I think it will be mostly Mag there. Hyatt will play 4 when Spencer isn’t in the game and maybe when Paul isn’t playing point (Pike played Hyatt and Miller a bunch together last year).
Cam Spencer Scouting Report
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Default is not a good word here…..didn’t say it isn’t accurate
Yes he got better defensively as the season went on, but I am very worried if he is counted on to play starters minutes.
I have been worried before and been wrong, so….
I guess we will see. I've been on the Mag train from day 1 saying he is oozing with potential. I just think Pike likes Hyatt at the 4 and he's a bit thicker. Mag has injury concerns and is a better perimeter defender.
If Caleb comes back that does eat a ton of minutes at the 3 so it might push Mag to the 4 more. I could see Mag and Hyatt essentially splitting minutes fairly evenly there at least to start with Mag getting some non 4 minutes. Then play and matchups sort it out from there
He averaged 13 this year…how would
that be surprising given our depth and his experience?
Based on the addition of Spencer, I just see Mag being a better fit on both sides for game flow. That said - the year after the first year on a new team is probably the biggest potential time for taking the next step so there’s reason to be hopeful that we’ll see growth from Hyatt. Somehow he was starting on an LSU tourney team as a sophomore right? Had to be a reason.
No mention of Woolfolk who looks like a 4 in the Rashod Kent / Adrian Hill / Sean Axani mold. Not as tall as Johnson but thick like him and kid who likes contact and to play in the post.
Interesting contrast to Reiber who will probably also rotate between 4/5 and had highest 3 pt % on the team, though with limited opportunities.
im not crazy about the prospect of Harper’s shots all going to Mag, McConnell and Hyatt who are all clearly wings. Not many players learn how to shoot this late in their career, so maybe we’re underestimating the role Palmquist might play as well.
Interesting contrast to Reiber who will probably also rotate between 4/5 and had highest 3 pt % on the team, though with limited opportunities.
im not crazy about the prospect of Harper’s shots all going to Mag, McConnell and Hyatt who are all clearly wings. Not many players learn how to shoot this late in their career, so maybe we’re underestimating the role Palmquist might play as well.
I don’t think it’ll go down like that - with more shots to Mag / Hyatt / Caleb. We’re going to run a completely different style offense. The Paul / Spencer / Caleb combo would be smart and crafty in a Princeton offense sort of way. I think we’ll see a lot of perimeter ball rotation and pick and roll with the main goal being to either find Spencer or Paul open for outside shots or feed Cliff down low. If those 3 are making shots at a high percentage, Caleb’s offense will benefit. It’s unfair to put his shooting in a category with Mag and Hyatt - Caleb has a mid range game and can’t go unguarded (he will make teams pay when they try - see first half of ND). Mag’s points came almost exclusively from put backs. Hyatt can penetrate against okay talent (his efficiency really went down though against top teams). Neither of them can shoot at all. Mag seems like the better slasher / cutter of the 2 for the offense we’d be looking at. I’d expect his shots and Caleb’s to mainly be high percentage shots.
If Hyatt had played 25 min/game this year, with his same efficiency numbers, he'd have had 8.4 pts, 5.5 rb, 1.3 ast, 1.3 tov.
I think that's probably a reasonable expectation for him for next year, though I think his efficiency will improve next season. He saw a dropoff in efficiency from his soph year at LSU to his junior year at Rutgers, and I think a large part of that was getting acclimated to a new team/system/environment.
At 25 min/game next year, I could see him averaging around 10 pts / 7 rb.
I think that's probably a reasonable expectation for him for next year, though I think his efficiency will improve next season. He saw a dropoff in efficiency from his soph year at LSU to his junior year at Rutgers, and I think a large part of that was getting acclimated to a new team/system/environment.
At 25 min/game next year, I could see him averaging around 10 pts / 7 rb.
If the second part (improved efficiency) comes true, great.
If his efficiency is similar to last year - I’ll pass on those 8 points per 25 min and hope for reduced offensive usage from Hyatt. His overall shooting percentage was the worst on the team.
I’d also like to see Cliff become a better passer from the post, especially when he’s double-teamed. Even with Harper and Geo gone, our offense could be fun to watch and effective, with lots of motion and inside-outside ball movement.
He was a bit better once conference play started. Overall TS% was .399 and eFG% was .345, but in conference play those numbers went up to .480 and .445. During his second year at LSU, they were .532 and .506
Hopefully he rounds more into form this season - he should now be fully comfortable with this team and Pike's approach.
While it would be great to bring in a stud 4, it’s very very unlikely. 1) It’s very hard to get those guys and 2) If Pike sees Mag and Hyatt as guys who have committed to improving, he should give them the shot. Pike didn’t build a program like Kentucky who recruits 5 starters every year. He brings in players to develop them. Now if he doesn’t believe they can do it, then yes go get a starter but I suspect he believes and trusts them to step up.
It appears they may want to red shirt him, But if he’s ready then it’s go time.
I think that’s probably deceiving. I.e. mostly a product of his role changing and Pike giving him less of a green light to take shots that weren’t put backs and lower usage overall. Your more the stat guy than me but glancing at his stat log it seems like Pike “cut him off” after a brutal 0-7 game vs Iowa on 1/19.
