This isn't something that can be verified by statistics....you will just have to trust me here.
OT: Another nice game by Simpson
- Thread starter G- RUnit
- Start date
He's playing over 31 minutes per game. Whether those include the 1st minute of the game is pretty irrelevant.
NO ONE is treating Davis like a defensive god. A few posters said he played well in the last two games, nothing more.
I think the real reason people might have been hoping Davis stuck around this year was tied to his friendship with Ace. They didn't want anything to potentially screw up Ace coming to the banks. They were trying to eliminate all risk, whether it was real or imagined.
I think it's even simpler than this.
Davis was a 3-star freshman kid who no one had any expectations for, he came in and played some nice defense, people were like "hey maybe this kid has some potential, he's only a freshman, sure his shooting sucks but maybe it'll get better when we have a better offense around him, this is kind of a plesant surprise."
Simpson was a sophomore who, fairly or not, was basically the focal point of our "offense" such as it was. He had the highest usage rate on the team except for players who played almost no minutes (Chol, Ogbole) or came back late in the year (J. Williams). On this highest usage he had the 7th worst EFG% in division I among players playing 16+ minutes per game (the worst in power conferences, and the 3rd worst among non-freshman).
No one thinks Davis would've succeed in the role Simpson was being asked to play. No one thinks Davis was a better basketball player than Simpson last year.
People just (rightly) thought Davis was much better relative to (a) preexisting expectations (Davis had none) and (b) the role they were being asked to play (Davis basically a defensive stopper, Simpson the focal point of a power conference offense).
If he's better than the guy who stayed (which I think he is), then yes, that's value added.
Both slightly plus defenders. Neither can shoot. Neither can finish at the rim. Are there any real winners here?
Simpson and the USA are now unburdened by what has been,
It's happened before with players returning to previous schools. Uri's Sebastian Thomas is a good example.
And then in the preseason, after many workouts, practices, and scrimmages among the guys, those who attended, including some members of the press, were saying JMike took a huge leap forward toward rounding out his game. So I was hopeful based on that, that he would contribute more than he has, so far.
Everything that happened after 3/18/24 is irrelevant to his decision, because it was unknown at the time. He had no idea what sort of role he'd be playing elsewhere or on what team - the only comparison he'd have is his prior time at Rutgers, and what his role might be in 2024-25 at Rutgers.
He knew that Harper and Bailey were going to come in, and they were going to be the focal point of the offense and take the lion's share of the shot attempts. He knew Williams was coming back and would also eat up a lot of shots attempts. He knew Davis wasn't going to transfer with his HS friend Bailey coming in. At the time, Griffiths also hadn't entered the portal, either.
Simpson played in 31 games with 25 starts, averaging 26.0 minutes and 13.7 FGA/40 min. The available minutes at the three guard spots were going to be more limited, and the shot attempts would likely be going primarily to Harper/Bailey. He'd have been looking at closer to 15-20 min/game and 7-8 FGA/40 min had he returned.
And that's entirely outside of any conversations he may or may not have had with staff - just based on the roster construction, it was going to be tougher sledding for him to get shots/minutes in 2024-25 than it had been in 2023-24 with our late guard departures.
He opted to try his hand somewhere else - and I wish him the best.
As far as scholarships - Pike hasn't used 13 to start a season, and he's said it's hard to have that many guys and keep them happy. If Simpson had returned, it's likely we wouldn't have had one of our 4 inbound transfers - my guess there would have been Acuff from a role perspective, but it could have been Derkack or Hayes.
Simpson isn’t a good fit here. It’s that simple. Stop making him out to be something he is not. Davis is a defender first second and third. That is his job. Plus his ties to Ace. Simpson’s best asset was scoring and he wasn’t very good at it last year.
My sources tell me that Simpson left because Pike gave up a conference game to play at MSG. He didn't want to risk having a season-ending injury there.
