Aaron Scott

[UNTLifer]

What a game yesterday. This young man has some incredible offensive skills. Hope is role changes in the future and we get to see more of this. Range out to the three line, beautiful turn around jumper yesterday, etc.  Just a selfless player that we have yet to see reach his potential. 

[emmitt01]

8 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

What a game yesterday. This young man has some incredible offensive skills. Hope is role changes in the future and we get to see more of this. Range out to the three line, beautiful turn around jumper yesterday, etc.  Just a selfless player that we have yet to see reach his potential. 

He does the one thing that I have been saying was missing from our (and pretty much all of college basketball’s) offense, he hits 12-18 foot jump shots.  
 

It seems basketball has become either take it all the way to the rim or jack up a 3.  A mid-range game, especially a pull up, makes you SO MUCH harder to defend.  

[meangreenfaninno]

9 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

What a game yesterday. This young man has some incredible offensive skills. Hope is role changes in the future and we get to see more of this. Range out to the three line, beautiful turn around jumper yesterday, etc.  Just a selfless player that we have yet to see reach his potential. 

It has been so fun to watch him progress

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, emmitt01 said:

He does the one thing that I have been saying was missing from our (and pretty much all of college basketball’s) offense, he hits 12-18 foot jump shots.  
 

It seems basketball has become either take it all the way to the rim or jack up a 3.  A mid-range game, especially a pull up, makes you SO MUCH harder to defend.  

100% correct. I watched the Suns-Mavs game yesterday because UNT wasn't playing and what makes Kevin Durant and Chris Paul so dangerous is the damn pull-up midrange jumper. If you can hit them at a good rate, you can get the defender really moving and draw some shooting fouls. Such a good weapon. Golden state made coaches forget about the midrange but most of the legends built their game around that shot.

Edited March 6, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

[Shark84]

11 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

What a game yesterday. This young man has some incredible offensive skills. Hope is role changes in the future and we get to see more of this. Range out to the three line, beautiful turn around jumper yesterday, etc.  Just a selfless player that we have yet to see reach his potential. 

He also looks to have grown another inch or two. 

 

[Censored by Laurie]

17 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

What a game yesterday. This young man has some incredible offensive skills. Hope is role changes in the future and we get to see more of this. Range out to the three line, beautiful turn around jumper yesterday, etc.  Just a selfless player that we have yet to see reach his potential. 

he hit a clutch three against UTEP (I think...deep corner, bench side of the floor) that I had zero doubt was going to drop. 

he clearly has an offensive game...I wonder how much of a scorer's mentality he has and/or how much taking on more scoring responsibility could take away from the hustle and intangible side of things he offers. 

it's a good puzzle for Grant to try to piece together moving forward assuming everyone is back next season. I don't see where significant extra shots come from for him...Abou, Kai and TP take in and around 10 shots a game...Scott is getting just over 4 per game.

Martinez is likely the only player moving on, so maybe he gets some of his shots and a bit of run as a reserve 5 with some big guards around him?

[Glory to the Green]

15 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

he hit a clutch three against UTEP (I think...deep corner, bench side of the floor) that I had zero doubt was going to drop. 

he clearly has an offensive game...I wonder how much of a scorer's mentality he has and/or how much taking on more scoring responsibility could take away from the hustle and intangible side of things he offers. 

it's a good puzzle for Grant to try to piece together moving forward assuming everyone is back next season. I don't see where significant extra shots come from for him...Abou, Kai and TP take in and around 10 shots a game...Scott is getting just over 4 per game.

Martinez is likely the only player moving on, so maybe he gets some of his shots and a bit of run as a reserve 5 with some big guards around him?

Good points.  Not sure if he didn’t get the opportunities last year, but his shooting has really improved since last season. It’s been great to watch his confidence grow. He fouls a bit too much, but they’re usually hustle fouls.

I believe it’s also Eady’s last year.  

[MeanGreen22]

Said before the season how huge it would be for Scott to develop a reliable offensive game. If he can start giving you 10-12 points a game on top of his defense? Man.. 

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

it's a good puzzle for Grant to try to piece together moving forward assuming everyone is back next season. I don't see where significant extra shots come from for him...Abou, Kai and TP take in and around 10 shots a game...Scott is getting just over 4 per game.

Martinez is likely the only player moving on, so maybe he gets some of his shots and a bit of run as a reserve 5 with some big guards around him?

Don't kill me here but I'd give Aaron some of Kai's shots. While Huntsberry has been very good for us and a needed 2nd scroing option at the guard position, he hasn't been very efficient. It's mostly the 3s that bring his numbers down.

Here's Kai by the numbers:

Total FGs: 129/323 39.9%

3s: 38/122 31.1%

2s: 91/201 43.75%

Scott:

Total FGs: 76/132 57.6%

3s: 15/41 36.6%

2s: 61/91 67%

I wish I could find their numbers by section of the court and distance from the basket.

Kai has actually taken more shots in less minutes than Perry this season. We've seen enough to know Kai's strength is not behind the 3 point line. He can still shoot a couple per game but he's curently taking as many 3s per game as Scott is taking total shots per game. There's no reason for that if he's hitting 31.1% of his 3s.

Edited March 7, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

[Censored by Laurie]

1 hour ago, GMG_Dallas said:

Don't kill me here but I'd give Aaron some of Kai's shots. While Huntsberry has been very good for us and a needed 2nd scroing option at the guard position, he hasn't been very efficient. It's mostly the 3s that bring his numbers down.

