Andy Katz on Wooden award nominees (DJO)

[jesmu84]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy/id/7471475/john-wooden-player-year-nominees-men-college-basketball

Darius Johnson-Odom, 6-2, Sr., G, Marquette
Stat line: 18.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg

Chances: No shot. DJO has had a superb season for the Golden Eagles. He has a legit shot at Big East Player of the Year. But that won't be enough to get a first-team All-American spot or the national POY. Marquette has been decent, but not great enough for DJO to stand out on that pedestal.

[MerrittsMustache]

Katz has clearly been reading Scoop and sees that MU fans don't even like to give DJO SoG honors.

[JTBMU7]

DJO will be all conference and probably some form of all american and we still hear gripes about his game. Not sure what more people want from him at this point, but my guess is we get spoiled when a player averages 17+ in his first season. After that the expectations are so high that simply achieving those numbers every year isn't good enough.

If he stays on his current pace he should be first team in both.

[Silkk the Shaka]

DJO will be all conference and probably some form of all american and we still hear gripes about his game. Not sure what more people want from him at this point, but my guess is we get spoiled when a player averages 17+ in his first season. After that the expectations are so high that simply achieving those numbers every year isn't good enough.

If he stays on his current pace he should be first team in both.

People are already comparing him to our last All American and using it as an INSULT!  People are strange.

[JTBMU7]

Edit: DJO averaged 13 ppg in year one, 15.8 in year 2, and 18 this year.

[muball]

wow no jordon taylor

[mubb34]

wow no jordon taylor

Taylor does not deserve to be an All-American IMO...He has been terrible this year

[muwarrior69]

Wow, no Vander Blue.

[77ncaachamps]

Agree with the analysis.

DJO's best role is as Robin.

Seeing him struggle with his handle as well as not being able to finish among the trees has been disappointing.
As a fan, you hope to see a player develop other facets of their game, but DJO just hasn't.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Agree with the analysis.

DJO's best role is as Robin.

Seeing him struggle with his handle as well as not being able to finish among the trees has been disappointing.
As a fan, you hope to see a player develop other facets of their game, but DJO just hasn't.

His FT line jumper has been key to breaking the zones these past few games.  That's something he didn't pull out all too often the previous two years.  Seems to be another facet of the game he's developed.

[brewcity77]

Matt Giles of ESPN says that Jae Crowder is the biggest snub of any player in the nation at not being named to the Wooden Award list:

The list of 25 players who comprise the Wooden Award midseason nominees was released today, and as with any list, it will spark debate.

While there's no denying that the likes of Thomas Robinson, Jared Sullinger and Perry Jones deserve recognition, we do question the omission of several players who are performing better than teammates who made the cut.

Let's start by looking at the Marquette Golden Eagles. To be sure, senior guard Darius Johnson-Odom is one of the best players in the country. He made noise as a sophomore with his lights-out shooting and has since evolved into a more complete player. To complement his long-range shooting (37.5 percent on 3-pointers), Johnson-Odom has worked on his midrange game and is converting 2-point field goals at a rate of 49.6 percent. The guard has the highest usage rate on the squad (23.4 percent) but surprisingly, for a player who utilizes such a high percentage of the shots taken in the Marquette offense, DJO is not the most efficient Golden Eagle. That title belongs to senior forward Jae Crowder, who has a higher PER (28.48, third in the Big East) than Johnson-Odom and a usage rate of just 19.1 percent. Yet Crowder's offense rating (1.24, per Ken Pomeroy) dwarfs any of his teammates, and he has connected on 60 percent of his 2-pointers and a shade better than DJO on 3s (37.9 percent).

If we assume DJO deserves the honor of being on the Wooden midseason list, then Crowder does, too. Crowder is so unique because of his ability as a 6-foot-6 "switchable" -- Marquette coach Buzz Williams' term for the type of versatile player he likes to recruit to Milwaukee. Per Pomeroy, Crowder leads the squad in both steal and block rates, and he is the Golden Eagles' best defender by far. Overall, whomever Crowder matches up with tends to fair poorly (0.77 points per possession) and the senior is possibly the only Marquette player capable of defending bigs (0.54 points per post-up possession) as well as perimeter opponents looking to isolate (0.35 points per possession).

