Some things we have learned

Brad Allis
5 months ago
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Nick Johnson

What we have learned about the Wildcat basketball team so far.

Brad Allis
Arizona Insider - WildcatSportsReport

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5 months ago

http://arizona.247sports.com/Article/Some-things-we-know-about-the-Arizona-Wildcat-basketball-team--109169
What we have learned about the Wildcat basketball team so far.
BradAllis ●
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5 months ago

Not willing to crown Nick as "Back" or "Changed" until after the first half of the conference play. Nick was inconsistent last year and fell apart the last 2 non-con games and never recovered. This year's shooting stats through non-con are better than last year, but still a bit inconsistent and were horrible for 2/3 of Maui.
bpwildcat
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5 months ago

bpwildcat said...
Not willing to crown Nick as "Back" or "Changed" until after the first half of the conference play. Nick was inconsistent last year and fell apart the last 2 non-con games and never recovered. This year's shooting stats through non-con are better than last year, but still a bit inconsistent and were horrible for 2/3 of Maui.

I'll go out on a limb and say.... hogwash. Nick had flashes early last year of what he is this year, but they were just flashes. He is better at everything this year and even when he is not shooting well, he's doing a lot more - he's more a complete player. I will predict right now that he will NOT regress for any significant period of time. Everyone has an off shooting night or a fluke night of turnovers, but at the end of the season, NJ, Hill and Parrom will vie for the most complete player title - filling the most columns on the box score with the best numbers.
incidentally, I admire your wineknow-esque approach in this post....be cautious, don't get caught int he hype....

This post was edited by wineknow on 1/1/2013 at 11:20 PM
wineknow
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5 months ago

Mike Menges and I were talking about "the block" the other night and Mike accurately pointed out that as amazing as Nick's play was, perhaps more impressive was how Nick raced past two Wildcats who were just standing their (frozen) watching Tapley go in for the layup in order to make the game-saving play.
Some guys naturally have that "it" factor and NJ is one of those big moment guys. When you consider that he and Lyons comprise our starting back court it's a comfortable feeling knowing that both our guards have the stones to put the game in their hands and have the confidence to try and make the big plays when they're needed most.
Gary Randazzo ●
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5 months ago

Gary Randazzo said...
Mike Menges and I were talking about "the block" the other night and Mike accurately pointed out that as amazing as Nick's play was, perhaps more impressive was how Nick raced past two Wildcats who were just standing their (frozen) watching Tapley go in for the layup in order to make the game-saving play.
Some guys naturally have that "it" factor and NJ is one of those big moment guys. When you consider that he and Lyons comprise our starting back court it's a comfortable feeling knowing that both our guards have the stones to put the game in their hands and have the confidence to try and make the big plays when they're needed most.

BS... it is all LUCK.... ...
He had a 51% chance to be born female and then he would not have even been on the team.... Therefore it stands to reason we were just lucky....

This post was edited by Pin High on 1/2/2013 at 12:15 AM
Pin High ●
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5 months ago

We are definitely lucky that he was born male! We (fans) are also 'lucky' that he has worked so hard in practice and is as talented as he is - after that skills, coaching, brains and heart take over.
wineknow
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5 months ago

Gary Randazzo said...
Some guys naturally have that "it" factor and NJ is one of those big moment guys. When you consider that he and Lyons comprise our starting back court it's a comfortable feeling knowing that both our guards have the stones to put the game in their hands and have the confidence to try and make the big plays when they're needed most.

This is exactly why I am excited about our tournament chances this year. We have a better back court then I was expecting even if our front court is not quite dominant yet.
As much I criticize Miller's more grind out style it is exactly what works in the tournament. To me we play basketball like Bama plays football, no need to do anything to dazzle or confuse the other team or take big risks by pressing or pushing the tempo. Instead we just line up and play because 1-8 we match up with anybody in the country.
liver97
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5 months ago

upvote liver. good analogy.
CYCAT
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5 months ago

wineknow said...
I'll go out on a limb and say.... hogwash. Nick had flashes early last year of what he is this year, but they were just flashes. He is better at everything this year and even when he is not shooting well, he's doing a lot more - he's more a complete player. I will predict right now that he will NOT regress for any significant period of time. Everyone has an off shooting night or a fluke night of turnovers, but at the end of the season, NJ, Hill and Parrom will vie for the most complete player title - filling the most columns on the box score with the best numbers.
incidentally, I admire your wineknow-esque approach in this post....be cautious, don't get caught int he hype....

Through non-con this year Nick has made 52 of 105 total FG's (49.5%). Last year at this time he had made 44 of 101 (43.6%). He ended up the year shooting 36.9%. Both season, so far, he had flashes of 70-100% shooting and a couple of crappy games. And both years his last 4 non-con games were pure CRAP, as far as shooting goes. This year his FG% is also up because he is taking fewer 3 pt shots.
He is averaging 1 minute more per game, .2 boards more per game, .5 assists more per game, 1.6 more steals per game and .3 fewer blocks per game. Since you value the steal above all else, I can see why you think there is nothing to worry about.
I did not say he IS GOING to regress like he did last year. I said he is showing the same pattern so far. Let's see what happens the next 9 games and see if he continues to shoot around 50% overall for the year or ends up in the low 40's or high 30's like he did last year. Can he sustain the apparent improvement in shooting for the season? Based on his other numbers, only his steals has improved statistically greater than his minutes.
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