Are you saying Simpson isn’t a slasher?
Is Simpson Around Next Season?
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I'm somewhat confused and concerned about this whole narrative about stats.....can I ask a simple question??
Who are all of these B1G guards that apparently need to shoot 45% from the field, 40% from 3, also 80 to 90% from the line AND play plus, on the ball defense, grab 4 to 5 rebounds per game, mix in a steal a game and average 28 to 30 minutes a night??
Who are these guards?? Are these All American stat lines.....All B1G 1st team or 2nd team stat lines?? Honorable mention guys??
Are these guards all 5th year seniors??? 4th year kids.....3rd year.....or are they 1st time starters like Simpson??
If I go around the B1G....
Xavier Johnson Indiana....6th year senior
Tony Perkins Iowa......4th year senior....
Boo Buie......5th year
Jahmir Young Maryland....5th year
Hoggard MSU.....4* Top 60 kid.... 4th year.....Tyson Walker......5th year
Shannon, Domask Illinois....5th year...
Tominaga......3rd year, but has international experience overseas.....
Hepburn Wisconsin.....3rd year....
Dug McDaniel at Michigan.....Top 50/60 4* kid.....2nd year.....
Ohio State guards are all Top 40/60 kids nationally ranked....
I think this narrative of comparing Simpson efficiency or stats to 23, 24 and 25 year old kids, in his 1st year as a starter, when he didn't get enough minutes last year (until the very end) and is now being elevated to a higher role, is absurd.
If Simpson goes 3-13 from the field, it's not a good game, but explainable.
4-13 is a tough game, but depending on shot selection, kinda makes sense...
5-13, you're probably around Power 5 average for shooting as a guard from the floor.....
6-13 from the floor....you're likely an All American candidate a NBA draft pick if you drop these stats 2 out of every 3 nights.
Simpson projects to be a quality starter or 6th man on a good NCAA caliber roster. But fans have to acknowledge there is a development aspect and most 4* kids or better, don't start their career with the stat lines.....if there's a recent underclassmen that isn't a 1 & done, I'd like to m know who it is.
And please don't tell me Braden Smith at Purdue, who has numbers feeding Zach Edey.
the issue is that Pikes recuiting and roster management has been so poor that Derek is forced to be a huge producer as a SOPHOMORE...on a normal big 10 roster he is a 7th or 8th man who then gets time to build up to his senior year.
the situation is he has to produce NOW because of how poorly this roster is constructed...fair or not thats what we have
the situation is he has to produce NOW because of how poorly this roster is constructed...fair or not thats what we have
My minivan (yes i am a loser) had warning lights on so i went to the honda dealer and had 2 hours to kill so i actually watched the embiid highlights. No doubt that guy is super skilled.
Maybe your lineup could use Chris Gatling. That guy was on my fantasy team and he was out with an injury for a week. Hemorrhoids!
I am going to Mansplain this you…….
We are BRUTAL on offense….like BRUTAL ^ 5. Some games our D is the reason we have a chance to win some of our games. Some games are D is average and on most nights lose bad. A few games we have won because of our D. Points given up divided by possessions is about as good of a defensive metric as you are going to find..
I 100% disagree with your assessment of the game. I think defense is more important now as it is a differentiator. Look last year at the Sweet 16. Littered with elite defensive teams
Can we revisit this conversation after we play some of the weaker teams?
Wisconsin has been elite offensively. Lets see where things are at the 2/3 point of B1G
Derek Simpson is the point guard on a team that has surrounding talent that is on pace for possibly one of the worst major confernce offensive team in the past 10 years.
To me shooting is not the primary concern of mine. You watch more hoops than me. How often do guards in games you watch drive hard to the basket and pass. Out 3 guards almost NEVER do this. This is THE problem.
A guard with B1G experience is shooting 49% from the field, 45% from three, 88% from the line. Averages 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
He plays for #1 ranked UConn, the defending national champion.
Cam Spencer - Men's Basketball - Rutgers University Athletics
Cam Spencer (10) Guard - Rutgers men’s basketball welcomed in Cam Spencer for the 2022-23 season as a transfer from Loyola University Maryland. A 6-4, 207 lb. guard
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Guessing we won’t need shooters next year.
I would like guy who brings good defense, pure speed, dishes out assists better than the other guys, rebounds, is one of the better foul shooters on the team, has taken over games as a freshman and sophomore and has a history of buzzer beaters.
But that’s just me.
I would like guy who brings good defense, pure speed, dishes out assists better than the other guys, rebounds, is one of the better foul shooters on the team, has taken over games as a freshman and sophomore and has a history of buzzer beaters.
