Greene....normally I would agree with you on the team concept, but from ground level, it's impossible to see the players that we can see from the camera view or watching higher on TV.
I watched the Iowa game from very close in the 100's, where I rarely sit that close to the floor and I can recall my own playing days in HS....you need exceptional court vision to spot the players that we see on TV as "open" and RU has just 2 turnovers in the second half....one on the 5th foul by Sanders and the last one by Nigel under a minute left, when the game was kinda decided.
Sanders doesn't have the ability in the forest of trees of these players to find the open man the way it appears to be clearly available on TV...at court level, I have no idea how Nigel Johnson or Corey Sanders could get a clear look at the basket, over the size and long arms that Iowa presented.....Ohio State is athletic, with good size and quick hands....Sanders probably could've made those pressure passes, but they likely are turnovers or not converted or finished....some of those would have been turnovers and quick baskets. vs him trying a difficult shot, that could get rebounded by one of our guys for a 2nd or 3rd chance....on a couple of Sanders drives, he was bumped considerably and almost had two other difficult right hand layups just come off the rim.
On the topic of the thread, Mike Williams was 5-14, but created more offense by attacking the glass and had a key steal and layup and plays good defense almost every single possession. I am pretty confident that if Geo Baker and Mamadou Doucoure are here and thriving next year, they will be taking their cue on playing hard and competing from both Mike Williams and Corey Sanders..
I had one forced shot that Mike took a little quick or that wasn't up against the shot clock....shooting percentages are impacted because RU doesn't get a lot of shots up early in the shot clock and if charted, I'd imagine most of Williams shots are under 7 seconds on the shot clock....that's a lot of defensive pressure or places that are tough to make shots with.....he's 35% from 3, after spending almost all of last years B1G schedule before the Minnesota finale at below 25%....that's a big increase from 25% to 35% from 3 and Mike takes better shots and is a very good shooter.....if we had better passing bigs out of the post or frontcourt that could make a "skip pass" (through a defender that is not closest to Mike), after a drive, Mike would find more open looks.
Baker and Doucoure are competitive kids and Sanders and Williams will help get them to play hard and compete immediately when they arrive...those are items that raise the floor of the program....I don't see how anyone being critical of Mike, is strictly based on shooting percentages....he does everything a team player needs and does it well. We are 3-4 games worse without Mike's competitiveness.....Rosario would be deemed a better shooter, but did nothing on either end of the court as well as Mike is doing for the team right now and Rosario was a potentially deadly shooter....I wouldn't trade Williams for a better shooter that doesn't rebound, defend, dive on the floor and battle on both ends....
