Ponds and Lovett...

W

westchesterjoe

Active member
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
 
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
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RE: your last question:

They were probably looking specifically for a center to fill out the second team. Patton was, without question, the second best center in the league this year, after Delgado. Lots of good guards out there, so they probably gave the benefit of the doubt to the upperclassman wrt to that.

Don't think it affects Ponds's chances for Rookie of the Year, since that just goes to the best rookie.

FWIW, Evan Daniels went on FOX last night, and informally polled 21 of the 40 voting coaches (a head coach, and all 3 assistants from every team = 40 votes). He said 9 coaches said they would vote for Patton, 8 for Ponds, 2 for Baldwin, and 1 each for Howard, and Lovett. That's a little more then half of the votes, so it looks like a 2 horse race.
 
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

RE: your last question:

They were probably looking specifically for a center to fill out the second team. Patton was, without question, the second best center in the league this year, after Delgado. Lots of good guards out there, so they probably gave the benefit of the doubt to the upperclassman wrt to that.

Don't think it affects Ponds's chances for Rookie of the Year, since that just goes to the best rookie.

FWIW, Evan Daniels went on FOX last night, and informally polled 21 of the 40 voting coaches (a head coach, and all 3 assistants from every team = 40 votes). He said 9 coaches said they would vote for Patton, 8 for Ponds, 2 for Baldwin, and 1 each for Howard, and Lovett. That's a little more then half of the votes, so it looks like a 2 horse race.
Click to expand...

Good Points all.. I did not see a lot of Patton but, other than against us where he looked ALL World except for foul trouble, I can't see him over Ponds for Frosh player of year.. Any other opinions out there on this?
 
Should be Ponds, but I expect it will be Patton. A bias toward the player from the better team, and the better defensive player.
 
This is the perfect year to make it dual winners. Doesn't seem fair to leave Patton or Ponds out.
 
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that Lovett is not a true PG. Neither is Ponds. And they have very similar games. Although Ponds lets the game come to him more than LoVett does. I still don't feel as though Ponds gets enough touches, especially in crucial situations. There was one play on Saturday that was telling to me. It was the play were LoVett and Ponds went down 2 on 1 and Lovett wound up in the corner, with Ponds wide open under the basket. For some inexplicable reason instead of passing to Ponds, Lovett waited for Ahmed to run down and dished the ball to him. Ahmed promptly blew the dunk. Either LoVett didn't see Ponds or didn't want to pass to him. Either way, not the sign of a good PG. After the game I had the pleasure of going out to eat with a few Redmen.comers. I asked the question: Do you think we could be a better team next year if LoVett leaves. The answer from them was a resounding "no!". I don't want LoVett to go anywhere, but I'm not so sure that our team won't flow much more smoothly with a true PG(Simon?) as the floor general. Right now we have no floor general.
 
Should be Ponds, but I expect it will be Patton. A bias toward the player from the better team, and the better defensive player.
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There's also a bias toward true freshman winning the award. Would be Surprised if Patton took it over Ponds.
 
First of all Patton is not a great defender. That is his biggest weakness. If he was he would be a lock to be a top ten pick. He might still be but more likely to be late lottery.

As for Ponds he is also not a great defender. It is however not a result of laziness or rarely because he is only trying to get steals. He gets many of his steals (some are remarkable) on the press due to incredibly quick hands and great basketball instinct. He has yet to learn good defensive positioning which is a problem for many of the players. It is something that he needs to work on. He is still a remarkable player and without him many of our enjoyable games this season would have been unwatchable.
 
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that Lovett is not a true PG. Neither is Ponds. And they have very similar games. Although Ponds lets the game come to him more than LoVett does. I still don't feel as though Ponds gets enough touches, especially in crucial situations. There was one play on Saturday that was telling to me. It was the play were LoVett and Ponds went down 2 on 1 and Lovett wound up in the corner, with Ponds wide open under the basket. For some inexplicable reason instead of passing to Ponds, Lovett waited for Ahmed to run down and dished the ball to him. Ahmed promptly blew the dunk. Either LoVett didn't see Ponds or didn't want to pass to him. Either way, not the sign of a good PG. After the game I had the pleasure of going out to eat with a few Redmen.comers. I asked the question: Do you think we could be a better team next year if LoVett leaves. The answer from them was a resounding "no!". I don't want LoVett to go anywhere, but I'm not so sure that our team won't flow much more smoothly with a true PG(Simon?) as the floor general. Right now we have no floor general.
Click to expand...

