The fouls keep piling up for Samson Johnson. “It’s dumbfounding.”

[El Obrero]

Problem is, Samson’s not a five. He’s a tight end.

 

[UCann]

The sooner we just get over the difficult conversations with Hass and Sam and put them back in their natural habitat dominating the second unit, the sooner this team will reach its potential. Give them the same minutes, but better rotation construction and chance of success with them coming in to battle/dominate the backups.

My boiling hot, Mt. Doom temperature take is that our team would be at its absolute peak if Ahmad Nowell starts getting 20+ mpg right now, and I'm not sure what Mahaney brings that others can't provide? I don't think that's realistic so will not project it below but probably the biggest risk/reward right now.

My Lineups from the first 3 games:
G - Solo - 30 min
G - JRoss 20 min
F - McNeeley - 30 min
F - Karaban - 30 min
C - Tarris - 25 min

First G - Hass or Mahaney or Ahmad depending on matchup (need defense/distributing or a scoring or stone cold killer?)
First W - Jaylin OR Abraham depending on matchup (need rebounding/scoring or 3&D help?)
First P - Samson

Agree with this as the optimal starting lineup based on the first two games (+exhibition). But I'm afraid I have to disagree that the team is better off with Nowell getting 20+ minutes and playing over Mahaney. Aiden is way more experienced and proven. He was great in the exhibition. I think he needs a little more time. I think the team's upside with him this year is greater than developing Nowell on the fly with big minutes.

 

[DogMania]

We're fortunate that we're just 2 games into the season where we all can hope and pray the staff can teach some of these terrible habits out of him, and he can somehow learn to reduce the urge of doing the wrong things he keeps on doing.

He does a lot of very good things and is productive when he's on the floor.

One thing the staff could try, which I've seen in the past, is to bring a foul prone players off the bench instead of starting them. Let the refs get those early quick whistles out of their system on other players and also give the coaching staff the opportunity to see how the refs are officiating the game and instructing SJ on how aggressive he can be. That's not to say he'll actually be able to follow those instructions, but it might help reduce his nightly foul numbers by 1 which might help to keep him on the floor a little longer.

The one downside to that is it does impact the rotations and he does some things that Reed is either still learning and/or is not as good at. Maybe bringing him off the bench can also be that change of pace dynamic that Hurley liked and spoke about in the past. SJ and Diarra are both sort of energizer bunnies that might provide greater overall value coming off the bench. Dan Hurley seems to have made that decision with Hass with Mahaney starting. The one downside to that is you always want to come out of the gate fast (as in productive), and having your best combination of players on the floor to start the game is usually the preferred way to go. Both Reed and Mahaney seemed to have slow starts (first halves) so starting with both might has its downside. Though now is a good time to try things out.

I'd sit SJ next to one of the assistant coaches at the start of the game who can talk through how he should defend in the situations taking place. Then put him in after a few minutes and hope he can execute what he is being taught. Regardless how they go about it, they somehow have to get things through to him so that he can stay on the floor longer. We know Danny and the staff are well aware of this, and will try what they can to coach these bad habits out of him. Lots of games and learning experiences to go. I'm hoping he improves as the season goes on.

He does seem to get 1 or 2 bad calls against him in many games, which seems to happen with bigs that have not built reputation of being able to play aggressively without fouling. He has this herky-jerky way about his game that I think influences the refs. I wonder if he would be better off trying to defend in a more smooth manner and learn to explode at the right time. He is an explosive athlete but tends to look kind of jumpy which might be part of the reason why he gets some of these marginal calls. With that said, he also seems to pick up over aggressive and mental error type of fouls (reaching in, playing too aggressive far from the basket, jumping into players too aggressively around the basket, etc.). These type of mental mistakes not only result in fouls, but sometimes put him out of position. I hope he can correct these things for his sake and the sake of the team.

 

[uh-no]

I think the center position will be a strength this year like the last two years..you can tell SJ has been working on his game..he seems a lot more skilled this year..he just needs to cut down on his fouls.. and I think he will..Reed is big athletic and skilled.. he was in a dumpster fire last year..this year he is getting proper coaching.. he’s going to be really good

and if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon.

I'm sorry. if he hasn't figured it out now after 2 years and another offseason of work...against two cupcakes....I don't know who he's going to figure it out against.

 

[Huskybass]

Weve never seen his production at 20-25 min because of the foul trouble, I'm sure we would all be happy with whatever he produced. He is always the best athlete on the floor , have that for 20-25 min would be game changing imo.

I love what he brings to the team in terms of easy buckets based on length and athleticism, but his rebounding is way below average for a frontcourt player regardless of how many minutes he plays.

 

[CTBasketball]

Problem is, Samson’s not a five. He’s a tight end.

