Otule by far the Big East's top returning shot-blocker

[bamamarquettefan]

1. Chris Otule is by far the top shotblocker returning to the Big East:

% of opponents' 2-point shots blocked
Terrence Jennings, Lville 9.0% - gone to draft
Chris Otule 8.87% - returns
Julian Vaughn, Gtown 8.35% - eligibility gone
John Flowers, WV 8.04% - eligibility gone
Rick Jackson, Syr 7.95% - eligibility gone
Dane Miller, Rutgers, 6.91% - returns

With Terrence Jennings getting an agent for the NBA draft, Chris Otule is now easily the top returning shot blocker in the Big East.  Jennings blocked 9.0% of all opponents' 2-point shot attempts last year, just a fraction ahead of Otule for tops in the Big East.  The next best three were all seniors, meaning that there is noone coming back to the Big East even close to Otule's shot blocking numbers, with 6th place Dane Miller of Rutgers being the next best at just 6.91%.

2. I wondered how far off of the pace Otule was of Jim McIlvaine, the incredible shot-blocker who rejected 142 his senior year to earn player of the year honors.  While McIlvaine will never be matched, I was interested that Otule had just as many rebounds as McIlvaine did his sophomore year. McIlvaine was virtually the same his junior year, before exploding his senior year (albeit partly because he wasn't splitting time with Ron Curry anymore).

188, 134, 55 - Otule sophomore, points, rebounds, blocks
299, 134, 86 - McIlvaine sophomore, points, rebounds, blocks
307, 134, 79 - McIlvaine junior, points, rebounds, blocks
449, 273, 142 - McIlvaine senior, points, rebounds, blocks - National Player of the Year

Two interesting notes from outside the BE are that MU will play against one better shot blocker when Vandy comes to town (Festus Ezeli, Vandy, 10.59%), and Patrick Hazel (8.84%) is right behind Otule, albeit against weaker competition playing for BU, and is the 2nd best shotblocker in the country at 6-6 or shorter.

3. Please leave the BE for the NBA!  Only Walker and Jennings have signed agents, so I guess we need to hope for Hollis Thompson, Ashton Gibbs and Kevin Jones to be drafted so we don't have to face them again, and I thought Carleton Scott was a senior, but perhaps he had a redshirt year and we need him to be drafted too.

Georgetown*   Hollis   Thompson    F    So.
Louisville   Terrence   Jennings    PF    Jr.
Notre Dame*   Carleton   Scott    F   
Pittsburgh*   Ashton   Gibbs    G   Jr.
UConn   Kemba   Walker    PG    Jr
West Virginia*   Kevin   Jones    F    Jr.

[PaintTouches]

I'm really enjoying the content you are putting out Bama. Thanks for keeping the offseason interesting and free of the usual drabness that is the summer.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Great stuff.  Scott, Martin and Abro have one year of eligibility left for UND. 

[bamamarquettefan]

Before someone else catches it, I meant to note that McIlvaine was "national DEFENSIVE player of the year," of course, not "player of the year.

I'm really enjoying the content you are putting out Bama. Thanks for keeping the offseason interesting and free of the usual drabness that is the summer.

Thanks a million!  I have to admit at times I'm typing and wondering if anyone is still reading with the season this far gone.  I'm sure most believe I don't have a job as much as I post, but I actually have several new clients and am putting in 70 hour work weeks and the only thing i can do to shift gears off of work is focus on MU Hoops periodically for an hour to get work off my mind!

Thanks for reading and replying.

Dr. Blackheart - thanks for confirming on Scott, and I will root for someone to express interest so he doesn't withdraw from the draft Monday!  Actually, I guess this year they have to withdraw by May 8th or they are gone, so it doesn't matter if they are actually drafted.

[bilsu]

Mcillvanie played in 29 games vs Otule's 37 games as a sophomore.

[HoopsMalone]

Chris Otule, the beast on the block.

[brewcity77]

Great stuff.  Scott, Martin and Abro have one year of eligibility left for UND. 

Can Abromaitis play another season? He was already a fifth-year senior, despite only suiting up for three ND seasons.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Can Abromaitis play another season? He was already a fifth-year senior, despite only suiting up for three ND seasons.

Yes sir.

"The Irish will return largely intact next season as only two of the five senior starters exhausted their eligibility. Tyrone Nash and Ben Hansbrough are the only starters that will not return next season as Scott, Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin return."
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110413/BLOGS02/110419769

[brewcity77]

Yes sir.

"The Irish will return largely intact next season as only two of the five senior starters exhausted their eligibility. Tyrone Nash and Ben Hansbrough are the only starters that will not return next season as Scott, Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin return."
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110413/BLOGS02/110419769

Well that just sucks

Here I was all excited that the Irish were going to suck...

[groove]

Well that just sucks

Here I was all excited that the Irish were going to suck...