Simpson > Davis
DerKack > Simpson
Williams > Simpson
GO RU
DerKack > Simpson
Williams > Simpson
GO RU
Love Simpson. He needs the ball in his hands. He wasn’t going to get it with Dylan’s arrival. Was hoping he could take a greatly reduced role here for a bounce back year next year. Happy to see him do well. Great culture guy and leader, has had nothing but positive things to say about RU.
With you on this. Was a little out of control, but he was young last year. Would have been the rare player to stick around now through senior year and be better and contributing every year. He lost spot to JMike because JMike is Bailey's bud. That's the long and short of it.
FG% .380
FT% .750
3pt% .350
2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - Saint Joseph's University
FT% .750
3pt% .350
2024-25 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - Saint Joseph's University
Ehhh reason he threw up half of terrible shots because he was the only one on the floor that could create his shot and with shot clock going down… he was forced to take those shots. If he was on a better team he would have had a better shooting %.
He would also dribble like 7 or 8 seconds off the clock and then take a bad shot.
Best asset was his defense, foul shooting, ball handling and hustle. Scoring was way down on the list.
Also. Used to be Corey Sanders and Jacob Young…. Also one of first to criticize Mags sitting it out. So many loved him too. Oopsy. Crickets your smugness. Cherry pick much? Or ignore when convenient.
Or only arguments you don’t like?
Likewise Mike Williams and Marquise Webb were great defensive players who weren’t great shooters and are beloved heros.
But alas Simpson reminds me of Montez too. Great defense and yet fans never warmed up to him because of offense shortcomings. But still revered other players.
No rhyme or reason for RU favorites,
Shields will stick head in sand of Know nothings and just make snide commentary.
Simpson played the same D and ripped unbelievably. If you don’t see the double standards and your own hypocrisy, might want to look harder in the mirror.
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I don’t think Derek was pushed out - and I believe we still have an open scholarship. If he was, he probably wouldn’t have positive things to say about RU. JMike is content going all out on D and shooting 1-3 times a game and getting 10-15 minutes. That’s not Derek’s game, definitely not as an upperclassmen and I can’t blame him for not wanting to go from ~30 mins a game to 10.
Run with what? You think 31 minutes per game is a reduced role just because he's not technically starting?
You won’t find higher piles of BS on this earth than the piles you find in pre-season college basketball reporting.
Sure, I get that. But why single out JMike at all? They were seeing something new and better in him that just hasn’t come to fruition in real games, at least not yet.
I feel like there must be a breakout game coming, from him and guys like Martini and Acuff.
I don't see much coming from JMike, Martini, or Acuff than what you see now. They are all somewhat borderline players for this level of competition.
JMike and Simpson are both poor shooters
JMike is barely shooting while Simpson would be missing countless midrange shots and disasterous drives and misses
JMike is barely shooting while Simpson would be missing countless midrange shots and disasterous drives and misses
Simpson was a disaster on offense - an absolute liability with his rarely-made midrange jumpers and frequently-stuffed layups.
I actually thought Davis was a better player than Simson last year. So there's at least 1. Lol
So let me get this straight Simpson is praised by you for essentially playing D when you admit the above but you kill JMike for essentially only being good at playing D…. Love this board
Their production was very similar, but I'd give Derek the edge. Take away his awful mid range game, which much of the time he had to take because no one else on the team could create their own shot, he was a better distributor, probably rebounded just as well, was a little longer, and I give him the edge in D. This coming from someone who spent the off season before last year trying to tell everyone Derek wasn't as good as everyone thought he was.
All of our guard play woes last year ties back to we had 3 guards in Simpson Davis Fernandes who did not fit together. We couldn’t play two at a time but much of the time Pike chose to or was forced to (but again, his roster construction).
I think Simpson was the better player albeit in the situations they were both in it was marginal then, but I also agree the general vibe on Davis has been much kinder.
If I am not mistaken last year wasn't he the 2nd most inefficient player in major d1 basketball last year? We all miss him because hes performing well in a lesser conference but he was not a good offensive player for us last year
I can’t wait to see what kind of rabbit hole he goes down this time.