So yea, I admit to being a Samson Stan. So all the incessant complaining about his deficiencies irk me. Granted, I do agree with some of them. But in true internet message board fashion, I think it gets exaggerated.
What follows is a long post, but I am critically re-watching the game possession-by-possession for objective analyses of SJ criticism points. There;'s a TL/DR summary at the end for ADHD folks. I'll get to the rest of the game later.
Here's narrative summary of his first rotation (from 20:00 to 15:18). Note: O1, D1, etc is offensive possession #1, defensive possession #1, etc. RebO = having a legitimate opportunity for a rebound on the play.
O1-Comes out to 3pt line. Sets 3 screens, McNeeley drives & scores while SJ still at 3pt line. No RebO
D1-On JB. High-hedges. Recovers. Does effective seal-out of JB. 3pt shot from corner clanks opposite side long, Ball with RB. No RebO.
O2-Offensive set again takes SJ out high. Enters lane when Ball shoots [and hits] corner 3. JB boxes him out since already has position established. No RebO
D2-Picks up JB at foul line. JB gets position on left side, seals. SJ re-establishes position between JB & basket. Ball reverses & play stops (? Kick ball or foul…announcers never say). Inbounds play…pass goes to JB at FT line. He passes off , rest of play SJ/JB are inconsequential. URI makes the shot. No RebO
O3-SJ set 2 high screens including the 1 that frees AK for a made 3. No RebO
D3-SJ sets up guarding JB on the blocks. Diarra steals pass at top of key. Takes it to hoop for a layup.
D4-URI pushes pace. Guard beats McNeeley down court for a layup. SJ hustles back, alters shot/may have gotten a finger on ball to block shot, missed layup URI. SJ momentum takes him under hoop, JB cleans up rebound. McNeeley fouls JB on putback. JB makes 1st FT, misses 2nd. SJ boxes out on left side OK, McNeeley gathers miss on right side. No RebO
O4-Classic beautiful UConn set, SJ sets a couple high screens, then PnR, SJ open, but Diarra lob is right over the hoop; SJ can’t dunk it without committing a goaltend.
D5-URI pushes pace after missed lob. SJ has to recover from under hoop; is ~5 yds behind all players, URI sets at top of key; McNeeley is under hoop. Left side has 2 open URI players at 3pt line. SJ runs out to cover one. JB flashes from FT line to hoop; SB rotates down to cover him (setting up a mismatch). SJ guards URI player in corner; he lobs it into JB, who gets fouled on the layup attempt by Diarra who rotates down to help SB. Nothing SJ does wrong here. JB makes the And-1. No RebO.
O5-Set starts. SJ sets effective screen at FT line to free McNeeley who misses 3pt attempt. SJ naturally out of good Reb position due to setting the screen. Reb goes left. SB grabs it and puts it back for the make. No RebO.
D6-SJ effectively battles with JB underneath. Play rotates from left to right. Shot goes up from left. SJ boxes out JB. Both are slightly left-center, a couple feet from the rim. Purists would say it may have been a little weak box-out technique-wise. Rebound goes left-baseline though, and Ball secures the RB. No RebO.
O6-SB pushes pace, SJ and JB come up court behind SB. SJ goes to left corner of FT line (to establish position for offensive set). SB hucks up a quick 3. JB naturally has position on SJ. He seals SJ. Another URI player gets the rebound. No RebO.
D7-URI player drives from top of key left side, gets a step on AK. SJ comes off JB to try and block the layup. Alters shot, it misses, but JB is left open to get Reb since SJ came to help. JB is fouled on the putback attempt by Diarra. No RebO. Could maybe quibble about if SJ should have leaked off JB to help. But I’m not a UConn coach so I don’t know what SJ should do there. JB makes both FTs.
O7-SJ starts high in the set. Gets ball, dishes to Mahaney, flashes down lane, is open for alley-oop but Mahaney misses opportunity. Ball reverses to right, Karaban shoots a 3. SJ is on the left block after curling around after his flash to the hoop. JB comes over to box out. SJ side-steps him, but stays behind him (probably not a bad thing since 3s usually miss long. Rebound goes high and long to the left FT line. Both SJ and Solo go after the Reb, both get a hand on it, it gets bounced on the floor. A 50/50 ball, URI player gets it, McNeeley strips it, SB recovers, and dishes to AK for the easy layup. SJ in position to get a Reb but he & Ball both deflect it (and it stays alive). RebO but no Reb, but play stays alive.
D8-JB gets good position down low with SJ on his back. Entry pass from FT line. JB pivots, goes right drop step. SJ contests, doesn’t foul, JB makes tough contested layup. No RebO, of course.
O8-Standard set. SJ sets a couple of FT line screens, flashes under hoop, goes to right side. SB drives around Mahaney into lane, pulls up and makes the jumper. JB stays on SJ on right side to keep lane open for the drive. No RebO.
D9-SJ & JB start down low. JB flashed up to 3pt line. Two URI guards on right side. JB looks to be setting a screen. SJ looks like he may have been anticipating this and sets his defense back-right of JB. But JB immediately cuts to the hoop. SJ in bad position. Kudos to JB and the URI set need to be made though. AK rotates over to guard JB, who receives the pass on the right block. SJ rotates down to double-team. JB could have been called for a travel, but instead a foul is called. Honestly, could have been called on either AK or SJ. Not sure who got called (think it was SJ), announcers didn’t say and then it went to commercial break.
TL/DR: What are the BY’s biggest beefs about SJ?
“Fouls too much!” - Welp, he made a ton of nice screens, played a lot of decent/adequate post defense, and got called for 1 questionable foul.
“Doesn’t Rebound” - Technically true, but his role in offensive sets often clearly puts him in no position/bad position to rebound. The one legitimate opportunity he had, he was there (with SB), and both tipped it away from each other. Both teams also made a ton of shots in this first 5min stretch…not many legit opportunities to grab rebounds.
“Only Dunks” – In this 5minute stretch, technically true, but he did not have any opportunities to legitimately do anything to take a post shot/jumper the way the offensive possessions went.
“High Hedges too much and gets burned on it and it ruins the defense” – Nope, didn’t happen in the first 5min.
