Jayce Johnson to Marquette

[Benny B]

Davante was a forward forced into playing the center position because Marquette lacked a true center. And he was exposed on being to small vertically.

Which is why he perfected his toss-it-up-and-put-it-back move.  IIRC 97% of his offensive rebounds were balls he simply bounced off the backboard to himself.

[Lennys Tap]

Don't think they overlapped. But even if they didn't, it's interesting that somebody who probably knows a lot about "selfish Markus" would agree to be his teammate when he had numerous other choices.

Really? I know very little about any guy who went to my high school for one year after I was already in college. Actually nothing.

[The Sultan]

Davante was a forward forced into playing the center position because Marquette lacked a true center. And he was exposed on being to small vertically.

Are you saying Lazar was also a center because he played the position in college?

No I'm saying that Davante was a traditional, yet undersized, back to the basket post scorer and therefore a center.  Tell me what part of his game leads you to believe he was a forward?  He rarely played with Otule on the floor, rarely faced the basket with the ball, and had limited range. 

Lazar was a forward who had to play center out of necessity. 

[MU82]

Really? I know very little about any guy who went to my high school for one year after I was already in college. Actually nothing.

I don't know many, either ... although I do know two fairly well: One went on to be a good college athlete and the other a politician.

But you might be right. Jayce might not know anything about Markus ... and that ignorance could lead to his spirit being crushed next season just as Joey's was.

[tower912]

  He rarely played with Otule on the floor, rarely faced the basket with the ball, and had limited range. 

Actually, his senior year, he played too much on the floor with Otule, was forced to guard on the perimeter and had the rest of his shortcomings exposed.     Which was one of the problems with that team.     Phenomenal low post scorer, but ultimately a one trick pony.

[dgies9156]

Actually, his senior year, he played too much on the floor with Otule, was forced to guard on the perimeter and had the rest of his shortcomings exposed.     Which was one of the problems with that team.     Phenomenal low post scorer, but ultimately a one trick pony.

One Trick: Free throw shooting! A-u-t-o-m-a-t-i-c !!!!!

[wadesworld]

Are y'all really whining about a 7 footer we just signed? This is our first real center in like 40 years.

"Real" Marquette centers that I can remember watching play in my Marquette basketball fandom that will be better than Jayce:

McIlvane
Jackson
McKaskill
Gardner

Centers that he'll be roughly equal to:
Theo
Ed
Otule
Barro
Fischer

[MU82]

One Trick: Free throw shooting! A-u-t-o-m-a-t-i-c !!!!!

One of the great myths. He had a nice stretch where he made 90%+ FTs IIRC. But his career percentage was .790 and he regressed to .781 as a senior after shooting .835 as a junior.

Solid percentage, especially for a big, but hardly automatic. The chant was silly, and who knows ... might have even put pressure on him that caused him to miss some.

His "trick" was that he was a talented low-post scorer with great hands and good footwork.

[#UnleashSean]

"Real" Marquette centers that I can remember watching play in my Marquette basketball fandom that will be better than Jayce:

McIlvane
Jackson
McKaskill
Gardner

Centers that he'll be roughly equal to:
Theo
Ed
Otule
Barro
Fischer

You can think that. You named 2 players who were actually centers with imposing size and rebounding skills. You'll learn this next year what being 7 feet tall actually does for a team. All these 6'9s were a stopgap.

[wadesworld]

You can think that. You named 2 players who were actually centers with imposing size and rebounding skills. You'll learn this next year what being 7 feet tall actually does for a team. All these 6'9s were a stopgap.

Okay.  Well then you missed Yusapha Mbao and Liam McMorrow.

If your definition of a "true center" is a 7', then you are right, we haven't had many of those.  Not a great definition, but terms can mean different things to different people.

[The Sultan]

Nobody has a lot of centers if 7' is the definition.  Interesting that this definition gets stricter and stricter as the conversation progresses.

[muwarrior69]

At least we have someone now who can match up with Sandro Mamukelashvili when we play the Hall.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

At least we have someone now who can match up with Sandro Mamukelashvili when we play the Hall.

He's a stretch PF that can hit threes. I will be concerned if Jayce has to defend him.

[SaveOD238]

Really? I know very little about any guy who went to my high school for one year after I was already in college. Actually nothing.

Yeah but the basketball team is a tight knit small group.  It's not unusual for the incoming players to at least bump elbows with outgoing seniors.  Plus it's not like they were a senior and an 8th grader.  I'd really be shocked if they didn't at least know each other before.

[#UnleashSean]

Okay.  Well then you missed Yusapha Mbao and Liam McMorrow.

If your definition of a "true center" is a 7', then you are right, we haven't had many of those.  Not a great definition, but terms can mean different things to different people.

Itd be hard to include players who never played a game.

[muwarrior69]

He's a stretch PF that can hit threes. I will be concerned if Jayce has to defend him.

Agree, I should have qualified as to getting rebounds off the boards.

[ATL MU Warrior]

At least we have someone now who can match up with Sandro Mamukelashvili when we play the Hall.

This might be the most random, out-of-left-field comment I have ever read on Scoop

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Itd be hard to include players who never played a game.

Mbao played.  Very forgettably, but he played.

[wadesworld]

Mbao played.  Very forgettably, but he played.

How could one forget Buzz teaching him, as Mbao subbed into the game, how to do jumping jacks in front of the inbounder when they needed a full court heave at the end of a game?

[Billy Hoyle]

Oooohhhhhh.....

So now you are qualifying your statement by using the 6'9" limitation to disqualify Davante.  But you also now seem to be forgetting that you said "40 years."  Which excludes the following players:

Tom Copa (NBA player)
Jim McIlvaine (NBA player, GMC player of the year)
Amal McCaskill (NBA player)
Robert Jackson (general badass)

Jayce Johnson will very likely not be as good as any of them.  Furthermore, Theo John and Luke Fischer are "real centers."

I'll be damned if you are going to exclude Richard Shaw from that...

Almost made it through that post with a straight face.

[CTWarrior]

Glad to have this guy aboard.  Guys who can rebound at those rates don't grow on trees.  Plus while the Pac-12 may have been down, its not like its the A-10 or something. 

[bilsu]

Mbao played.  Very forgettably, but he played.

I remember him well. Putting him at the top of the key doing what looked like jumping jacks on defense was pretty funny to watch.

[WhiteTrash]

Are y'all really whining about a 7 footer we just signed? This is our first real center in like 40 years.

Jim McIlvain says "Hi"

[Marcus92]

Jayce closed out last season strong. His stats from the last 12 games of the 2018-19 campaign:

26.8 mpg
59.7 FG%
10.3 rpg
1.3 bpg
8.3 ppg

That stretch includes 9 games with double-figure rebounds and 3 double-doubles. He also blocked 3 or more shots 3 times in Utah's last 5 games. I'll take defense and rebounding like that any day.

One downside: Johnson could be the worst free throw shooter we've seen in a Marquette uniform in quite a while. He shot 40% on the year, just 31.7% (13-41) in the last 12 games. He did manage 63.0% the season before, so maybe he can get back to respectable territory.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Rod Grosse?