Unsung hero: Samson Johnson

[ctbro1999]

For the season: 79% from the field, 76% from the FT line.

His last 3 games:
11-11 FG, 7-8 FT

The man is an efficiency machine. He doesn't get a ton of volume, but when he takes a shot, he usually makes it. And in last night's game, I saw him doing some of what Clingan did all of his two years at UConn, patrolling the paint and deterring guys from even looking at the basket.

 

[Umami Zen]

For the season: 79% from the field, 76% from the FT line.

His last 3 games:
11-11 FG, 7-8 FT

The man is an efficiency machine. He doesn't get a ton of volume, but when he takes a shot, he usually makes it. And in last night's game, I saw him doing some of what Clingan did all of his two years at UConn, patrolling the paint and deterring guys from even looking at the basket.

Didn't miss a shot last night

 

[ctbro1999]

Didn't miss a shot last night

His "worst" shooting game the last 7 games is a 5-8 against Butler. Lol

 

[Chin Diesel]

It’s a piece of the puzzle figuring out how and when to use Johnson and Reed Jr.
PG is solved. It's Diarra.
SG is solved. It's Ball.
PF is solved. It's Karaban.
SF is solved. It's McNeley

Figuring out how to use Reed/Johnson, Ross and Stewart is the task for February.

It's an 8-man rotation. Mahaney and Nowell are emergency use only.

 

[Kitaman]

Its obvious Samson Johnson and Reed are pushing each other. As long as one of them has a good game were fine. If both do then we are March ready.

 

[FlexOnEm]

It’s a piece of the puzzle figuring out how and when to use Johnson and Reed Jr.
PG is solved. It's Diarra.
SG is solved. It's Ball.
PF is solved. It's Karaban.
SF is solved. It's McNeley

Figuring out how to use Reed/Johnson, Ross and Stewart is the task for February.

It's an 8-man rotation. Mahaney and Nowell are emergency use only.

First of all, props to Samson. That’s what this thread is about.

But I think to imply Ross should be ahead of Mahaney in the rotation is crazy. Marquette was a terrible matchup for Mahaney and I agree he didn’t look good last night. Mahaney is the only viable healthy guard we have off the bench right now and he’s been showing flashes of ability the last couple of weeks. He’s definitely capable of giving Diarra and Ball a breather when they need it. The rotation once McNeeley comes back will be Diarra, Ball, McNeeley, Karaban, and Samson with Mahaney, Stewart, and Reed off the bench. I maintain that 8 man rotation has top 10 upside.

 

[Palatine]

It’s a piece of the puzzle figuring out how and when to use Johnson and Reed Jr.
PG is solved. It's Diarra.
SG is solved. It's Ball.
PF is solved. It's Karaban.
SF is solved. It's McNeley

Figuring out how to use Reed/Johnson, Ross and Stewart is the task for February.

It's an 8-man rotation. Mahaney and Nowell are emergency use only.

Mahaney will get 10 +/- minutes every game. Nowell will get minutes almost every game, more if he continues to develop.

Johnson starts. Reed comes off the bench. Minutes will depend on the match up.

Steward will start. He will get max minutes if he hitting his shots. Ross will be our defensive stopper.

 

[jibsey]

Johnson is improving and is an asset, even defensively.

 

[dogpause]

Two players have greatly exceeded my always lofty expectations this season, Solo, of course, and Sampson. He's much tougher and more physical than I thought was possible. And he hustles, diving on the floor and running the court. He's unique among bigs. If he weighed 20lbs more, he would really be special.

Is he out of elgibility after this season?

 

[boog204]

It’s a piece of the puzzle figuring out how and when to use Johnson and Reed Jr.
PG is solved. It's Diarra.
SG is solved. It's Ball.
PF is solved. It's Karaban.
SF is solved. It's McNeley

Figuring out how to use Reed/Johnson, Ross and Stewart is the task for February.

It's an 8-man rotation. Mahaney and Nowell are emergency use only.

Mahaney or Nowell has to play. Diarra cannot play 40 minutes a game and while it "worked" against Marquette, a point guard by committee of Ross, Ball, and Stew cannot be expected to work consistently.

 

[El Obrero]

Good call. Fixating on what Samson Johnson doesn’t do has pretty much become a Boneyard fetish.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

When we pick look back on this season, we will regret that Johnson and Reed did not get 5-10 minutes a game together while McNeeley was out.

They are two of our best players on both ends and we leave one on the bench so we can get another mediocre 3 point shooter with questionable defense on the court. More Reed and Johnson on the court together would mean more 3 attempts on kick outs from Ball.

 

[Edward Sargent]

One thing I wonder with Samson is whether he has any range on his shot. This is not a knock just a wonder! I assume he has taken a few 3s in practice, but he hasnt taken one in a game that I can recall.