Evers would hang him out to dry, so the LB would break him in two.

 

[Lambeau]

Is it counterproductive not calling fouls on him in practice? Maybe make an exception for Samson?

 

[dennismenace]

I think it’s more frustrating to me because he does so many smart things. He’s not just some big goof. He’s threaded the needle with some passes that show a level of BBIQ that makes it all the more frustrating when he’s reaching in 25 feet from the hoop.

You would think this would be correctable by having one on one drills where guys drive at him, near him etc. and he has to only wall up with hands up until he gets it.
Maybe they have and the in game adrenalin gets him?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Not quite as bad as I thought but his minutes were limited by a fouls especially as the competition ramped up. Texas 3 fouls in 12 minutes, UNC 4 fouls in 20 minutes, Seton Hall 3 fouls in 14 minutes, PC, 4 in 15, SJU 4 in 16, the last two were back to back. After that he was pretty good.

DC had challenges as a freshman, and early last year, trying to block too many guards/wings when all he needed to do with stand tall and make those shots difficult. He did figure that out. Seemed like he'd get pissed whenever anyone scored over him, but that happens. The goal is to get those shots from 50% to 40% or whatever. Just cause a few misses.

Samson is hedging and I think he needs to stop trying to steal the ball from guards. If you watch Adama and Whaley hedging they used size to cut off penetration but rarely reached for the ball. Samson is reaching for the ball, acting like he's a wing.

 

[gtcam]

It's not Dumbfounding - it's DumbFouling

 

[ctchamps]

No excuse for his other fouls but that third foul called against him in the UNH game Samson walled up. The ref with a bad view made the call.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

It's not Dumbfounding - it's DumbFouling

 

[jibsey]

It's not Dumbfounding - it's DumbFouling

Reed had a stupid reach in on Sat

 

[JerseyAlum]

Samson plays more like a wing than a 5. He glides to the rim, slams, and does some decent passing. Not really great on D with the fouls, and not really a back downer.

Reed, Jr. is a 5 on this team, and can back down guys, rebound, box out.

At this point (yeah, 2 games in, so a whole shaker of salt) - Reed, Jr. should start.

 

[Spaceman213J]

No excuse for his other fouls but that third foul called against him in the UNH game Samson walled up. The ref with a bad view made the call.

But that is a big part of the problem. We know refs are going to blow calls so don't give them anything easy to call against you, especially 20 ft from the basket or away from the ball.

I'd keep him in the starting rotation but for a different reason than most think. When he does have that game where he can stay out of foul trouble, it will let Reed be able to 'bang underneath' a little more aggressively. Also, Reed seems like he is smart enough to know that when SJ picks a quick 2, that he needs to find a way to stretch his time on the floor.

 

[Chin Diesel]

There are (at least) two secondary effects of Johnson getting in to foul trouble early in the game. When Johnson has to go to the bench.
1. When Reed comes in, he now has in his head the starter already has two fouls, and it could (I would say 'does') cause him to play more tentatively, because, as a player, you don't want both of you to be in foul trouble. Reed, by his nature, is a physical player on offense with his post moves and on both ends with his rebounding. Now, he might be more hesitant due to a fear of picking up fouls.
2. When Reed is coming in early, he now has to be aware of how much he is exerting himself because he knows he may be playing 14-16 minutes without a break instead of Johnson and him rotating.

 

[Umami Zen]

Very few Bigs have the foot speed to defend Sam when he's rolling to the hoop/lobs/filling the lanes. If you want him out of games so that he's a non-factor offensively-You try to get him into foul trouble early. He's a "handsy" defender- Reaching for the ball,etc. Doesn't stay on his feet and defend vertically with arms/hands extended ala Karaban/McNeeley/Clingan (second half of last year) in order to stay in games.I think it was Spencer who said you've got to occasionally concede a basket and not get into foul trouble so that you can help your team by staying on the floor . Danny will coach him up to be more disciplined. It's the next step in his development for this season.

 

[Palatine]

In two games Karaban has 11 blocks. Johnson has 5. No one else has over 2.

Johnson is a defensive presence that not only blocks shots, he prevents them. SJ 's wingspan is 7-5 on a 6-10 frame not to mention he can jump out of the gym. He is a defensive presence unlike any other on the team. Hurley wants that defensive presence but he may have to sacrifice the high hedge to some degree to keep it on the court.

 

[DogMania]

Very few Bigs have the foot speed to defend Sam when he's rolling to the hoop/lobs/filling the lanes. If you want him out of games so that he's a non-factor offensively-You try to get him into foul trouble early. He's a "handsy" defender- Reaching for the ball,etc. Doesn't stay on his feet and defend vertically with arms/hands extended ala Karaban/McNeeley/Clingan (second half of last year) in order to stay in games.I think it was Spencer who said you've got to occasionally concede a basket and not get into foul trouble so that you can help your team by staying on the floor . Danny will coach him up to be more disciplined. It's the next step in his development for this season.

