Welcome AJ WIlson

If you combined Will Thomas’ assertiveness and attitude with AJ’s athleticism, you’d have George Evans on steroids — a completely unstoppable monster.

Unfortunately we don’t seem to recruit naturally aggressive players anymore. It’s too bad.

Per hoop-math.com, 56.2% of AJ's shots are two point jumpers and he's hitting 25% of them (18/72). Meanwhile he's 27/38 at the rim (71.1%). Absolutely inexcusable failure of player and coach.

I'm glad that you place the blame on both AJ & Paulsen. So, I'll repeat my question previously asked on this board: Doesn't Coach Paulsen care about analytics?

Blame has to be on both of them. Idk if DP understands analytics because his coaching and rotations go directly against them. Ya know when he puts 4 net negative offensive players in the game when we desperately need a score late game ?! Or when he takes out all the big guys out when you’re up by two and are under your own basket playing defense?!? About 10 examples each game of going directly against logical analytics. Would think such a “smart” guy that can’t recruit would use analytics to his advantage.

My guess is he knows the analytics, but so do the other coaches. So at that point, is Paulsen good enough to devise an offense to counter what the other team is doing to prevent AJ from getting shots where he's most effective?

Some of it is also on the player, there are definitely times when AJ just decides to take a fadeaway jumper when he doesn't have to, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that our offense just doesn't work.

Strictly speaking about AJ I agree with you. But the other teams game plans being better than ours has no bearing on the analytics we use for lineups we trot out there. That falls strictly on a coach who either doesn’t use or doesn’t listen to analytics.

I always wonder in situations like this is how much of this an attempt to develop "next level" AJ at the expense of now AJ/also the team?

Your guess is as good as mine but uh-oh, I heard Jesus Urbina's perimeter game is next level next season.

Yes, lineups and rotations are 100% on the coach.

But one wonders, also, if having so many net negative players on the bench are a product of poor recruiting or poor game planning as well? Like how is it possible that we have so few players who can defend OR score, let alone so many who can't do either?

Look at Ronald Polite, for instance, here's a first team All Met player who right now looks like he should be playing in DII or DIII. That doesn't make sense to me.

Polite has looked good in ONE game this year. The other team played a soft man to man and he drove down the middle and kicked out for wide open shots four plays in a row. It was amazing. But against tight man to man or zone he looks like he doesn’t belong on the club team much less be a scholarship athlete. When your sophomores and juniors other than Oduro and Miller all look worse than last year by a fair amount it makes you wonder.

Next level AJ will need to consistently score from mid range and the 3 point line. He’s not doing that either. But I do get your point and agree

This reminds of the saying:

“You play like you practice.”

He’s playing scared. Paulsen harps on him
To much. So now he’s content not trying