 

[auror]

 

[microfich]

The guy is only the plausible UConn all-time leader in field goal percentage - career and single season (75.3, 79.3 so far this year.)
Unofficial, of course, since he doesn't take quite enough shots per game (5) to qualify for this record. He is at 4.4 this season, so possible.

Samson Johnson College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

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[AllHusky]

When we pick look back on this season, we will regret that Johnson and Reed did not get 5-10 minutes a game together while McNeeley was out.

They are two of our best players on both ends and we leave one on the bench so we can get another mediocre 3 point shooter with questionable defense on the court. More Reed and Johnson on the court together would mean more 3 attempts on kick outs from Ball.

From your lips to Hurleys ears. it is not too late to work on that lineup so that it is serviceable come tourney time. Biggest problem is how well the 1-3 players adjust to it, and exploit its effectiveness.

 

[UCan3]

For the season: 79% from the field, 76% from the FT line.

His last 3 games:
11-11 FG, 7-8 FT

The man is an efficiency machine. He doesn't get a ton of volume, but when he takes a shot, he usually makes it. And in last night's game, I saw him doing some of what Clingan did all of his two years at UConn, patrolling the paint and deterring guys from even looking at the basket.

I saw where Hurley pretty much said that this has been his favorite player to coach. That is all I had to hear. His performance Saturday. night was kind of legendary.

The free throws are an indication to some extent of how locked in you are on winning and supporting your team. He is “locked in’ and thank you for starting this thread!

 

[jibsey]

He has been good and the increased floor time has him playing with more confidence out there. Just the eye test from last year to this says it all.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

From your lips to Hurleys ears. it is not too late to work on that lineup so that it is serviceable come tourney time. Biggest problem is how well the 1-3 players adjust to it, and exploit its effectiveness.

You can run a lot of the same top of the key screens off the ball to both Johnson and Reed and then play a 2 man game downhill to the rim with two really tall players. The whole defense would have to collapse on it, leaving Ball, any anyone else on the court, open for catch-and-shoot 3's.

 

[boog204]

When we pick look back on this season, we will regret that Johnson and Reed did not get 5-10 minutes a game together while McNeeley was out.

They are two of our best players on both ends and we leave one on the bench so we can get another mediocre 3 point shooter with questionable defense on the court. More Reed and Johnson on the court together would mean more 3 attempts on kick outs from Ball.

I get it... But here's where I disagree. Oftentimes, already, the way we use our 5-man has us playing 4v5. Teams know they do not need to guard Samson or Reed at the three-point arch (in part bc Hass is not a shooter) so all of the screen/roll stuff is mitigated. If the two of them are on the court, now you have two non-threats when we run our main offense which is getting Ball and AK three's.

If you're thinking this would open up post-up opps for Reed, maybe. But that's still not going to open up "kick outs" because nobody doubles Reed and if they did, they'd just run Samson's man at him anyway and stay with the shooters.

Lastly, having both out there makes our already shaky ballhandling situation that much worse.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I get it... But here's where I disagree. Oftentimes, already, the way we use our 5-man has us playing 4v5. Teams know they do not need to guard Samson or Reed at the three-point arch (in part bc Hass is not a shooter) so all of the screen/roll stuff is mitigated. If the two of them are on the court, now you have two non-threats when we run our main offense which is getting Ball and AK three's.

If you're thinking this would open up post-up opps for Reed, maybe. But that's still not going to open up "kick outs" because nobody doubles Reed and if they did, they'd just run Samson's man at him anyway and stay with the shooters.

Lastly, having both out there makes our already shaky ballhandling situation that much worse.

I like bigs on the court for everything you describe as their weakness.

1) 5 out is a bad offense because it parks two players in the corner where they can't rebound and where they are as far from defending their own basket as they can possibly be and still be on the court. A long rebound or a turnover turns into a layup the other direction. A 5 out also shrinks the gaps between defenders, enabling the next defender to guard the gap and still guard his man, which makes penetration more difficult. Finally, there is no rebounding in a 5 out.

2) against man defenses, run P&R with the center, or run our normal top of the key screen sets but with one of the bigs setting an off ball screen for the other big, who is then coming downhill at the basket, one dribble from a dunk or layup.

3) Against zone, high/low the two of them, with Reed above the free throw line and Johnson flashing short corner to short corner. Centers defending in a zone HATE high low action because any basket makes it look like they screwed up, and Johnson on the weak block (where he will usually end up) will force the wing defender to collapse, leaving Ball or Mahaney wide open on the wing for a kick out.

4) I don't want Ross or Diarra taking a lot of 3's anyway, so pulling Ross in particular off the court just means more 3's for the other shooters like Ball, Mahaney and Stewart.

5) If they double Reed on the block with Samson's man, Reed throws it up at the rim and Johnson dunks it. With the inside players most teams have, Reed is going to spend a lot of time on the free throw line if he posts up.

