š List of Best Defenders in the Big Ten š
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
Cliff Paul and Cam listed but not Mag š¤
Paul is a good help defender but Mag deserves to be on that list before Paul.
Donāt know who the big ten boys are, but that is the respect our guys deserve! And Caleb for B1G and National DPOY!!
Yeah I can see Cliff because he owns the paint but then Mag who can really guard 1-4 better than most. Might even have Mag ahead of Cliff but close.
Mag is clearly a better defender than Cliff. IMO it's not particularly close. Cliff keeps getting burned by big men one on one, and not just elite ones. He's had some nice blocks but also goes for too many where he can't really contest and leaves offensive boards open. He doesn't box out well at all on defensive boards. Cliff has the athletic ability to be a really good defender, but he hasn't put it all together
Yeah, love the list but they don't know sh#t about our team. Caleb is our best defender, he's #1 of course, but Mag is #2 on our team. As stated above, Paul's a good help defender, Cam a crafty & opportunistic stealer (albeit a TREMENDOUS ball thief), Cliff an excellent shot blocker. But it's Caleb & Mawot... then everyone else. Mawot is absolutely the energizer bunny. Dude doesn't get winded. If Pike told everyone to back off and stop picking up full court, I think Mag would fight & resist that call, haha.
Mag might be the best presser/trapper I've ever seen. The length and athleticism. The relentless sprinting back and forth. The extremely active hands. All without fouling
Gotta push back a little about your take on Cliff. One of the things that he's really good at is jumping out to double team high and then recovering quickly to his man on the low post. He's also a great shot blocker and intimidator. I think he's done fine defending against other bigs as well. I know there's a lovefest for Mag right now, but imo Mag is not "clearly" better, and I like Mag a lot.
Mag is an effin problem for our opponents at the top of our press. Just watch him.
Yeah Mag is #2 but donāt forget part of Defense is rebounding and altering shots. Iām a huge Mag fan but Cliff comes out on screens, stops guards from penetrating and gets back to the block much better than any. Center I have seen this year. I was basing my first comment on position. Heās a great defender for a 5. Mag is just a great defender and should be high on this list.
This is true. Cliff is an excellent perimeter defender for someone his size.
I love Mag and have said nothing but good things about his D including last year. Read my posts. Above was just saying Cliff belongs IMO. He allows the other guys to take chances because he owns the paint on D.
I want to see Caleb win DPOY again this season.
Back to back hasn't happened since 03 04. Would be extremely impressive
Magās biggest challenge is being good enough on the offensive side of the ball to average enough minutes on our team to be in contention for defensive alcolades. Caleb was a good defender in 2020-21 but didnāt get the national recognition until he was averaging over 29 mpg. Just the way it seems to work. Heās at about 25 now but weāll see how that holds up. Itās looking like he and Hyatt will mostly split time at the 4. His inability to handle the rock holds him back from shifting over to play 1-3.
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Not in the BIG, but Jevon Carter was national DPOY in back to back years. Heās done pretty well in the NBA despite not having great measurables, a great offensive game, or entering the league with strong ball handling skills for a guard. Heās doing quite well for himself in the NBA and in my mind remains the role model for what Caleb can work towards.
Yes and no. Cam and Paul arenāt all conference defenders, but if this was meant to be predictive, itās reasonable to think they might get all conference consideration on the defensive end if we have a good season in conference and maintain our defensive efficiency metrics just by logging starter minutes on a top defensive team.
Mag is an excellent defender and should get consideration too, but itās TBD if he will play more than 22ish minutes in conference games. Hyatt scored 11 in 16 minutes last game. The balance might swing that way 16 / 24. I doubt Hyatt plays less than that often though and I really donāt see Mag getting much other PT except for maybe filling in whatever minutes Caleb sits. He will not play much 1-3.
Mag and Hyatt are starting to eat in to Cams minutes now that Paul and Caleb are healthy.
Going to be very interesting if Simpson earns and is trusted for 20-25 minutes
Being the 6th best defender on Rutgers makes you the 6th best defender in the Big Ten
this isn't the ACC. DO YOU HEAR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not really. If your talking about WF, Cam went to the bench with 2 fouls early. Weāre still not playing Mag and Hyatt together that much as far as I can see.
You know Iām very much for the defense first philosophy but the issue on offense isnāt about Mag not being a shooter or scorer. He canāt handle the ball at all in half court rotations. Itās like an automatic turnover. Neither can Hyatt. To be effective, our offense requires 3 guys with ball movement around the perimeter or we get in trouble against perimeter defenses with a backbone. Thatās why I donāt see either of them playing much outside of the 4 unless we go small without a big on the floor.
Cam played 30 minutes vs. OSU. How do you know he wasnāt just subbed in and or for rest? There will be games that Mag plays more minutes for sure. Iām just not sure about him being a regular rotation guy on this team at 1-3 because a) his ball handling is notably weaker than the other options at guard b) he doesnāt seem like a guy who can step up and be a high volume scorer (thereās a decent sample size now and unfortunately weāre already playing Paul who doesnāt look to take that many shots - someone has to and c) his outside shot at this point is worse than those other options at guard (Caleb at least has a midrange game).
When Caleb and Mag play together the defense is special and Pike will ride that when he can - if we can score consistently off turnovers itāll work out fine. Sometimes heāll need guys like Cam and Simpson who can handle the ball and score in bunches or Hyatt who can put up points in volume.
Makes sense - your pointing to one situational possession though. Iām sure there are others - Pike uses offense / defense in and out subbing occasionally. But these situations arenāt going to net to a material shift in PT for anyone either way.
The bottom line is Pike knows this team is at its best pretty much all of the time with a healthy Caleb on the court. The minute allocations reflect this and that impacts Magās PT outside of the 4 slot because a backcourt of Paul, Caleb and Mag is less than ideal and Pike knows it. Heās also not going to put Mag in the backcourt when Paul gets a rest because of the ball handling issues. So that really minimizes the potential opportunities for Mag to slide over to 2-3. To be a 27+ mpg guy I think Magās going to need to keep 20ish minutes at the 4. Heāll slide over to 3 when Caleb sits but probably not much more.
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Cam shouldn't be on the list. stopped reading list after saw his name. post is garbage soon as Cam was added. whoever posted it hasn't watched any of our games vs real teams.
Can is good at jumping into the passing lane or knocking the ball loose when someone isnāt protecting the ball. He is not a lockdown defender.
I assume this guy is just looking at box scores and seeing how many steals Cam has tallied and using that as the basis for putting him on this list.
Thatās exactly what heās doing and if Cam ends up averaging double digits, playing big minutes and being high on the list in conference steals and RU does well in the league heās probably going to get consideration for defensive awards even with his other defensive shortcomings.
A lot of guys that arenāt that great on defense end up getting consideration for all conference defensive teams though.
My friend insists that Caleb isn't a good defender who gets burned all the time but people only think he is good bc he gets steals š¤£
I guess itās just a massive coincidence that every time he guards the best player on our opponentsā teams they score well below their typical average.