But that’s just me.
Idk about speed, but the rest sounds like Jeremiah Williams. Not buying too much into the “he was the best at camp” talk, a lot of that seems to be hot air, but the fact Underwood wanted him at this year’s ILL team speaks volumes to me
I agree completely that our guards rarely if ever pass off when driving to the hoop. That is my major criticism with Derek. He is able to get to the rim but does not dish off even when guarded closely. Net result are missed layups. I have the same problem with fast breaks. I rarely see the player leading the break draw a defender to him and then pass off to a trailing player who can then make an easier layup. Derek is particularly guilty of this , especially if he's responsible for the steal.
So who do want next year the guy who has played over 21 minutes and 26 minutes the last two games with numerous turnovers and absolutely no assists or Simpson?
Who is particularly guilty of that?
I have seen some nice assists by one player and none by the other.
Having trouble following.
I think a player like Dylan with his maturity, basketball IQ and instincts is going to make everyone a lot better. Ace is a freak. Dylan is a maestro. Both are future All-NBA players. Simpson is going to be a 4 year player for us - he’s not going anywhere.
His problem isn't getting pushed around, and he is getting rebounds. His problem is not hitting open shots.
To be honest, I think they’re both gonna be 15-20 mins each next year max.
5 - Somerville/Wolf or Cliff starting if he comes back.
4 - Ace/Mag/Dortch
3 - Mag/Gavin/Dortch
2 - JMike/JWill/Derek/Gavin.
1 - Dylan
You could flip 1 and 2 - but doesn’t matter since Dylan will be the facilitator and notch 30 mpg.
He also can’t finish through contact so he avoids it. When that happens you get those awkward runners he put up against Illinois.
Seriously. He’s actually creating his own shot, elevating, firing…then brick.
What he described definitely sounded like Jeremiah Williams -- and Williams is plenty fast. The rumors from camp make sense. Because if Williams got better from his temple years - then he's probably pretty good by now. Because he was already solid at temple
But if he was shooting 45-50 from the floor instead of 31, we’d have a much better record.
This is silly.. we sit in last because our offense is pitiful. It doesn’t mean defense is meaningless, it just means it’s not enough to overcome such a bad offense.
Penetrate and dish. It's pretty simple. It's even more disappointing we don't see our guards doing it when they also struggle finishing at the rim or hitting mid range shots
A Will has done it a few times and also seems better at driving and finishing. When he does miss a lot of them are rolling off the rim and not a wild out of control shot
We definitely need shooters next year or every team will just double Harper and Ace and make our low percentage shooters beat them
Surrounding Dylan and Ace with shooters is essential IMO. 3 and D specialist would be ideal
I think (or know) that's not the argument here. Everyone acknowledges the recruiting from 2020 to 2022 has been extremely thin.....I don't think however it allows us to walk away from this narrative that Simpson isn't a quality player.
We watched Ron Harper Jr go 1 for his 1st 25 shots from 3.
We watched Caleb McConnell as a freshman, barely have the ability to bring the ball up the court in his 1st month or two against Sparty in 2018, to having a 29 point game at Illinois 2 months later.....and battle through injuries and develop into an all caliber defender by his 4th year.....he wasn't always a starter like Mathis was most of his career, or even Myles Johnson who redshirted.....or Eugene who wasn't good at all his 1st year.....or Paul Mulcahy who learned on the fly his 1st 2 years.
The point is, like it or not, I don't quite understand why you and a handful of others, refuse to acknowledge that Simpson has to play and develop and we aren't Kentucky, Kansas, UNC or even Indiana, Illinois, Sparty, Michigan or Ohio State.
We haven't accumulated 8 to 10 4* kids in the last 4 recruiting classes (20 to 23). How else do we get Simpson to become a bona-fide player IF you refuse to let him get minutes and improve now??
It is this short-term, I want it now attitude, that got RU into this hole to begin with the last 1- 2 years. At some point, you have to play Mag, Simpson and even Woolfolk and if you lose a couple of more games now, so be it.
But you can't ask Pike to recruit at a high level like 2024 and 2025 are trending to look like and then sit back and not be willing to watch kids make mistakes and lose games because we aren't buying 3 5th year guys every offseason.
I don't see how you can truly improve things, without this type of season and sit back and complain about it the entire season. The harsh reality is going to set in for fans, who are under an illusion that 2024-25 is some 1 year "make it or break it" season.
Next year is going to be fun and choppy most of the way. But we should have an idea about 2025 recruiting, before Ace, Dylan, Lathan and others even play 1 game in a few months.