Seems like their players get to hang around for 7-8 years.

[Nukem2]

Yes sir.

"The Irish will return largely intact next season as only two of the five senior starters exhausted their eligibility. Tyrone Nash and Ben Hansbrough are the only starters that will not return next season as Scott, Tim Abromaitis and Scott Martin return."
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110413/BLOGS02/110419769

Did Abromaitis get aninjury waiver from the NCAA?  This would be his 6th season and one of those was a regular redshirt?

[muhoosier260]

Great stuff.  Scott, Martin and Abro have one year of eligibility left for UND. 

Wow, they could be pretty nasty.

[Spotcheck Billy]

maybe Brey will take the Maryland gig now

[Dr. Blackheart]

Did Abromaitis get aninjury waiver from the NCAA?  This would be his 6th season and one of those was a regular redshirt?

I only see the one red shirt year.  It seems like forever, and the kid is a brainiac, graduating in three years, will finish his MBA in May and start on his second graduate degree.

http://www.und.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/abromaitis_tim00.html

http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/notre_dames_tim_abromaitis_will_complete_mba_ahead_of_basketball/4456467

[hoyasincebirth]

This is not entirely true where did you get these numbers.

Gorgui Dieng, Louisville blocked 13.7 % last year
Maurice Sutton, Nova blocked 11.2%
Ron Giplaye, Providence blocked 10.4%


Dieng played as much as Otule, so you can't discount him even if you want to discount Giplaye since he only played 5.5min or Sutton 10min.

[Jay Bee]

This is not entirely true where did you get these numbers.

Gorgui Dieng, Louisville blocked 13.7 % last year
Maurice Sutton, Nova blocked 11.2%
Ron Giplaye, Providence blocked 10.4%


Dieng played as much as Otule, so you can't discount him even if you want to discount Giplaye since he only played 5.5min or Sutton 10min.

Dieng didn't play nearly as much as Otule - that is neither 'entirely true', nor even close to true.  Your mistake is likely in looking at averages.  tsk, tsk.

Nonetheless, I'd guess bama was looking at those who played 40% or more of their team's minutes...

[hoyasincebirth]

They averaged close to the same number of minutes per game. Otule played more games because Dieng was injured. But the point of block % is that it doesn't really matter how many minutes they played. It's the % of shots the player blocks when they're in the game. The point being that not all minutes are created equal.

Not trying to take away from Otule who the stat show is a very good shot blocker and should give Marquette a defensive presence they haven't had in a while.

[brewcity77]

They averaged close to the same number of minutes per game. Otule played more games because Dieng was injured. But the point of block % is that it doesn't really matter how many minutes they played. It's the % of shots the player blocks when they're in the game. The point being that not all minutes are created equal.

Not trying to take away from Otule who the stat show is a very good shot blocker and should give Marquette a defensive presence they haven't had in a while.

You're right, but maybe not in all the ways you think. First, I'm guessing the 40% of minutes stat was right from Jay Bee. Dieng averaged 15.6 mpg, which was 39% of Louisville's minutes, while Otule played 17.6 mpg, which was 44% of Marquette's minutes (not including overtimes). So yes, they played similar minutes.

But another interesting thing you said was "not all minutes are equal". Looking at Dieng, his top four block performances were against Florida International, Gardner-Webb, Seton Hall, and South Florida. All of them were sub-100 RPI teams, and the 24 blocks against them accounted for 42.9% of his blocks despite being only 13.8% of his games played. Meanwhile, Otule's top block performances were against Notre Dame, Xavier, and Syracuse, all top-50 RPI teams, and the 15 blocks he had in those games accounted for 27.2% of his blocks and 8.1% of his games played.

Basically, Otule got his blocks in big games and Dieng got his blocks against weak opponents. I do believe he will develop into a very good shot-blocker, but based on performance last year, Otule's blocks seemed to come in minutes that mattered far more than Dieng's blocks did.

[Jay Bee]

You're right, but maybe not in all the ways you think. First, I'm guessing the 40% of minutes stat was right from Jay Bee. Dieng averaged 15.6 mpg, which was 39% of Louisville's minutes, while Otule played 17.6 mpg, which was 44% of Marquette's minutes (not including overtimes). So yes, they played similar minutes.

You are right on with regard to your comments about Dieng amassing blocks against lowly opponents. 

With regard to minutes, Otule played well over 30% more than Dieng did.

[brewcity77]

You are right on with regard to your comments about Dieng amassing blocks against lowly opponents. 

With regard to minutes, Otule played well over 30% more than Dieng did.

Dieng was within 2 mpg of Otule, but missed 5 games in the middle of the season with injury. Marquette also played 2 more games on the season than Louisville because of their NCAA run. If Dieng plays in 7 more games, he'd still be behind Otule, but would be a lot closer, which is why his minutes per game are probably a better indicator.