Thoughts on Watson

[jazzdelmar]

The Shem comp is really a stretch.

[jazzdelmar]

Exactly. He's shown he can be a super player. It'll come.

Who are those guys?

[mgadfly]

Watson was sensational on defense again. The game started with their guys turning and squaring up on him looking to attack. He got his hands on everything poking the ball loose several times. They stopped squaring up in order to avoid his defense and kept their back to the basket hunched over the ball protecting it instead of looking to attack. He chested cutters and disrupted their flow as well as any defender I’ve ever seen at GU. Rewatch that game just watching what he does off and on the ball on defense. He makes the other team wish they were doing anything other than playing basketball against him.

By the way, we were +19 with him on the floor.

It may not be showing up in the box score and I know offense is sexy, but man do we need a throwback early 90s type defender like Watson on this squad. The offense will come.

[jsnider]

I feel like he should watch this, twice a day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndOGscqdzIc

Scrooner - Thanks for posting those highlights. It gives me hope that maybe Watson will come around because he sure looked great at times last year. Where is that kid this year?

[gonzagafan62]

A. Anton doesn’t need to do much offensively
B. He looked great last year for a bit, but we needed him to do great offensively last year.
C. He’s being asked to cause havoc defensively and is doing great in that dept
D. No need to trash the kid when you only watch one side of the ball lol

[katman50]

A. Anton doesn’t need to do much offensively
B. He looked great last year for a bit, but we needed him to do great offensively last year.
C. He’s being asked to cause havoc defensively and is doing great in that dept
D. No need to trash the kid when you only watch one side of the ball lol

Totally agree. Good post!

[White lightning]

A. Anton doesn’t need to do much offensively
B. He looked great last year for a bit, but we needed him to do great offensively last year.
C. He’s being asked to cause havoc defensively and is doing great in that dept
D. No need to trash the kid when you only watch one side of the ball lol

Watson was dominant against 250+ opponents last season before the shoulder injury. He's just a half step slow when it comes to rebounding and scoring this season. In highschool I thought he had a tendency to take possessions off. He was dominant physically now he's not.

Few says he has the best hands and instincts he's ever coached. I believe he'll get it. He needs to quit being the nice guy and get a little bit of an attitude. I really want him to excell.

When we get out rebounded our bigs are flat footed waiting for the ball while the opponent has already jumped to get the ball at the rim. We need Clarke to come do a little coaching seminar on " its my ball".

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[katman50]

Am sure Few knows what's going on with Watson. He knows the kid, totally. A great player in high school, had a great few games last year, but was injured. Out for basically a year. He's gonna come right and Few knows it. Ease up on the guy. He is contributing and will be fine. Trust in Mark, etc.

[bballbeachbum]

Watson was sensational on defense again. The game started with their guys turning and squaring up on him looking to attack. He got his hands on everything poking the ball loose several times. They stopped squaring up in order to avoid his defense and kept their back to the basket hunched over the ball protecting it instead of looking to attack. He chested cutters and disrupted their flow as well as any defender I’ve ever seen at GU. Rewatch that game just watching what he does off and on the ball on defense. He makes the other team wish they were doing anything other than playing basketball against him.

By the way, we were +19 with him on the floor.

It may not be showing up in the box score and I know offense is sexy, but man do we need a throwback early 90s type defender like Watson on this squad. The offense will come.

agree with this view of AW, and on O he's setting some solid screens, some nice passes for his size. Few hasn't run much of anything for him yet, mostly for Timme and CK, and D's have dared AW to hit from deep as they sag to help on Timme and clog the lane, so AW gets open looks from deep early with no one guarding him but hasn't converted that. AW makes a couple of those and things will change from the sagging D the Zags are seeing, or not if he doesn't. At the rim, he's not the first Zag to miss some bunnies but I expect he'll make a bunch too

[ProVeeZag]

Am sure Few knows what's going on with Watson. He knows the kid, totally. A great player in high school, had a great few games last year, but was injured. Out for basically a year. He's gonna come right and Few knows it. Ease up on the guy. He is contributing and will be fine. Trust in Mark, etc.

This is where I'm at too on Watson. Defense and boarding are what we need most from Anton. Shucky darn, we hung 53 on a Bob Huggins' West Virginia team in the 2nd half last night, not many teams can say that. Watson wasn't exactly holding us back offensively.

[Saxon_zag]

A. Anton doesn’t need to do much offensively
B. He looked great last year for a bit, but we needed him to do great offensively last year.
C. He’s being asked to cause havoc defensively and is doing great in that dept
D. No need to trash the kid when you only watch one side of the ball lol

No ones trashed him in the whole thread to be honest - Just seems like major regression on the offensive end possibly due to injury or just rust.