He also mentioned UNLV forward Chace Stanback and Iona's Michael Glover as other notable snubs.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7470519/ncb-marquette-jae-crowder-wooden-award-snubs

[MattyWarrior]

You'll see how much we'll miss those 2 guys next year, Jae and DJO. They both have been great for this program.

[MUMac]

You'll see how much we'll miss those 2 guys next year, Jae and DJO. They both have been great for this program.

And how much we will miss Jimmy Butler, Lazar Hayward, Jerel McNeal, DJ and Wes before them.  MU is becoming more of a reload than a rebuild.

[jesmu84]

And how much we will miss Jimmy Butler, Lazar Hayward, Jerel McNeal, DJ and Wes before them.  MU is becoming more of a reload than a rebuild.

Buzz has also shown time and again to be able to adjust his offense/defense strategies to be continuously successful regardless of who is on the team/available.

[JTBMU7]

Agree with the analysis.

DJO's best role is as Robin.

Seeing him struggle with his handle as well as not being able to finish among the trees has been disappointing.
As a fan, you hope to see a player develop other facets of their game, but DJO just hasn't.

Check the stats, ppg has gone up every year, turnovers gone down, 3pt shot attempts went down, d has gotten better and 2 pt percentage goes up. Go watch a real "volume shooter" and you'll realize how valuable djo is.  He's developed into one of the best players in the country for crissakes!! I just do not understand this criticism...
Oh, and this has all been against defenses that go in with game plans designed to limit him.

[brewcity77]

We always underappreciate our own.

[Dawson Rental]

Check the stats, ppg has gone up every year, turnovers gone down, 3pt shot attempts went down, d has gotten better and 2 pt percentage goes up. Go watch a real "volume shooter" and you'll realize how valuable djo is.  He's developed into one of the best players in the country for crissakes!! I just do not understand this criticism...
Oh, and this has all been against defenses that go in with game plans designed to limit him.

This is a big change from his sophomore year and even last year when Jimmy was the first option, and this is the point that I think most people who criticize DJO miss.

[BM1090]

We always underappreciate our own.

Not if you're a Badger fan

Congrats to DJO. Crowder definitely got snubbed

[Dawson Rental]

Not if you're a Badger fan

Congrats to DJO. Crowder definitely got snubbed

Point taken!

[mug644]

Matt Giles of ESPN says that Jae Crowder is the biggest snub of any player in the nation at not being named to the Wooden Award list:

He also mentioned UNLV forward Chace Stanback and Iona's Michael Glover as other notable snubs.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7470519/ncb-marquette-jae-crowder-wooden-award-snubs

Not to (re)open a can of worms, but I think the jury is still out on Giles' comment that Crowder "is the Golden Eagles' best defender by far." That said, I do tend to believe that both DJO and Crowder get less attention than their contributions might justify, primarily because they are not flashy in their play.

[brewcity77]

Not to (re)open a can of worms, but I think the jury is still out on Giles' comment that Crowder "is the Golden Eagles' best defender by far." That said, I do tend to believe that both DJO and Crowder get less attention than their contributions might justify, primarily because they are not flashy in their play.

I wasn't sure about that one myself, but it surprised me to see the kind of ppp numbers Jae's man is getting. I'd like to see those numbers in context. Is that including when a guy handles in the post then kicks out to a wide-open man as a zero because his guy didn't actually score?

However, his steal and block rates are very impressive for a guy his size. I'd love to see what he'd be doing on defense if he could guard a 3 rather than a 4/5. Would he still have such gaudy numbers, or would he be getting exploited for not being quick enough?

[Henry Sugar]

Congrats to DJO. Crowder definitely got snubbed

This.  DJO isn't even the most important player on Marquette.  There's a chance he might not even be the second most important player by the end of the year.  But congrats to him.