The guy he passed two missed a wide open dunk and you think he made a poor decision to pass him the ball? For the record I didn't see the play just the highlight of the missed dunk.
 
I am a huge Fan of both, like probably everyone else. A few comments though, if I may.

Ponds and Lovett have PG DNA. But, both need the ball to be at their Best.

I think many of our very Slow Starts to Games are the Result of having Ellison control of the Ball, way too much which his skills and judgment are not suited for. He either makes a lazy, easily intercepted pass or takes several ill advised shots, which always miss.

More to the point and equally relevant is while Ellison is doing his thing, Ahmed is getting impatient and sees that he is not getting the ball from Ellison. So, in the first 5 minutes, after Mullin has pulled Ellison and puts in Mussini, Ahmed sees this as opportunity for him to take over the Game.. Which results in more ill advised shots and out of control drives to the basket, which often miss or he gets called for fouls.

While all this is happening early, Ponds and Lovett rarely touch the Ball, in scoring position. Too many times, Ponds and Lovett don't get the chance to contribute early and this results in double digit leads for the opponent, from which we rarely recover.

In my opinion, both can distribute the Ball but, to Who? Yakwe? How many times have our guards gotten him a great pass and he drops it, fumbles it or throws up something that doesn't hit the backboard, let alone the Rim. And, it seems apparent Ponds and Lovett, grow tired of Ahmed throwing up 12-15 shots a game and, never getting the ball back to them. And, many of his stats are late game points where outcome is already determined.

Criticism has been levied that we get few Assists, which is true. When Yakwe, Ellison and Ahmed have the ball, Ponds and Lovett don't and that's not good. I would like to see our 2 frosh regularly shoot between 15-18 times a game, going to the Hoop where they can score or, shoot the J.. Officiating? Ponds and Lovett get fouled almost every time they go to the hoop and yet, they get no call from the Refs. Many times they finish a play in the first row or, on the ground. how did they get there if they weren't fouled? Fall down, unassisted?

Finally, I saw that Ponds and Lovett are unanimous selections to the Freshman Team of the BE. Which they justly deserve. Patton of Creighton was also a unanimous pick, which no one would quarrel about.. But, Patton was also named to the BE Second team and Ponds wasn't ? I don't get it? Of course, I think Ponds is, without question, the BE freshman Player of the Year.. I guess we will find out on Wednesday afternoon.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is that Lovett is not a true PG. Neither is Ponds. And they have very similar games. Although Ponds lets the game come to him more than LoVett does. I still don't feel as though Ponds gets enough touches, especially in crucial situations. There was one play on Saturday that was telling to me. It was the play were LoVett and Ponds went down 2 on 1 and Lovett wound up in the corner, with Ponds wide open under the basket. For some inexplicable reason instead of passing to Ponds, Lovett waited for Ahmed to run down and dished the ball to him. Ahmed promptly blew the dunk. Either LoVett didn't see Ponds or didn't want to pass to him. Either way, not the sign of a good PG. After the game I had the pleasure of going out to eat with a few Redmen.comers. I asked the question: Do you think we could be a better team next year if LoVett leaves. The answer from them was a resounding "no!". I don't want LoVett to go anywhere, but I'm not so sure that our team won't flow much more smoothly with a true PG(Simon?) as the floor general. Right now we have no floor general.
Click to expand...

The guy he passed two missed a wide open dunk and you think he made a poor decision to pass him the ball? For the record I didn't see the play just the highlight of the missed dunk.
Click to expand...

Was a gorgeous pass and the absolute correct decision.
 
Congrats to these two special freshman. They clearly learned under fire as we have very little upper class leadership.

My biggest worry is that one or both don't return for next season. It would be a disaster for us. I think they have a chance to be special if they can stay together and we can find a little more talent to go with them. I'll keep my fingers crossed but, as an SJU fan I probably need to keep my fingers, toes and every other part of my body crossed...
 
#20, no Freudenberg curse there. :)


[attachment]image-290.jpeg[/attachment]
 
#20, no Freudenberg curse there. :)


[attachment]image-290.jpeg[/attachment]
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One of the best backcourts in the country.
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In this picture Ponds looks 3 in bigger
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They have Ponds at 6'1 and Lovett at 6'0 on the roster. I would think that they have Ponds height correct and Lovett a generous 5'11. Ponds should ask to be listed at 6'2 in this case. Have we had a starting backcourt this small since Porter and Harvey?
 
With improved defense, their impact on team results will be such a plus.


[attachment]image-291.jpeg[/attachment]
 
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