Here's Kai by the numbers:

Total FGs: 129/323 39.9%

3s: 38/122 31.1%

2s: 91/201 43.75%

Scott:

Total FGs: 76/132 57.6%

3s: 15/41 36.6%

2s: 61/91 67%

I wish I could find their numbers by section of the court and distance from the basket.

Kai has actually taken more shots in less minutes than Perry this season. We've seen enough to know Kai's strength is not behind the 3 point line. He can still shoot a couple per game but he's curently taking as many 3s per game as Scott is taking total shots per game. There's no reason for that if he's hitting 31.1% of his 3s.

I get the logic...but I think in practice you're not bringing Kai back for his last year under the impression he's going to have a reduced offensive role. 

to be fully fair to Kai...that 3-point shooting percentage had a long way to climb from the start of the season...I felt early on that it looked like he had a super nice stroke yet he was just a bit off.

in conference play he's actually shooting a bit over 37%...not bad for his volume...and if you drop those first two conference games where he went 0-fer against UTSA and FAU (in the midst of an 0-22 stretch from three across five games) he's actually shooting about 41.5% from 3 since that new years eve game with FIU.

he's also the only player who goes and gets his shot on multiple levels. 

[ADLER]

5 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I get the logic...but I think in practice you're not bringing Kai back for his last year under the impression he's going to have a reduced offensive role. 

to be fully fair to Kai...that 3-point shooting percentage had a long way to climb from the start of the season...I felt early on that it looked like he had a super nice stroke yet he was just a bit off.

in conference play he's actually shooting a bit over 37%...not bad for his volume...and if you drop those first two conference games where he went 0-fer against UTSA and FAU (in the midst of an 0-22 stretch from three across five games) he's actually shooting about 41.5% from 3 since that new years eve game with FIU.

he's also the only player who goes and gets his shot on multiple levels. 

Thank you for the stats and the insight. I had noticed incredible improvement in Kai's game, but I hadn't seen the figures clearly stated like this to support it. Good post.

That said, I still want to see Aaron take the shot whenever he's open.

[GMG_Dallas]

9 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I get the logic...but I think in practice you're not bringing Kai back for his last year under the impression he's going to have a reduced offensive role. 

to be fully fair to Kai...that 3-point shooting percentage had a long way to climb from the start of the season...I felt early on that it looked like he had a super nice stroke yet he was just a bit off.

in conference play he's actually shooting a bit over 37%...not bad for his volume...and if you drop those first two conference games where he went 0-fer against UTSA and FAU (in the midst of an 0-22 stretch from three across five games) he's actually shooting about 41.5% from 3 since that new years eve game with FIU.

he's also the only player who goes and gets his shot on multiple levels. 

I don't think it's necessary to reduce his role. It could be done by speeding up the pace a tad. It would hopefully reduce the amount of bad possessions/shot clock violations we had in conference play and could get Scott a few more shots per game.

If everybody with eligibility returns next season and keeps developing, you're looking at a fairly talented offensive team between Ousmane, Perry, Huntsberry, and Scott. I'm not forgetting about Jones either but he's been a tad sloppy at times but with a good offseason that doesn't involve rehabbing a knee, he could be another weapon who can create his own shot.

[Censored by Laurie]

1 hour ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I don't think it's necessary to reduce his role. It could be done by speeding up the pace a tad. It would hopefully reduce the amount of bad possessions/shot clock violations we had in conference play and could get Scott a few more shots per game.

If everybody with eligibility returns next season and keeps developing, you're looking at a fairly talented offensive team between Ousmane, Perry, Huntsberry, and Scott. I'm not forgetting about Jones either but he's been a tad sloppy at times but with a good offseason that doesn't involve rehabbing a knee, he could be another weapon who can create his own shot.

personally, I love our pace and how we're able to impose our will on teams...but if we're able to hit 70-75 while keeping maintaining defensive pressure, this team gets scary. I wonder though how much this team can really speed things up with Abou...his role is really a classic throw-back 5.

I've been thinking about a line-up with Scott as a small 5 surrounded by some of our bigger guards...Eady at "4", Rubin at 3...could be a team that pushes a bit more and would have enough athleticism and toughness to not drop off too much on the defensive end. 

[GMG_Dallas]

21 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

personally, I love our pace and how we're able to impose our will on teams...but if we're able to hit 70-75 while keeping maintaining defensive pressure, this team gets scary. I wonder though how much this team can really speed things up with Abou...his role is really a classic throw-back 5.

I've been thinking about a line-up with Scott as a small 5 surrounded by some of our bigger guards...Eady at "4", Rubin at 3...could be a team that pushes a bit more and would have enough athleticism and toughness to not drop off too much on the defensive end. 

I love our pace too. I also feel we're more offensively gifted than what's displayed due to the slow pace.

To me, the key to the slightly accelerated pace would be our offensive rebounding with either Abou or Sissoko on the court which we're actually fairly good at. Last year, we had 310 offensive rebounds. We have 335 so far this season with a conference tournament and postseason left to go. On a per game basis, we're averaging 10.81 offensive boards per game, good for 116th in the nation. May not look great as a ranking until you realize the difference between us and say, 40th, is 1.09 ORPG. Considering our offensive possessions per game is dead last in the country (per teamrankings.com), we're doing pretty well on the offensive board.

Playing a faster pace requires a tad of depth, especially amongst the bigs so they dont wear going up and down the court non-stop. We didn't have that last season. We do have it this season and should have it next season. Need to take advantage of that. Again, I'm not calling for UAB pace who's 17th in the country at 75 possessions per game but like Houston who's 335th in the country at 66 possessions per game. We're 363rd at just under 61 possessions per game.