Up to that point he has attempted 6 or more shots in 13 out of 17 games. After that game he never took 6 or more shots again, and only attempted 5 shots once more (2-5 in Michigan game). He attempted 4 shots in 3 more games and went 1-12 in those combined.
His efficiency post conference play start would also be boosted by 4-6, and 4-7 outings in blow outs vs. Central Ct and Nebraska.
Hyatt took too many shots out of the flow of the offense. He needs to keep going hard on the glass and try to get more putbacks vs. forcing up shots.
It wasn't an "after start of conference play" number, but a "play during conference games" number, so it did not include CCSU.
Was Iowa the game he had 3 ORBs and 4 missed tap backs on one play? I think it was.
I think having him in alongside Omoruyi will definitely improve our rebounding numbers - the question is how many ORBs can then be converted into points.
Can only go by the eye test here, but it felt like those improved throughout the year. He really looked lost at times in the early part of the season, like he didn't know where he was supposed to be at times and was a second or two behind - and it felt like that tightened up later on. We'll see what another offseason will bring.
I actually thought his defense was ok at the 4 - he played the second half of the year away from the the perimeter with at least 2 of Caleb, Geo, Miller and Mag on the floor and did okay.
To be fair, I didn’t watch him much vs. LSU but I’m aware he played with good shooters and was probably the last option on offense which likely means his attempts there were mostly put backs or wide open bunnies. I’m not at all bullish on him transforming into an explosive scorer for us nor would I expect his efficiency to improve in parallel with increased usage. I’d love to be wrong.
Yes - it looks like it. He was 0-4 in the game plus 3 missed put backs making it 0-7.
I’m not sure how your efficiency numbers are being blended but nothing about his late season offensive game (outside of making 2 threes in the PSU game) on paper left reason to expect more efficient output with added usage. That early Nebraska game where he went 4-6 (including some garbage time PT) and the first Michigan game (also early 3-6) were the only conference games where he made more than 2 field goals. So the improved efficiency is clearly correlated with lower usage and taking more high percentage shots (put backs etc.). He’s a pretty good offensive rebounder but I wouldn’t exactly call him a stud where you’d expect that with more minutes he’d average more than maybe one additional put back a game at most.
He was also 0-8 in the post season to close out the year.
That’s not true about players learning to shoot.
In the scout community shooting is the area that can be improved the most. Problem is these guys are students and can’t put up 1,000+ shots a day like players do once they get to the NBA
At least he has the body of a good player....that is tough to teach. He also was a decent offensive rebounder. The hope is he becomes a better as he isn't trying to prove to the team that he is good. It seems like when he came in last year he tried to squeeze 20 minutes of play in to 2 minutes.
Bc all the starters were playing 30+ minutes. There are 40 minutes at the 4 that need to be filled. With the current roster it would be shocking if Hyatt didn't play at least 15.
Mag had a bunch of fluky injuries this past season. He could break out next year.
If one out of Mag and Hyatt really breaks out this season we will be good. If both do, watch out.
We don't play those kinds of 4's anymore. He is a shorter 5 who has the strength and hopefully length to be able to play that role
I'd push back on Mag and Hyatt not being able to shoot at all. Hyatt was a sniper in HS so the ability is there. I think he just never found his rhythm and was forcing it. Definitely hard for some players to come in with limited minutes and not feeling they fit in and light it up. I'd be very surprised if he didn't shoot significantly better this year from 3 and finish better with some of his moves in the mid range and post fade aways
Mag has nice rotation on his shot and again didnt get to play much. A lot of his missed jumpers were dead on back rim which is a high quality miss. It's hard to get a rhythm when you don't play much and don't get a lot of shot attempts.
The percentages arent good but the sample size is small. Very small with Mag. You can make the argument Hyatt has been in college too long so the improvement is less likely which has some validity, but there is legit reason for hope that both will shoot a solid percentage this year with more minutes and a bigger role
Agree with what was said above that it was much worse earlier in the year when he was playing more perimeter at the 3 against smaller quicker players. His D towards the end of the year at the 4 was solid. He rebounds well and is strong. I really am not worried at all about him defending the 4. He will be fine.
McConnell was apparently great from three in high school, too. The line in college is almost 3 ft further back.
I think both have a green light if they are wide open and can shoot in rhythm, but neither should be primary or secondary options to shoot from deep.
We should have looked to Caleb for the last shot in regulation of the ND game. He was feeling it & was confident & wasn't missing all night.
You know who else apparently was great from three in high school?
HS three point shooting is hard to gauge as far as expectations. If the player is routinely pulling up from well beyond the line, that doesn't really show up in the box score. Once you see what a player shoots from the college line, you have to weight that much higher than any HS numbers.
Caleb was hitting some deep 3's as a freshman too. He changed his release point I think to make it higher but he now has less arc on his shot
You’ve said this for years and it’s true.
What’s also true though ironically is the case you were trying to make for Hyatt is actually more applicable for Caleb when you take a closer look.
The two of them shot an identical 27.1% from three. But Caleb started the season 3/25 from 3 which included that bizarre stretch where he had the Yips and couldn’t buy a basket. Over the last 21 games of the season he actually shot over 38% from 3 (13 of 34). Theoretically there ought to be reason to at least hope that maybe he was finally finding his stroke from the perimeter.
I really beleive Caleb is a better shooter than his stats show. @fluoxetine hasn't been around lately, but he will tell you even an entire career of 3 point shots isn't a big enough sample size
