Derrick Wilson

[GooooMarquette]

Consolidating thoughts from a few threads - the one about Dawson, the comments about Jamil as starting PG, the +/- from DePaul, etc - I wanted to make a few comments about Derrick.

First, neither I nor others that I am aware of are saying Derrick is a great PG.  He has clear weaknesses...especially shooting.  Instead, we are simply saying that he is Buzz's best option at PG this season.

A few facts related to yesterday's game:  First, we were playing abysmally at the beginning of both halves.  The beginning of the first half was obvious from the score.  And in the first two minutes of the second, Jamil turned the ball over twice in a row bringing the ball upcourt, and got a foul after the second one.  Overall, not the solution we needed.

People have pointed out that Derrick "only" had three assists, and that none were to Davante.  All true.  But Derrick's three assists were on our only threes of the game - two wide open looks for Jake, and a beautiful feed from under the basket for Todd's three.  Without Derrick's penetration and those threes, does anybody really think the paint would have been open enough for Davante to take over?  It certainly wasn't that wide open when Jamil was playing the point.

As for Jamil, yes, he had four beautiful assists to Davante - all while Derrick was taking some pressure off Jamil by bringing the ball up and starting the offense, and two of the four after Derrick had started to open up the middle by setting up Jake's open threes.  Jamil also had six TOs - mostly during the limited time he was playing the point.

And the +/- shows that MU was +16 when Derrick was playing.  Only Todd's +/- was better.

Like I said, Derrick is certainly not a GREAT PG and he has some clear weaknesses.  But he plays great defense, takes good care of the ball, and is increasingly taking it to the hole and now starting to find open shooters on the kickouts.  Regardless of his individual stats, he showed yesterday why Buzz is giving him more mpg than anyone else on the team - he is the only real option right now.  Spell him for a few minutes here and there with Jamil and/or Todd, but overall we need Derrick running the point.

[NavinRJohnson]

If there's anything the board needed, its another Derrick Wilson thread.

[willie warrior]

If there's anything the board needed, its another Derrick Wilson thread.

No what this board really needs is some great news--such as Fischer is coming here and in the process we bested the Tan One. Now that is celebrating New Year's all over again!!!!

[NersEllenson]

Wasn't able to watch the game closely, but it did appear there was a significant change moving Derrick to more of a wing position and then cutting down the lane repeatedly  - which took his defender with him - and off of that action there were post entries to Gardner.

Nonetheless - a stat line of:  31 minutes, 2 points, on 2 of 6 FT shooting, 0-1 from the field, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, and no steals against the projected last place team in the Big East??  Sorry, not impressed.

And that performance is worthy of a thread singing his praises?  C'mon man.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Wasn't able to watch the game closely, but it did appear there was a significant change moving Derrick to more of a wing position and then cutting down the lane repeatedly  - which took his defender with him - and off of that action there were post entries to Gardner.

Nonetheless - a stat line of:  31 minutes, 2 points, on 2 of 6 FT shooting, 0-1 from the field, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, and no steals against the projected last place team in the Big East??  Sorry, not impressed.

And that performance is worthy of a thread singing his praises?  C'mon man.

No one, including the OP, is singing Derrick's praises.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

No what this board really needs is some great news--such as Fischer is coming here and in the process we bested the Tan One. Now that is celebrating New Year's all over again!!!!

Did Willie just make a positive post!?!?!?

[forgetful]

Consolidating thoughts from a few threads - the one about Dawson, the comments about Jamil as starting PG, the +/- from DePaul, etc - I wanted to make a few comments about Derrick.

First, neither I nor others that I am aware of are saying Derrick is a great PG.  He has clear weaknesses...especially shooting.  Instead, we are simply saying that he is Buzz's best option at PG this season.

A few facts related to yesterday's game:  First, we were playing abysmally at the beginning of both halves.  The beginning of the first half was obvious from the score.  And in the first two minutes of the second, Jamil turned the ball over twice in a row bringing the ball upcourt, and got a foul after the second one.  Overall, not the solution we needed.