[jazzdelmar]

On the fiery scale, if Suggsy, Kispert and Tims are 10s, then AW is maybe a 3.......sometimes that needle just can't be moved.

[Bogozags]

On the fiery scale, if Suggsy, Kispert and Tims are 10s, then AW is maybe a 3.......sometimes that needle just can't be moved.

AW was a Top 50 rated ESPN recruit. ESPN rarely if ever rate recruits on just their prowess on offence or defence. There is now little doubt that his skills on defence are top notch; however, if you observe, the defence “lays off” of him when he is outside the 3pt line. He does look at the truly open shot he is given but just looks like a “fish out of water,” when he does he does take the shot. When he is so open from behind the arc, he almost always looks to pass the ball as the defence has been coached to not worry as he is not an outside shooter...just like Hart was when he was on the court.

Remember last season, “the word on the street” was that Wooldridge was not a 3pt shot threat, so teams, when on defence, just began laying off of him which would allow teams to clog the middle making posy entry passes difficult at best. Then he began hitting threes, which made the defence guard him, which allowed him to make passes into the post as well as allow him to drive to the basket. I think he just needs to shoot threes when he is open.

Even when he played in those few games last season, he was not a “threat” on offence and this season has not been any different. A player ranked as high as he was by ESPN his season should have skills on offence but to this point in his career, he really doesn’t show confidence on offence.

JMHO AN needs to find away to provide offence...maybe Coach Few or someone on staff that designs plays as they do for Joel’s back-door plays that have been successful, so that he would become more confident when GU has the ball.

I believe AN has and will continue to contribute for this team on defence but hope he finds a way to do so on offence.

[jazzdelmar]

AW was a Top 50 rated ESPN recruit. ESPN rarely if ever rate recruits on just their prowess on offence or defence. There is now doubt that his skills on defence are top notch; however, if you observe the defence “lays off” of him when he is outside the 3pt line. He does look at the truly open shot he is given but just looks like a “fish out of water,” when he does he does take the shot. When he is so open from behind the arc, he almost always looks to pass the ball as the defence has been coached to not worry as he is not an outside shooter...just like Hart was when he was on the court.

Remember last season, “the word on the street” was that Wooldridge was not a 3pt shot threat, so teams, when on defence, just began laying off of him which would allow teams to clog the middle making posy entry passes difficult at best. Then he began hitting threes, which made the defence guard him, which allowed him to make passes into the post as well as allow him to drive to the basket. I think he just needs to shoot threes when he is open.

Even when he played in those few games last season, he was not a “threat” on offence and this season has not been any different. A player ranked as high as he was by ESPN his season should have skills on offence but to this point in his career, he really doesn’t show confidence on offence.

JMHO AN needs to find away to provide offence...maybe Coach Few or someone on staff that designs plays as they do for Joel’s back-door plays that have been successful, so that he would become more confident when GU has the ball.

I believe AN has and will continue to contribute for this team on defence but hope he finds a way to do so on offence.

No offence, but do you have a Made in the UK keyboard?

[Bogozags]

No offence, but do you have a Made in the UK keyboard?

No

[jazzdelmar]

Watty was a 4 star, #48 ESPN ranked player...

Hybrid forward who is pushing 6-10 with a 6-11 wingspan. Extremely versatile; can easily play both the three and four in college. Has very good basketball IQ and uses it through passing ability, rebounding and on defense. Has knack for reading defense and picking off errant passes. Sees court well and always makes right pass. Quality rebounder in and outside of area. Can score facing up or posting up with range to three. Can continue to improve his handle and efficiency shooting the ball, along with ability to create own shot off bounce. Above average but not elite athlete. Should be very good college player. NBA going smaller helps his stock; could find role as hybrid forward in league with continued development.

[GeorgiaZagFan]

ps Nembhard has gotta stop shooting 3’s.

WHY??? Do you want Ayayi to stop shooting 3's as well? Nembhard (32.2%) and Ayayi(33.1%) have about the same career 3 point percentage and both are 2 for 9 to start the season! I want both to keep shooting when they are open and within the flow of the game!!

[jazzdelmar]

No

Right, right.

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

Baylor has best defensive backcourt Zags have seen yet imo. If Suggs ankle keeps him out, I have confidence in Aaron Cook too. Great D and solid pG backup for Zags. I hope he plays great and earns more minutes.

[zagfan1]

For me the verdict is still out on AW. Against West Virginia he had 5 fouls in 23 minutes. He looked a tad slow, uninterested, and unathletic against the WV bigs. Maybe it was just a bad game for him. However, we need him to play well consistently against the great teams. I know this may sound controversial, I would like to see Few start Nembhard and have AW come off the bench as our glue guy on defense. Today is a big day so maybe AW will have a great game and might pull off a few offensive clips to surprise and delight.