6) Reed and Johnson have the 4th and 1st highest ORtg on the team, and both are way ahead of any other rotation player on DRtg. Stewart is higher than Reed's ORtg by .2, but Stewart has a 110.7 DRtg, which is the analytics equivalent of saying an 85 year old woman with a walker could take him to the hole anytime she wanted.

7) Reed's and Johnson's shooting percentages of 65.6% and 79.3% from 2 mean that their 2 point attempts have a higher expected value than every player other than Ball's 3 point attempts, and that is before addressing the higher number of fouls inside players draw.

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Teams figured out how to play with two bigs 40 years ago. Celtics won a bunch of championships with McHale and Parish, and the Knicks got close a couple of times with Ewing and Oakley and a bunch of guards that couldn't throw a basketball into the ocean. The Bucks won it 4 years ago with a 4 that is so bad from behind the arc that the other team literally runs away from him when he sets up for a 3 just so he will shoot it. I think we can tweak our sets to get two of our best players on the court more.

 

[boog204]

I like bigs on the court for everything you describe as their weakness.

1) 5 out is a bad offense because it parks two players in the corner where they can't rebound and where they are as far from defending their own basket as they can possibly be and still be on the court. A long rebound or a turnover turns into a layup the other direction. A 5 out also shrinks the gaps between defenders, enabling the next defender to guard the gap and still guard his man, which makes penetration more difficult. Finally, there is no rebounding in a 5 out.

2) against man defenses, run P&R with the center, or run our normal top of the key screen sets but with one of the bigs setting an off ball screen for the other big, who is then coming downhill at the basket, one dribble from a dunk or layup.

3) Against zone, high/low the two of them, with Reed above the free throw line and Johnson flashing short corner to short corner. Centers defending in a zone HATE high low action because any basket makes it look like they screwed up, and Johnson on the weak block (where he will usually end up) will force the wing defender to collapse, leaving Ball or Mahaney wide open on the wing for a kick out.

4) I don't want Ross or Diarra taking a lot of 3's anyway, so pulling Ross in particular off the court just means more 3's for the other shooters like Ball, Mahaney and Stewart.

5) If they double Reed on the block with Samson's man, Reed throws it up at the rim and Johnson dunks it. With the inside players most teams have, Reed is going to spend a lot of time on the free throw line if he posts up.

6) Reed and Johnson have the 4th and 1st highest ORtg on the team, and both are way ahead of any other rotation player on DRtg. Stewart is higher than Reed's ORtg by .2, but Stewart has a 110.7 DRtg, which is the analytics equivalent of saying an 85 year old woman with a walker could take him to the hole anytime she wanted.

7) Reed's and Johnson's shooting percentages of 65.6% and 79.3% from 2 mean that their 2 point attempts have a higher expected value than every player other than Ball's 3 point attempts, and that is before addressing the higher number of fouls inside players draw.

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Check out the detailed 2024-25 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats for College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

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Teams figured out how to play with two bigs 40 years ago. Celtics won a bunch of championships with McHale and Parish, and the Knicks got close a couple of times with Ewing and Oakley and a bunch of guards that couldn't throw a basketball into the ocean. The Bucks won it 4 years ago with a 4 that is so bad from behind the arc that the other team literally runs away from him when he sets up for a 3 just so he will shoot it. I think we can tweak our sets to get two of our best players on the court more.

I get it. Both of our guys can be major players and extremely productive and at times it seems a waste that they're only getting 20mpg.

But we do not run sets that feature our big men. Every now and again we'll get a Reed post or a PNR will work getting Samson in motion, but they are mostly screeners and garbage men in our sets. I don't see DH altering that at all.

As far as the getting downhill concept, as stated above, teams have scouted us and know that there is no point in coming out to hedge. Most teams have been keeping their 5 in drop coverage to play goalie because there's no point in coming out to play Hass or the big at the 3 point line. I see this being more of an issue if you have both bigs in.

And yes, if Reed is doubled, especially big-to-big, then you potentially have Samson to finish. I just don't really trust that aspect of Reed's game yet to be able to make that sort of pass. Against a zone, I'm 100% in for the big-to-big high/low set. We just don't see all that much zone anymore.

Your mention of the Knicks and C's kinda negates the fact that those double big teams featured players who could step out and hit a jump shot. Oakley and Ewing were excellent mid-range shooters, Parish could hit a J and play off others, and McHale is the best back to the basket guy ever. I know you're not comparing skillsets persay, but teams would beg for either of our bigs to shoot it or put it on the floor.

 

[cp176]

The energy and effort that Johnson gives is unique in any player but particularly so in a big man. He spends a lot of time going after loose balls on the deck which I love. I am curious to see what it would be like if he took like maybe a 10’ jump shot but have to say he has grown on me. I love watching him out there