People have pointed out that Derrick "only" had three assists, and that none were to Davante.  All true.  But Derrick's three assists were on our only threes of the game - two wide open looks for Jake, and a beautiful feed from under the basket for Todd's three.  Without Derrick's penetration and those threes, does anybody really think the paint would have been open enough for Davante to take over?  It certainly wasn't that wide open when Jamil was playing the point.

As for Jamil, yes, he had four beautiful assists to Davante - all while Derrick was taking some pressure off Jamil by bringing the ball up and starting the offense, and two of the four after Derrick had started to open up the middle by setting up Jake's open threes.  Jamil also had six TOs - mostly during the limited time he was playing the point.

And the +/- shows that MU was +16 when Derrick was playing.  Only Todd's +/- was better.

Like I said, Derrick is certainly not a GREAT PG and he has some clear weaknesses.  But he plays great defense, takes good care of the ball, and is increasingly taking it to the hole and now starting to find open shooters on the kickouts.  Regardless of his individual stats, he showed yesterday why Buzz is giving him more mpg than anyone else on the team - he is the only real option right now.  Spell him for a few minutes here and there with Jamil and/or Todd, but overall we need Derrick running the point.

If D. Wilson got assists on both Jake's 3's he should only have 2 assists for the game.  One of them was not wide open.  He got the ball pump faked...got the guy to commit, took one dribble to the right and drained a 3.  It was the only shot he has created for himself this year.  It would be a shame to take that away from him and give an assist to D. Wilson.

Besides that I agree with everything you posted.

[GooooMarquette]

Wasn't able to watch the game closely, but it did appear there was a significant change moving Derrick to more of a wing position and then cutting down the lane repeatedly  - which took his defender with him - and off of that action there were post entries to Gardner.

Nonetheless - a stat line of:  31 minutes, 2 points, on 2 of 6 FT shooting, 0-1 from the field, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, and no steals against the projected last place team in the Big East??  Sorry, not impressed.

And that performance is worthy of a thread singing his praises?  C'mon man.

You didn't watch the game closely...or read my post closely.

As someone else pointed out, I wasn't "singing Derrick's praises."  I was simply pointing out that, despite his faults - which I clearly listed - the team played MUCH better with him at the point than Jamil.

Given all the crap he's gotten on this board, yes - that's worth a thread.

[NotAnAlum]

I think its clear after the DePaul game that We are going to need to play Derrick at the point for the majority of the minutes for the rest of the season.  What this team has been built around in the past and what is lacking now is dribble penetration to create easy shots and fouls.  Jamil is even worse at penetration from the PG position than Derrick so playing him there doesn't help the offense at all.  Jamil's also not an exceptionally good dribbler and once the opposition figures this out it will be easy to have their PG (usually the player with their quickest hands) steal the ball from Jamil off the dribble.  Also Jamil's "passing IQ" while ok for a forward is simply not good enough for the guy driving your offense.  He's just not the right guy for the position and that is why the offense looks so bad when he is in there.
The only thing playing Jamil at point does is allow you to play another potential scorer at Jamil's nature position (the 4).  Buzz's use of that as an excuse to play Gardner and Otule together isn't working either.  It forces Gardner to play more up top where he isn't very effective.  I think on this we simply have to bite the bullet and admit that MU needs Gardner from the start because there are so few reliable scoring options and he needs to play center and if that pushes Otule to the bench for all but 12-15 minutes that is the way it has to be.  I would start Gardner at the 5 and have J Wilson jump center if we're so sure Gardner can't contest the tip.  Besides its only one possession.  Look at how many possessions we threw away in the first 5 minutes of the DePaul game.
The one suggestion I might offer to try to "live with" Derrick in the game for 30 minutes is simply run plays which require that he shoot either a 3 or a mid range jumper when his man starts to completely leave him unguarded.  The coaching staff could call this from the bench based on what they are seeing.  Derrick doesn't have "terrible" form.  Maybe a couple of these called shots go in.  If so his man will have to come out.  If all the other MU players knew that based on this "Derrick play" being called that he would shoot when he touched the ball on the second reversal or whatever they could establish rebounding position and if he missed we might very well get the rebound.  We just have to "try" to make Derrick a threat and if we have to give up a possession or two so be it.  If we don't get the offense moving more fluidly we are going to give up plenty more possessions.  I'd rather have a shot attempt from Derrick than a pass thrown away or a travel.