Diamond Johnson
- Thread starter Chaiya1
- Start date
What drugs are you on? She had 2 points total. Welcome to the board, strange couple of 1st posts from out of the blue.
Definitely disappointed that Johnson transferred. Ever since that article about her this season, however, she has played rather poorly except for one game. She got her bigger stage with a top-ten team, but her overall performance has not been headline worthy. Zippy was pretty quiet with her new team until recently. Gilles has come on recently with ASU. The big surprise to me is Alexis Morris at LSU--back to Mulkey, with whom she started. She was injured here and never got on track before transferring. In Morris' case, one can reasonably speculate that she realised she was out of chances and grew up enough to clean up things off court. Don't remember how many teams she joined, four or five?
What a way for a #1 seed to be rewarded....with a likelihood of having to play UConn down the road in their home turf. Wonder how NC St feels about that.
I know,... it's all about the money, but it still feels unfair, to a degree.
I definitely believe the talent level in ACC is better than B10 night, and folks now have multiple years to scout her, but Diamond's shooting number have taken a tumble this year. She's under 40%FG for the year, and only 33% from 3-pt range.
In her freshman year at RU, she was a 50/40/90 shooter; including an absurd 45% from 3-pt range.
In her freshman year at RU, she was a 50/40/90 shooter; including an absurd 45% from 3-pt range.
Diamond Johnson Stats, News, Bio | ESPN
https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4703768/diamond-johnson
In NC State's last 12 games, Diamond shot a combined 10-53 from 3... (18.8%)... Doesn't seem like her...
I;m sure shell improve but you can't really say if a talented HS player will thrive like expected when she joins a college program.
After this season Diamond will be a junior that seems to have under preformed from what Rutgers and NCSt fans expected when she arrived there
But Johnson still has time to prove she has the type of talent everyone feels she has .
Maori Davenport was another talented one RU pulled in and left.
I felt she'd be a star at Georgia where she transferred to.
Now I;m not sure if she's there or if she plans to play anywhere.
Maori is not on Georia's roster, and status is unknown. I tried to follow our transfers during the season. Tekia Mack went to Depaul roster, but never joined the team. Mael has done well with about 10 pts ppg, and 8 boards.
Zippy did ok. She got more minutes when one of her teammates went down. Overall, a blah outcome, of course they could have all stayed. Obviously, they must have known things were not going to be the same.
Normally - I would pass, but I'm sorry.
ACC 6th Player of the Year. Honorable Mention All ACC.
She was never going to start, they had a starter in her position (Perez, I think) that they were happy with. Johnson was a solid contributor who provided a decent counterpoint to the other player.
I don't know what the NC State fans expected - but "under-performed"??? Good Lord, no wonder this board is negative city.
This Diamond Johnson situation is really tricky. Both sides are right in my opinion. As Knight Time said, she has shown up for NC State in the role that she has been placed in. On the other hand, after watching several games from the start of the season to now, I just think she may have gone there with the expectation of overwhelming Perez for starting spot. I think Diamond was really caught up in eyeing the spotlight that Paige and Caitlin enjoyed last year. This young lady has a HUGE chip on her shoulder for the snub of Mc Donalds game and not getting the attention she felt she was due as one of the top players in her class last year. That was mainly because Arella got most of the attention for us.
She has at times struggled to fit into NC St's style of play. This was already an elite team knocking on the door of a Nat. Champ. They succeed off of ball movement. Diamond is used to dominating the ball and leading with the dribble. It has been a rough adjustment for her that has, IMO, caused her to get in her own head during games, hence lower shooting percentages. I think she is questioning herself just a little bit. She's having an inner struggle trying to fit into the team, ball-movement concept vs. her natural urge to go one-on-one.
Seems like the coach has decided to try to embrace her style by letting her have stretches off the bench where she is allowed to stray from the usual offense and "go for hers". I just wonder how the rest of the team feels about having to adjust for her. They really didn't need that kind of addition.....strong competition for the leadership of an already cohesive unit.
She may want to play like Caitlin and Paige have for their teams but she is finding out that she has a different kind of team around her. An All-American center(Cunane) for one thing... and confident, elite players at the other positions. Caitlin sometimes has to take over when her teammates may be overmatched. Paige often had to do the same last year when the rest of the team struggled with their confidence. NC State's core players are rarely going to be overmatched. She's not on a team that is conducive to her being that kind of standout player.
She has at times struggled to fit into NC St's style of play. This was already an elite team knocking on the door of a Nat. Champ. They succeed off of ball movement. Diamond is used to dominating the ball and leading with the dribble. It has been a rough adjustment for her that has, IMO, caused her to get in her own head during games, hence lower shooting percentages. I think she is questioning herself just a little bit. She's having an inner struggle trying to fit into the team, ball-movement concept vs. her natural urge to go one-on-one.
Seems like the coach has decided to try to embrace her style by letting her have stretches off the bench where she is allowed to stray from the usual offense and "go for hers". I just wonder how the rest of the team feels about having to adjust for her. They really didn't need that kind of addition.....strong competition for the leadership of an already cohesive unit.
