mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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03-02-19 12:25 AM - Post#278788
It's pretty remarkable that a guy shooting 50% on twos and 42% on threes with a 15% assist rate only has a 92.6 ORtg, but that's what shooting 57% from the line and a 27% TO rate will do.
He's got a nice looking shot. The free throw thing seems mostly mental. The turnovers are a matter of 1) improving his handle, and 2) figuring out the plays he can and can't make at this level. Tonight was a step backward with his decision-making, but he'd been getting better at that the last few weeks.
Pretty scary to think what he will be once/if he cleans those things up, as you'd expect him to as a sophomore. To say nothing of his great work on the defensive end and the glass.
Edited by mobrien on 03-02-19 12:32 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-02-19 11:24 AM - Post#278821
In response to mobrien
First observation this preseason was about how much depth this squad has. Never thought we’d need it as much as we have. Kirkwood, Djuricic, Haskett, Catchings and Forbes were keys to last night’s victory over Penn. Bryce’s first rough shooting outing of the season. Crimson junior starters need a week off.
Seth to the rescue?
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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Kirkwood
03-02-19 12:01 PM - Post#278827
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Anyone else concerned that from when Bryce hit his Three with 6:22 remaining to put the Crimson up 54-46 that we couldn’t score until a Kirkwood FT with 33 second remaining?
Also, Donahue was so intent on keeping the ball out of Bryce’s hands (so he couldn’t shoot FT’s) that Penn triple teamed him on inbounds plays on the closing possessions. Worked as Juzang and Kirkwood missed front ends of consecutive 1and 1’s. Bryce was sent sprawling by aggressive Penn D on a following inbounds resulting in Amaker pulling him, hopefully avoiding adding Bryce to the walking wounded list.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 03-02-19 12:01 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2691
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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03-05-19 03:49 PM - Post#279470
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Looks like Kirkwood is about to get his running mate. Chris Ledlum out of the same NMH program is a beast. A top 100 prospect, he is expected to move up.
Recent playoff boxscores on MaxPreps show the 6'6" small forward scoring 30+ ppg, shooting around 50% from 3, and over 80% on 2's and FT's. Rebounds and assists as well.
If we add a center, large and strong 2's and 3's like Kirkwood, Ledlum and Catchings could allow us to bang with the big boys!
Boy do I hope everyone is healthy next season! Fear no one will want to plays us OOC.
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mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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03-05-19 04:31 PM - Post#279473
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
With Towns and Ledlum, Amaker is going to have even more lineup versatility next year.
If Kirkwood cleans up his handle, you could theoretically go *super* big with him at the point, Ledlum at the 2, Bassey at the 3, Towns at the 4, and Lewis at the 5 (at least in the few minutes that Aiken is resting).
The most common lineups will probably be some combination of one big — Lewis, Djuricic, Forbes, or Baker — with four smalls. So pick four out of: Aiken, Juzang, Haskett, Bassey, Towns, Ledlum, and Catchings. That's probably our best combination of rim protection, rebounding, and spacing on offense.
And, if we really needed an offensive boost, Bassey, Ledlum, and Kirkwood are all good enough on the boards that we could even go super small with them, Aiken, and Towns. You'd mostly want to use that when the other team's big is resting or in foul trouble, but that's a lineup that would *really* put pressure on a defense (although Djuricic is a good enough shooter that we'd get the same sort of effect with him as a single big).
That ability to adapt based on the other team's strengths and weaknesses is potentially a big plus.
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mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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Kirkwood
03-06-19 02:36 PM - Post#279588
In response to mobrien
While a lot of the attention has gone to the 2016 class and this being their penultimate chance, what's gone unnoticed is how different the subsequent classes have been relative to the last homerun cohort (2011).
After the Saunders, STEVE, Jonah, Kenyatta and Corbin class, Harvard got an okay 2012 haul (Siyani, Cummins, Okolie), one decent player over the next TWO classes (Zena - though Hunter Myers is an unknown due to injury) and Corey plus a low-major assortment of players in 2015. Programs that sustain success definitely hit home runs in recruiting, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, they have great success at getting the pieces they need between those monster classes to provide the important bridge between those hauls.
Harvard's going to be freed up with the 2020 class to throw a lot of numbers at it, if it wants to. But unlike in 2016, when it needed an influx of talent across the board, the tremendous work in the smaller 2017, 2018 and 2019 classes has allowed for Harvard to be more targeted in its approach in 2020. Here's what a reasonable starting five would have looked like in 2016-17 without the frosh and in 2020-21 without any future frosh Harvard might get:
2016-17
Siyani
Corbin
Corey
Egi
Zena
(And Harvard was lucky to have Siyani, Corbin AND Z into 2016-17 - that was not their original class)
2020-21
Haskett
Kirkwood
Ledlum
Forbes
Djuricic
And frankly, comparing the starters is the most charitable view for the 2016-17 team, as the depth even more dramatically favors 2020-21.
Harvard has built a pretty nice cupboard for when the 2016 class graduates. It still needs to hit a homerun in 2020, but not at the "seven-person class where every player can contribute meaningfully within the first year or two" level.
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bradley
PhD Student
Posts: 1842
Age: 74
Reg: 01-15-16
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Re: Kirkwood
03-06-19 10:23 PM - Post#279650
In response to mrjames
Amaker has obviously done an outstanding job in recruiting. By all objective measures, his freshmen classes have received the highest ratings amongst all IL teams for a number of years. Tommy has built a legacy based on strong recruiting.
When the incredible 2016 freshmen class was recruited, a number of Ivy fans were sweating bullets that Harvard would run off 3 or 4 championships based on the talent and if it was not for injuries, they may have captured 3 regular season crowns and unknown Big Dance appearances but the injuries have made it far more challenging.
I was always a fan that he recruited at such a high level for the 2016 class as it put pressure on the other IL coaches and ADs to ratchet up their programs or be left in the dust.
Competition is a good thing and who knows which team will represent the IL this year at the NCAAs. Recruiting is obviously very important but no guarantee for success.
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