I am not sure Stanton is a point guard. He is really an under-sized shooting guard.
Recruiting another true point is a priority.
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Louis O’Keefe is really good. Could be your PG for 4 years.
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I agree Stanton is not a pure point guard, but he handles the ball well enough and shoots well enough off the dribble to handle that role at times.
I’m waiting to see him knock down 3’s with consistency. As has been advertised.
Another great effort and building performance… poor shooting was the hole in the boat yesterday which I will take 10/10 times over giving games away because of anxious turnovers. Yes there are good turnovers (from going full speed daring to be great) versus bad turnovers (panic, tentative, half ass what were thinking). Another great and gutty performance from Stanton… and his energy is rubbing off on the freshmen and others to play more fearless. For whatever reason it has not seemed to rub off on Huggins or McSweeney who really are going to be the X factor come conference play. Happy can’t be the only post that can both guard and be the hub of the offense from the top of the key. The 5 out offense with back cuts doesn’t work with Huggins in the game because he isn’t a threat to shoot the 3 and he doesn’t even look for cutters. He is instantly putting the ball on the floor and dribbling to the wing for another handoff like someone handed him a grenade. I say again that MH needs to analyze his rotation and shift to sets plays that puts Huggins in a position to be more successful which is free throw line down. Excited to see how the team adjusts when DD is back and Hicke and Stanton can step back into catch and shoot and less dependent on them trying to create their own shot. But whoever is setting the screens or running as the hub at the top of the key has to be a scoring threat…..or the defense will sag in the lane and make you hit outside shots and if you hit great.. but if you don’t — and you shoot 30% from 3 (Iona 16%, Bradley 30%, Monmouth 33% Loyola 26%) high probability of failure.
For conversation: YTD - 3 point shooting
Hicke - 19-48 40%
Stanton 33/85 39%
Happy 18/49 37%
Davis 10/30 33%
Clark 10/32 31%
Hot games, cold games. Lets get consistent.
Three point shooting has a high variance; the only way to overcome variance in a given game is to take more shots.
And win 10 games. Maybe.
Watching Happy’s flat foul shot bounce of the back of the rim makes me wish he could watch this video from the master:
Based on last year’s sample, I said before this season that Happy had to be the high-post hub of the offense, a la the other guys who have been pressed into that role (not always naturally) over the years. He can hit cutters, shoot the three, do the dribble hand-offs, and occasionally spin off the fake handoff to go into the lane. And he can occasionally score out of the low post. Nobody else is both big enough and skilled enough in those areas to do the job consistently.
Huggins needs to be playing near the rim, I think. He is a plus on defense and with rebounding and can do some things offensively if he gets it down low, though more facing the basket. He and Abdulahi are the closest thing the squad has to power forwards, although the whole team has been scrappy and more physical than in years past.
I would really, really like to see Princeton answer long scoring droughts with scrambling full-court pressure. All the players who led the epic near-comeback against Yale last season are on the roster now, and it plays to the strengths of guys like Stanton and Hicke, who are good ball hawks and can hit open shots off broken plays. Just try it for two or three minutes and see if it gets the other team out of rhythm and gets the pump primed on the Tigers’ shooting.
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Agreed. I’m baffled that they haven’t pressed more (if at all). Combined with the dearth of fastbreak attempts, I suspect Mitch is trying to slow the pace as much as possible. But according to KenPom, their tempo isn’t even that slow (223rd out of 364 teams).
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