She may want to play like Caitlin and Paige have for their teams but she is finding out that she has a different kind of team around her. An All-American center(Cunane) for one thing... and confident, elite players at the other positions. Caitlin sometimes has to take over when her teammates may be overmatched. Paige often had to do the same last year when the rest of the team struggled with their confidence. NC State's core players are rarely going to be overmatched. She's not on a team that is conducive to her being that kind of standout player.
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Yes, what @RUcrazee just said. The difference in her style was part of what earned her some minutes, as well as an injury that held Perez out for a while. As one of the many commentators said on-air, she changed the look of NC State when she was on the court; however, either another or the same commentator said that she had to adjust her game to be a contributor to NC State.
I have no doubt that Johnson may have had higher expectations for playing time, as any player with confidence and a performance like her freshman year would and should believe. That said, she did well in the role she was given - as indicated by @AZBlues.
While I would - if I thought about it - have expected her to shoot better than she did - I knew she was coming off the bench (and unlikely to displace Perez, because Wes Moore believed Perez was the right player for the team) from the beginning so I think that 6th Player of the Year was, well, living up to (reasonable) expectations.
I have no doubt that Johnson may have had higher expectations for playing time, as any player with confidence and a performance like her freshman year would and should believe. That said, she did well in the role she was given - as indicated by @AZBlues.
While I would - if I thought about it - have expected her to shoot better than she did - I knew she was coming off the bench (and unlikely to displace Perez, because Wes Moore believed Perez was the right player for the team) from the beginning so I think that 6th Player of the Year was, well, living up to (reasonable) expectations.
I stand corrected.
Diamond besides winning 6th player award was an honorable mention all ACC player .
Seems her play was a bit, maybe more than a bit, better then I realized and my opinion was wrong and didn't do her justice for her contribution to the WolfPack program.
While she does have those accolades to show for this season, your sentiment that her play has not lived up to expectations is legit. As has been noted in posts above, her shot over the last few games I watched was not "money" , like it was last year. If she was playing to the sharp level of last year, she would have been on the floor to finish out more big games with NC St down the stretch of this season. I was just watching and wondering what might be going through her mind to be sitting on the bench with the game in the homestretch and the coach not even thinking of putting her in. A somewhat humbling experience for her, perhaps.
I think she wouldn't hesitate to say it herself that her play hasn't made the consistent splash that she had hoped for.
Although "amateurs analysts," I found this analysis (from RUcrazee, Knight Time, and Madhat) fascinating, convincing, and informative. Thank you for it.
(And I especially thank Madhat; how rare and admirable it is for one to be open to [and acknowledging] being convinced about something by some else!)
(And I especially thank Madhat; how rare and admirable it is for one to be open to [and acknowledging] being convinced about something by some else!)
You posted her stat line first year at RU. You honestly think she underperformed here ?
I was super excited and thought we finally found the next star.
I have real high expectations, for some player sand sometimes think they didn't do as well as they should have.
I'm just a fan that doesn't claim to be an expert, nor should be considered a student of the game either, and look at the players with with a fans perspective which tends to be a little overboard at times .
As for RU play, she did preform well.in which I misspoke when posting under-preformed opinion.
2020-21 (FRESHMAN AT RUTGERS):
- 2021 Second Team All-Big Ten
- 2021 Big Ten All-Freshman Team
- Played in all 19 games for the Scarlet Knights in 2020-21 and earned the start in 15 of those outings
- Averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals during her rookie campaign. Also shot 90.2 percent from the charity stripe, 45.5 percent from long range and 51.2 percent from the field
- Scored in double figures in 17 games, with seven of those outings marking 20+ point performances
- Three-point field-goal percentage ranked seventh nationally at the conclusion of the season. Averaged 2.6 threes per game to lead the Rutgers squad
- Scored career-high 26 points on two occasions
With this latest admission I'm going into hiding and try not to darken this thread's doors again
LOL..too funny. Nice job.I have real high expectations, for some player sand sometimes think they didn't do as well as they should have.
I'm just a fan that doesn't claim to be an expert, nor should be considered a student of the game either, and look at the players with with a fans perspective which tends to be a little overboard at times .
As for RU play, she did preform well.in which I misspoke when posting under-preformed opinion.
2020-21 (FRESHMAN AT RUTGERS):
Already admitted wrong about the WolfPack play in which I based it on the different look her statistics gave from her year at RU and this season at NCSt
- 2021 Second Team All-Big Ten
- 2021 Big Ten All-Freshman Team
- Played in all 19 games for the Scarlet Knights in 2020-21 and earned the start in 15 of those outings
- Averaged 17.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals during her rookie campaign. Also shot 90.2 percent from the charity stripe, 45.5 percent from long range and 51.2 percent from the field
- Scored in double figures in 17 games, with seven of those outings marking 20+ point performances
- Three-point field-goal percentage ranked seventh nationally at the conclusion of the season. Averaged 2.6 threes per game to lead the Rutgers squad
- Scored career-high 26 points on two occasions
With this latest admission I'm going into hiding and try not to darken this thread's doors again