If 2025 recruiting looks like it could be another 2 Top 100 type of players, are we going to not play them as freshman, like we are playing Simpson now as an underclassmen??
The reality is to get out of the basement or bottom 4, you have to find a balance and catch up to everyone else that has 4 to 5 straight recruiting classes in a row, of Top 100 to 150 kids....so you have 8 to 9 on your roster, with the assumption maybe 2 or 3, actually don't pan out or play to their rankings.
Knocking down Simpson at every turn, seems counterproductive to me.....maybe because he's not your ideal player and someone else is.....but it seems petty for a few fans here who frankly, don't seem to get it.
Simpson is now something like 40% of the way through his career. We're not talking about a freshman in his first semester. And the debate isn't about playing him this year -- I think everyone recognizes we don't have much of a choice, and I think everyone would prefer him over Noah.
The debate is over whether it makes sense to continue with him or try to bring in a transfer or even another freshman... it doesn't even necessarily need to be a highly-rated one. John Blackwell on Wisconsin was outside the top 200 recruiting rankings and is a better player as a freshman than Simpson is as a sophomore.
Through one and a half years Simpson's 2P% is 35.3 and his 3P% is 25.5%. The long-term outlook for someone who shoots like that just isn't good.
Boo Buie was extremely inefficient early in his career. But he was 41.9% from 2 and 32.1% from 3.
Geo Baker was not exactly the model of efficiency early on. His numbers were 38.1% and 35.0%.
You can build on those numbers. I don't know that you can take a guy who is a 35%/25% 2P/3P shooter this far into his career and wind up with a guy who affects winning. Pick any player you want who was bad early but got better and I guarantee you their base performance was better than Derek's.
Obviously it’s a very optimistic take.
I’m very bullish on these two. Not just from a basketball ability, but rather IQ, character and work ethic. Lots of guys rest on their laurels when you get that much praise. Ace keeps getting better, NBA scouts are drooling and suggest he might be the best in the class even with Cooper. Scouts basically sum up Dylan’s game by saying “well, you sure can tell his dad had a lengthy NBA career”. And Sr has been calling Dylan the best of the 3 of them - by far.
One has to see them play at a higher level before saying All-NBA team. Even if you are talking 1st, 2nd and 3rd team you are saying both of them are 2 of the Top 15 basketball players in the world.
Let's see how they perform against Minnesota on the road in the B1G before taking AAU/HS players and saying they will be all-NBA
A big fallacy that i think (dont know) many fans have is that when looking at a player improving it is playing in games is the biggest component.
I think it is a small component but offseason and practice is where most of the improvement comes from. Games are there to win. Prectice is there to get better.
I reject the notion that Simpson or Gavin will improve any more than a little by getting minutes is games.
Gavin will play 2 hours of B1G basketball. Is that wjere we expect him to inprove?
I think it is a small component but offseason and practice is where most of the improvement comes from. Games are there to win. Prectice is there to get better.
I reject the notion that Simpson or Gavin will improve any more than a little by getting minutes is games.
Gavin will play 2 hours of B1G basketball. Is that wjere we expect him to inprove?
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I agree that the offseason is critical for player development. But, there is nothing that can replicate game competition aside from playing in actual games. You get accustomed to the speed, size, strength, and talent of the opposition. This is important for young players who need to get acclimated to the college game.
I agree that the offseason is critical for player development. But, there is nothing that can replicate game competition aside from playing in actual games. You get accustomed to the speed, size, strength, and talent of the opposition. This is important for young players who need to get acclimated to the college game.
Sorry, but at practice he is going up against the 2nd best B1G right now in adjusted defensive efficiency.
In practice when a player screws up Pike can immediately blow a whistle and tell him the mistake and try again.
In practice you're also only going up against the same players week-in and week-out. There aren't variations in size, speed, skillset, experience, etc. There are variations in environment at away arenas with different sight lines or noise levels, etc
Practice is important and a lot of development happens there - that can't be discounted. But actual game reps against live competition matter, too.
It matters but it is a small percentage of most player's equation of "getting better".
What is the value of Simpson playing as a head down scoring PG for the next 14 B1G games?
How much is Gavin going to get better defensively playing 2 hours of B1G basketball. Has the past 2 hours of live college basketball made him any better defensively?
What is the value of Simpson playing as a head down scoring PG for the next 14 B1G games?
How much is Gavin going to get better defensively playing 2 hours of B1G basketball. Has the past 2 hours of live college basketball made him any better defensively?
An argument can be made, too, about how much better he's going to get defensively going up against the 292nd ranked adjusted offensive efficiency in the country in practice.
