TO% = 24.6%
They are broadly similar except... holy **** B.) turned the ball over a lot. Those turnovers explain all the difference on ORTG and PRPG! between the two.
B.) is Tre Jackson. A.) is Matt Thomas.
That turnover rate makes all the difference. Turnovers are really bad for your team.
Matt was better as a freshman as a consequence. Matt was a 6th or 7th guy on an NCAA tournament team that year after struggling as a starter. I doubt Tre would have been in the rotation for that team given the better bench options of Naz and Matt.
Plus, look at the two of them. Matt was a high 4* recruit, an elite athlete, and his size projected him as an NBA SG, which he now is. He could guard 1-4 in college with aplomb. Tre is undersized for an NCAA SG but has to play at that position because of his lack of PG skills, and not a particularly fetching athlete. He is just so small.
Tre has the size to guard a 1 and maybe a 2, in comparison.
Matt Thomas projected and grew into our expectations of an elite college SG/SF. If Tre ends up as a good bench gunner, then that would be a good outcome.
I haven't seen this one in wide circulation quite yet, so please let us make this a permanent idiom of Cyclone basketball.
"Hey guys, remember that COVID year when Steve pulled off another Talley Surprise?"
Everyone searching for a FR who started slow and became a decent fixture in the program? How about Solo? Yes, he did start by the end of his FR season, but that was more out of necessity than anything. I would say he has steadily improved over time and hasn't bailed on the program when it seems he's had opportunities/ reasons to
Matt Thomas was also not asked to produce his own shot or shots for others. Lot of running around screens without the ball in his hands to get open his freshman year. Lots of 3's from the corner. Also, does stepping out of bounds in the corner count towards Thomas' turnover stats. I feel like he did that all the time.
Tre did not run much point last year. If really at all. He was, at best, a tertiary option behind Haliburton, Bolton, and Young in terms of creation, and Nixon took over running the point after the former two went down. Prohm played Tre as a SG last year.
He just dropped passes a lot, threw the ball away a lot, and got into trouble when he tried to do much dribbling. He was only really useful as a spot-up shooter.
Matt had a similar role his freshman year (and indeed his whole career... he had Monté and Georges/Deonte around to handle, pass, and create for others). Matt's role out there was to space the floor, make open shots, and play good defense.
The fact both of them had similar/low rebounding percentages argues they both spent most of their time outside the three line, which was indeed the case.
And yes, of course the statistics count Matt Thomas' heel on the line.
Ejim did flash and showed potential but I'd argue his stats were due more to playing 28 minutes per game during Fred's season due to the lack of players (Transfer U class of Royce/Babb/Booker/Allen) than being B12 ready and earning the role. If CFH had another option to to play the PF position he would have used it, I believe he is on the record it wasn't the plan for ME year 1.
Part of the issue with last years class is they were even more developmental than Ejim was, which the staff realized and had Leech/Anderson leave very early.
Once Tre got comfortable the last 10ish games he showed he can contribute.
Grill looked like a good enough athlete for the B12 to me but his skills were not refined enough likely due to his late focus on basketball in HS. I really think he'll benefit from his RS year and playing in the MWC where he'll be a top level athlete.
I would definitely put Solo up there as well. His abilities and effectiveness was highlighted by the fact that he had amazing talent around him. Not taking anything away from him, because he was very good in the role he played. His set backs from injuries have caused his journey to not exactly follow a straight line, but last year he looked to have improved immensely, and hopefully he can take one more leap forward and can be a big force for us next year.
*chuckles as people use counting stats as the foundation to their arguments when efficiency stats are readily available for all of us nowadays*
I love this comparison. The bolded is also really important. Solo provided a need so his deficiencies in other areas weren't as important as long he could defend and rebound.If Tre could have been on a team like that as a frosh, one that only needed him to come off the bench and play to his strengths like playing defense and hitting 3's, our outlook could be totally different on the guy.
Big 12 athlete, Summit League basketball player. A RS year is the best thing that could happen to his career. He'll be good for TJ or whoever is coaching in Vegas in a couple years.
I see Tre being a guy like McGee or DJack his junior year. I don't remember McGee being a great defender and I know Donny wasn't, but those guys were absolute firecrackers who could provide an immediate spark the minute they stepped foot on the court.
I can understand you have some guys that don't pan out. My issue with Leech and Anderson is that if you can tell before we've even played our first exhibition game they aren't Big 12 caliber players, you've not done a great job with talent evaluation.
What...?
I thought basically all of us in this thread had the same outlook.
Sort of a modified Tyrus McGee... probably not as good, but 95% of Tyrus is still very good... maybe a slightly better defender but a worse shooter... would be fine.
Donovan Jackson was cut from the same cloth... excellent his junior year as a 25 MPG guy off the bench, a little bit beyond himself at 35 MPG as a senior.
We hope he should be a nice complementary piece.
I do not think any of us expect him to be a keystone to the program.
I think this is a good assessment on Grill. His athleticism translated to some good defensive plays, but he just always looked like a fish-out-of-water basketball wise. He spent more time dribbling away from the basket then dribbling to it. Just seemed like no faster did he get the ball then he was trying to get rid of it.
Some people are going to disagree, but Leech has dominant moments in Cap City League, dominated in High School even after his injury. Leech was a very talented played. When he got some weight and strength he was gonna be a problem for the Big 12
I think part of those two misses was the loss of THT, Lard and Wigginton the year before. When the staff was recruiting 1.5 years earlier I don't think they'd lose all 3 and were willing to look at more long range prospects. They may have been over optimistic but the did have success with under the radar players like Haliburtion and hoped once they got on campus they could get them up to speed.Most top 100 players are looking to play right away and it wasn't until December/January those minutes became available and at that point most players were committed including Leech/Anderson to ISU.
If nothing else they realized it early, agreed to part ways and I believe upgraded with Foster/Dubar/Blackwell.
