- Joined
- Jan 6, 2015
- Messages
- 7,023
- Reaction Score
- 57,196
San Diego State (26-10)
#17 in KenPom
44th in D1 experience
117th in minutes continuity (47.1%)
#17 in KenPom
44th in D1 experience
117th in minutes continuity (47.1%)
53rd in Offensive efficiency (75th last year)
- 63rd in offensive rebounding rate
- 67th in FT rate; 73.3 FT% (118th)
- Jaedon LeDee averages 7.7 fouls/drawn per 40 and shoots 73.7% from FT
- 109th in turnover prevention
- 120th in 2P% (51.7%)
- 161st in 3PA/FGA (38%), 31.8% from three (283th)
- No one on team has a 3P% higher than 35% (Elijah Saunders) but everyone in their rotation, except for back up big Miles Heide, shot at least one three-per-game
- 171st in A/FGM ratio (50.7%)
- 197th in offensive tempo (17.7 seconds/possession)
9th in Defensive efficiency (4th last year)
- 23rd in opp. 3P% (30.8%); but 285th in 3PA/FGA (40.3%)
- 28th in slowest defensive tempo (18.3 seconds/possession)
- 49th in block rate
- Jay Pal 7.1%
- Miles Heide 6.6%
- Myles Byrd 5.5%
- What’s interesting is that LeDee and Elijah Saunders, who ostensibly shares the PF role with Jay Pal, is NOT a rim protector.
- 63rd in steal rate
- Byrd 3.7%
- Butler 3.3%
- Trammell 2.6%
- Parrish 2.5%
- 65th in opp 2P% (47.7%)
- 83rd in opp FT% (70.3); but 202nd in FT Rate prevention (which means they foul a lot)
- Surprisingly, LeDee averages just 3.0 fouls per 40 minutes played
- 126th in defensive rebounding rate
- 134th in A/FGM prevention (49.1%)
San Diego State's MWC Conference Stats
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP:
Darrion Trammell 5’10 175 fifth-year returnee
Lamont Butler 6’2 205 senior
- #2 rated defender
Micah Parrish 6’6 195 senior
Jay Pal 6’9 185 senior transfer from Campbell
- #3 rated defender
Jason LeDee 6’9 240 fifth-year returnee
- Ranks as KenPom’s fourth most valuable player in the nation (Newton is 3rd)
KEY INJURIES - none
FREQUENTLY USED BENCH PIECES - 29.5% minutes (211st in nation)
Reese Waters 6’6 212 junior transfer from USC
- Plays close to starter’s minutes at SF
Elijah Saunders 6’8 225 sophomore
- Shares PF position w/ Jay Pal in about equal time
Miles Byrd 6’7 185 sophomore
- Top rated defender
Miles Heide 6’10 224 freshman
- Lowest rated defender
Just four players return from last year’s roster, but there are a ton of similarities between this year and last year’s San Diego State team.
The next two paragraphs are a literal copy-and-paste (aside from the numbers of years) from last year’s report:
While Steve Fisher is the architect of the San Diego State program, Brian Dutcher, the associate head coach under Fisher, has admirably continued the program’s success post-Fisher, leading the Aztecs to the NCAA Tournament in six of the seven seasons with Dutcher at the helm and their first Final Four and Championship Final in program history.
Continuing the tradition of Steve Fisher, for decades San Diego State has lived up their tradition as a hard-nosed, physical defensive squad that grinds their teams to a glacial pace.
Even though the roster is quite different: a lot of the analytics are pretty much the same or pretty darn similar, but the biggest difference of this year’s team is that while last year’s squad had an even opportunity frontcourt (four guys averaged between 16 and 22 minutes per game), this year’s squad has a clear star: Jaedon LeDee. The 6’9 240 fifth-year returnee has more than doubled his points-per-game average while also adding the three-point shot to his arsenal. On defense, LeDee can guard multiple positions and can switch with ease thanks to his surprisingly quick feet.
Outside of LeDee’s massive improvement, the rest of the roster fits a similar vibe of last year’s: the other top eight guys in the rotation play a lot and neither player possess an alpha offensive role like LeDee. Last year, big guard Matt Bradley was the defensive focus. This year, LeDee.
Outside of LeDee, the returning rotation pieces are in the backcourt with starters Lamont Butler, Darrion Trammell and Micah Parrish. Like last year, rather than relying on one point guard, all three share the distribution duties (average between 1.9-3.3 assists per game), neither are big time scorers (7.9p-9.4 ppg) and all three are excellent defenders (Butler was selected to this year’s MWC All-Defensive team while both Trammell and Parrish were selected to the same teams in their respective conferences prior to transferring to San Diego State in 2022). Out of the three, Butler is the best penetrator and least willing three-point shooter while Trammell/Parrish are pretty split even in 2PAs and 3PAs.
New to the backcourt is USC transfer Reese Waters and sophomore returnee Miles Byrd. Waters was the reigning Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year winner and plays a similar role with San Diego State this season as a three-level scorer off the bench and a more than capable defender. Waters is San Diego State’s best three-point shooter and at 6’6 212 he is pound-for-pound the strongest player on the team, outside of LeDee.
The frontcourt features most of the newcomers. After defensive stud Aguek Arop graduated and Keshad Johnson grad transferred to Arizona, grad transfer Jay Pal and homegrown sophomore Elijah Saunders share the power forward position pretty evenly in playing time. Jay Pal reminds me a lot of Akok Akok, an incredibly long, athletic rim running power forward who is an elite blocker and can also stretch the floor. At 6’9 185, Pal has done an excellent job silencing the questions of whether or not he can handle the physicality of the Mountain West despite his slim frame, as he is the team’s best rebounder outside of LeDee. Saunders is an efficient, three-level scorer who is the team’s second best perimeter weapon and while he does not possess the defensive upside of Pal, he’s not a slouch on D either. If LeDee gets into foul trouble, the drop off between him and true freshman Miles Heide is massive. Johnson should play every single second that LeDee is on the bench, so Clingan’s minutes can be prioritized facing against LeDee.
So overall, the plan of attack is very different than last year: in the title game, the offense or a particular player’s offensive performance wasn’t a main focus, while this year, it’s all about Jason LeDee. However, in San Diego State’s ten losses, LeDee averaged 18.7 ppg (with a game low of thirteen points) so LeDee gets his win or lose.
On offense, I’m most interested to see how the Huskies compete against San Diego State’s “big lineups” that feature one true guard (Butler or Trammell) and 6’7 defensive stud Miles Byrd at the 2.
