Samson Johnson Off Season

[Samoo]

There's no reason he can't be the starting center. Honestly, I will be shocked if he isn't. I trust him to put in the work necessary.

What's awful on this board is so so so many of you discounting the current players on the roster for shiny new transfers. Not wanting Solo Ball to have a chance so you can get a guy from Dayton or UMass. C'mon now. Show some respect.

I haven't read a single poster who wanted to deny Solo a chance to compete for a starting position. Where is that coming from?

 

[eastern14]

What does he need to do to be a legitimate BE starting Center?

How much can he realistically transform his body?

Were going to need him to make a leap next season

He just needs to get stronger and more disciplined. A lot of his fouling issues occur because he isn't strong enough to hold up against big centers.

 

[jibsey]

Solo is potentially a good shooter, great athlete, next step defense. Never got the PT because of the talent. Here's his chance.

 

[Shamon30]

Wasn't he originally billed as a decent jump shooter?

 

[Umami Zen]

Samson's game is speed and verticality. Not sure he can carry much more weight and maintain those attributes. If his BBIQ can be enhanced re: defensive rotations (and not fouling)--improved positioning for grabbing some boards and blocking some shots- That would be great. He will continue to provide a change of pace from Reed and there's value in that.

 

[jibsey]

In my mind it's a great combo with Reed. 2 different looks again.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

way too much disrespect to Samson in this thread

He needs to rebound better, but otherwise he's a big-time asset who is getting compared to the last two our last two MOP winners. Listen to Raf talk in glowing ways about his hedging throughout tourney. Clingan wasn't really able to shoot in our offense either. We actually featured DC more on the block in the tourney, than in regular season.

Samson will surprise next year. The coaching staff know what they have

 

[uconnfan68]

Solo is potentially a good shooter, great athlete, next step defense. Never got the PT because of the talent. Here's his chance.

He started in place of Castle while Steph recovered. He was a true frosh and had some weaknesses, but the potential is there. Hoping for a big jump.

 

[Chief00]

Yup. The kid is great at it and getting better all the time. His speed to recovery is tremendous. He will never be the wrench on that front, because the wrench had some instinctual ball hawking chops and great hands on top of the physical ability, but Samson really has been a plus defender in that specific area and will continue to improve.

Hurley obviously loves the ball pressure and disruptiveness the hedge brings. He’s played it with every 5 man more times than not except for Clingan. And even Clingan would show from time to time. It’s not going away, and it shouldn’t as long as you have players whose attributes call for it. Johnson’s absolutely do.

The only disruption to the game is putting your opponent on the foul line. When we disrupted our opponent’s backcourt via pressure it was done with Stephon, Hasson and Tristen. With Cam in the mix as well.

 

[dingaling]

There's no reason he can't be the starting center. Honestly, I will be shocked if he isn't. I trust him to put in the work necessary.

What's awful on this board is so so so many of you discounting the current players on the roster for shiny new transfers. Not wanting Solo Ball to have a chance so you can get a guy from Dayton or UMass. C'mon now. Show some respect.

High hedging our bets

 

[August_West]

way too much disrespect to Samson in this thread

He needs to rebound better, but otherwise he's a big-time asset who is getting compared to the last two our last two MOP winners. Listen to Raf talk in glowing ways about his hedging throughout tourney. Clingan wasn't really able to shoot in our offense either. We actually featured DC more on the block in the tourney, than in regular season.

Samson will surprise next year. The coaching staff know what they have

Thank you. It’s amazing how things are these days. People ( fans and teams) treating the portal like it is Fantasy Football. What’s crazy is that Hurley has the formula , he has maintained he has the formula, stated it publicly numerous times , and then proved that he actually does have the formula via results. It should be readily apparent to anyone paying attention exactly what the ingredients are, but with some of the stuff seen on the intertronz ( here and elsewhere) from people tells me they don’t understand Hurleys approach .

Thankfully he will continue to follow it and not listen to a bunch of internet nutjobs.

I find it hilarious ( and sad) that people on the one hand try to celebrate how important social media impressions are to the health of the program, but then lack the compunction to understand that a proven area of where social media does actually have an effect is in the dissing of players or coaches and subsequent decisions that can be effected by it.

Think I’m overstating that? Kentucky fans via Social media just ran a HOF coach out of his job before the program was prepared to make a move. I don’t care what peoples thoughts here on Calipari are, just know that the last sentence I wrote is a fact.

Past all that Samson Johnson will be real good for us next year. He was a vital piece to this years championship team and has three years in the program. He has earned a spot here, to me he’s earned some gratitude too, but I know that’s entirely too much to ask.