Well said. I hope you're right. He does a lot of good things. I hope Hurley and the staff can get through to him.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Very few Bigs have the foot speed to defend Sam when he's rolling to the hoop/lobs/filling the lanes. If you want him out of games so that he's a non-factor offensively-You try to get him into foul trouble early. He's a "handsy" defender- Reaching for the ball,etc. Doesn't stay on his feet and defend vertically with arms/hands extended ala Karaban/McNeeley/Clingan (second half of last year) in order to stay in games.I think it was Spencer who said you've got to occasionally concede a basket and not get into foul trouble so that you can help your team by staying on the floor . Danny will coach him up to be more disciplined. It's the next step in his development for this season.

Yep. Good news is he showed he was capable of it in the URI scrimmage. When I did the exhaustive review of his play in that game, he did have a couple clear instances where he made the right decision and just conceded a hoop versus getting an over-the-back foul on a block attempt.

Teams already have plenty of game tape showing that Mahaney is currently vulnerable to letting a dribble drive get past him. And also that Samson is currently prone to handsy fouls on high screen switches, as well as to fouls when he switches over to defend guard penetration into the lane.

It's up to both of them to get better ASAP...with both of them in the starting lineup, any decent coach is going to run a ton of plays in the first 4 minutes to test and exploit those issues.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

No excuse for his other fouls but that third foul called against him in the UNH game Samson walled up. The ref with a bad view made the call.

I won’t give too much grief to Samson for that play because he was put in a bad spot by Ross gambling and getting roasted, but that was 100% a foul. The baseline replay they showed made it seem like he walled up more, but it’s pretty clear in the live camera angle that he jumps into the offensive player. Might get away with that at times because his arms stayed vertical, but it was a foul.

 

[Dove]

It's not Dumbfounding - it's DumbFouling

 

[NickDanger]

You recall incorrectly. Only issue DC had at beginning of last year was getting in to game shape after a few nagging injuries. A healthy, conditioned DC did just fine managing his fouls.

No, you recall incorrectly!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Defense is not just speed or vert or length. Not everyone has the defensive instincts to play at this level. I don't know what else to call it, but Johnson just doesn't have it. 9 fouls in 27 minutes in two blowout wins against Sacred Heart and UNH. These are stat-padder games where Johnson should go in with the mindset of getting 10 blocks, and he fouls out of one and almost fouls out of another.

Okafor was on the far extreme, but his defensive instincts and sense of space, timing and how to defend were amazing. There are better centers in the modern era, but there are probably not 5 college centers in the last 30 years with better defensive instincts than Okafor. There may not be 2 or 3. Johnson doesn't seem to have any defensive instincts at all.

 

[B1GEast]

I don't know why Borges is harping about this. All he's doing is creating a perception problem for Johnson.

Now he'll probably pick up more fouls cause that's the narrative, Johnson just can't help himself and constantly fouls.

Big guys get a lot of contact, that's part of the game and honestly calls are subjective and can go both ways. A lot is incidental, but thanks to dumb posts like this on Twitter, now Johnson might be a target. SMH

 

[pj]

The refs aren't going to change how they call Samson because of a post on Twitter.

 

[B1GEast]

The refs aren't going to change how they call Samson because of a post on Twitter.

Maybe not, but IMO the negative coverage of the amount of fouls on Johnson can have a negative impact on his performance if it gets into his head.

I think it's a bit absurd to worry about it. Let Hurley deal with it. Just my two cents

 

[cp176]

Johnson and Reed have 10 fouls to give between them. They both play hard aggressive defense which is exactly what you want out of them. The nature of the beast is that they both will commit silly fouls on occasion. Our coaches can stick handle their minutes. Last year, losing Clingan for any length of time come late in the season hurt. We needed him on the floor. It's entirely different this season. We have a luxury that any team would love to have. It's a classic two headed monster!

 

[jibsey]

Maheney is not defensively quick, big or physical. He’s not Tristen Newton but he can make 3’s. Defense has always been Hurleys bedrock and I wonder if that is a factor for Aiden in crunch time of games.

 

[JerseyAlum]

All for our bigs getting some fouls, but when I see Johnson guarding at the 3pt line I really wonder why he is so far away from the basket: I get he has quick feet, but not quick hands to guard guys that far out.

If Johnson picks up fouls under/around the basket, then fine. But 20' away is not where he should be.

Comparing Maheney to Newton is not fair to Maheney. I would hope Mahaney's game gets better on passing, and spacing bc I cannot see him growing 2 more inches, getting a better 3pt shot, and defending like Newton.