 

[August_West]

The only disruption to the game is putting your opponent on the foul line. When we disrupted our opponent’s backcourt via pressure it was done with Stephon, Hasson and Tristen. With Cam in the mix as well.

Get used to it chief. It’s never going away, and despite your protestations on how bad it is we’ve won 2 Nattys with it as a useful part of the D. Jokes on you.

Whats your position now, that we could’ve won this years Natty by 30 points a game instead of 24 if only we had played drop?

Beautiful.

 

[Chief00]

Get used to it chief. It’s never going away, and despite your protestations on how bad it is we’ve won 2 Nattys with it as a useful part of the D. Jokes on you.

Whats your position now, that we could’ve won this years Natty by 30 points a game instead of 24 if only we had played drop?

Beautiful.

Did we use it when our starting center was in this year? If it is such a successful scheme , why not? If it works so well why did Samson foul out in a big tournament game despite playing about half the game?

It is not exactly a newsflash that we won the NC, I am well aware of that of course as are our beloved Casual Fans. What the focus is now, is winning games next season when Samson is a bigger piece of the puzzle.

 

[UCan3]

He’s already more than qualified as a BE starting center. Now for a starting national championship center he needs to rebound better, get stronger and shoot a little bit.

Agreed.

What he needs to do more than anything is play the game to stay in the game. Him coming in for 15 minutes and picking up 4 fouls won’t cut it next year.

He will have to learn how to guard as much as possible without fouling. He will have to learn that sometimes he will get posterized - that’s okay - let them have their moment - move on.

Certainly a short range jumper and making free throws will be necessary if he want to start and play as much as Clingan.

His role will be changing and we need him to change with it. He has incredible abilities and sometimes outshined Clingan but being the “go to“ guy is different and expectations are different Too.

 

[August_West]

Did we use it when our starting center was in this year? If it is such a successful scheme , why not? If it works so well why did Samson foul out in a big tournament game despite playing about half the game?

It is not exactly a newsflash that we won the NC, I am well aware of that of course as are our beloved Casual Fans. What the focus is now, is winning games next season when Samson is a bigger piece of the puzzle.

Because he’s an elite rim protector. This isn’t that hard Chief

 

[rich1122]

He can score from 0ft. Let’s start scoring from 1/2ft or 1ft.

 

[Chief00]

Because he’s an elite rim protector. This isn’t that hard Chief

If he’s an elite rim protector, are you maximizing his value having him matched up against a point guard 23 feet from the basket?

 

[bmayuc]

All of Samson's problems (rebounding, fouls) stem from the fact that he's light in the pants and can be displaced easily. Not much to be done about it honestly - just needs to eat a billion pizzas and protein shakes and start developing some old man strength to battle better and not get rooted.

in addition technique wise he can learn to take charges instead of getting hammered with 5 consecutive shoulders into the chest, but that BB IQ stuff is hard to learn this late, that feel.

 

[AntG168]

Samson is going to average 8 points a games next season off of lobs and slips alone. If he can develop ONE go to move he could get up to 12. And that would be lovely

 

[Waquoit]

Samson is going to average 8 points a games next season off of lobs and slips alone. If he can develop ONE go to move he could get up to 12. And that would be lovely

He should be able to bury a three from the top of the arc next year.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He should be able to bury a three from the top of the arc next year.

Did you see him shoot this year?

 

[imno1]

If he’s an elite rim protector, are you maximizing his value having him matched up against a point guard 23 feet from the basket?

This is simple stuff so follow me. Dovovan is an elite rim protector and best used in drop coverage. Samson has elite recovery speed and is very disruptive when hedging. Danny was smart enough to use each to the best of their abilities. it must have worked since we had one of the best defenses in college bb.

 

[Chief00]

This is simple stuff so follow me. Dovovan is an elite rim protector and best used in drop coverage. Samson has elite recovery speed and is very disruptive when hedging. Danny was smart enough to use each to the best of their abilities. it must have worked since we had one of the best defenses in college bb.

The results question his recovery effectiveness. Look at rebounds or block shots or fouls or +/-.

 

[Drame]

Did we use it when our starting center was in this year? If it is such a successful scheme , why not? If it works so well why did Samson foul out in a big tournament game despite playing about half the game?

It is not exactly a newsflash that we won the NC, I am well aware of that of course as are our beloved Casual Fans. What the focus is now, is winning games next season when Samson is a bigger piece of the puzzle.

This is so stupid. Obviously different players are better at different things with their different skill sets.

 

[Agent0]

He should be able to bury a three from the top of the arc next year.

I doubt it his shot is beyond broken