Zavier Simpson

MGSA99

All-Conference
Jan 15, 2002
7,791
3,523
0
When he touches the ball: "JEFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

When he shoots foul shots: "Jeffrey Jackson!" CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP
 
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RU-ROCS

All-American
Feb 5, 2003
12,439
7,647
113
More importantly, when defending him give him a lot of room, go under screens and guard against dribble penetration. The kid is great but even as a senior, he can’t shoot a jump shot to save his life!
 

DHajekRC84

Heisman
Aug 9, 2001
30,709
19,818
0
All I know is Howard will use the same winning model. Post up the big guy down low and hope for shots or fouls..and Simpson driving looking for a guy cutting down the lane.
Pike needs to be ready .
 

blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
More importantly, when defending him give him a lot of room, go under screens and guard against dribble penetration. The kid is great but even as a senior, he can’t shoot a jump shot to save his life!

he is at 36% on 3s and 65% on fts. Not a world beater but definitely adequate.
 
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Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,197
24,865
113
Playing way off him and daring him to shoot takes them out of their offense and what they like to do . No need to hard hedge on him ; just have the big sit in the lane all game . If he hits a few , so be it , but they won’t beat us with him shooting threes
 

bethlehemfan

Heisman
Sep 6, 2003
15,112
16,398
113
Playing way off him and daring him to shoot takes them out of their offense and what they like to do . No need to hard hedge on him ; just have the big sit in the lane all game . If he hits a few , so be it , but they won’t beat us with him shooting threes
Ummm no.
 

Duff366

All-Conference
Jan 6, 2006
7,927
1,559
0
Playing way off him and daring him to shoot takes them out of their offense and what they like to do . No need to hard hedge on him ; just have the big sit in the lane all game . If he hits a few , so be it , but they won’t beat us with him shooting threes

Was thinking the same thing. Keep Simpson in front of you, play off of him and keep Myles/Shaq in the lane. Don't leave the perimeter shooters and let Simpson try those running hook shot twos. Michigan is too good of a 3 pt shooting team for RU to bite on every drive.
 
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Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
He’s far more deadly going to the hoop. I’ve watched a few of their games and never seen a star throw up more bricks on jump shots.
He took one 3 against us and it was an airball. Wide open set shot. Just nowhere close to the rim. Then we continued to guard him like he's steph curry. Made no sense
 
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GoodOl'Rutgers

Heisman
Sep 11, 2006
123,974
19,586
0
When he touches the ball: "JEFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

When he shoots foul shots: "Jeffrey Jackson!" CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP
Just play this song..


hold up oscar statues when he acts his way into foul shots... when he badly hooked Myles to get around him and then drew a foul a the basket.. and that became a highlight for the TV guys... that was disgusting..
 

blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
He’s far more deadly going to the hoop. I’ve watched a few of their games and never seen a star throw up more bricks on jump shots.

I didn't say he wasn't better going to the hoop, just pointing out for the season he has been a better 3 pt shooter than everyone on the Rutgers roster except Yeboah who barely nudges him out.

I would play to take away the drive, but you can't just leave him 10 feet open all the time because he has now shown the ability to can those shots at about a 40% clip. MSU tried to go under every screen and double off of him and he shot 4/7.
 
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RUHouston

All-American
Jul 24, 2009
5,180
5,134
58
They're at the top of their game and I'm not sure we can beat the. They're a match up nightmare.

Isn’t that what Howard is saying about us?

This ain’t no neutral court. This is the RAC baby!

We are playing good ball if you haven’t noticed!
 
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Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
He shoots 36% from 3. That’s more than adequate
So you would rather let the players who were draining 3's keep taking them then the kid who airballed his?

Making Simpson beat you from the outside also takes other players out of the game. The last thing you want is Simpson dishing the ball all over the court getting his teammates easy looks and getting the whole team into a flow offensively.

Make Simpson a perimeter shooter. Take away his drive. Don't let him be the playmaker. It is the better option
 

bethlehemfan

Heisman
Sep 6, 2003
15,112
16,398
113
So you would rather let the players who were draining 3's keep taking them then the kid who airballed his?

Making Simpson beat you from the outside also takes other players out of the game. The last thing you want is Simpson dishing the ball all over the court getting his teammates easy looks and getting the whole team into a flow offensively.

Make Simpson a perimeter shooter. Take away his drive. Don't let him be the playmaker. It is the better option

We are not going to let him shoot open 3’s intentionally
 

Pancho1939_rivals

All-Conference
Jun 26, 2012
1,887
2,907
113
So you would rather let the players who were draining 3's keep taking them then the kid who airballed his?

Making Simpson beat you from the outside also takes other players out of the game. The last thing you want is Simpson dishing the ball all over the court getting his teammates easy looks and getting the whole team into a flow offensively.

Make Simpson a perimeter shooter. Take away his drive. Don't let him be the playmaker. It is the better option

isn’t this how we got into a bind with northwestern? Let’s say Simpson goes off from 3 like northwestern or simply hits a couple like Ron against Illinois. If that happens we are F’d. Let’s play strong tough defense And focus on what we do best.


If you spend all week saying you are going to let Simpson get 3s over 2s and he is on fire then we need to make an overhaul of our entire game plan
 

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
196,501
148,583
113
So you would rather let the players who were draining 3's keep taking them then the kid who airballed his?

Making Simpson beat you from the outside also takes other players out of the game. The last thing you want is Simpson dishing the ball all over the court getting his teammates easy looks and getting the whole team into a flow offensively.

Make Simpson a perimeter shooter. Take away his drive. Don't let him be the playmaker. It is the better option

I am ok with him driving into trees. He's a little dude who doesn't finish well. He's at his best finding open guys in helter skelter situations which our D creates when we hedge hard. Against him, I would do the exact opposite. Have Tez and Young forget offense for the night. Dog the hell out of him man to man knowing we will get beat sometimes. Force him to be scorer, not a distributor. I don't care if he goes for 30. Just don't allow him to get the other guys involved.
 

blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
I am ok with him driving into trees. He's a little dude who doesn't finish well.

Contrary to his height he is actually quite good at finishing inside amongst the trees, often with his hook shot. He is 71/110 on shots classified as "at the rim" by Hoop-Math and almost none of those are in fastbreak situations.

He is not a good jump shooter, but he is serviceable, and he is worked his way into becoming decent on wide open shots. Some teams still give him those and he usually makes way more than they would like. But he is one of the better guards in the country at scoring in traffic in the lane and a great passer.


Rutgers has a great defense this year. They should probably just keep doing what they usually do. I'd prefer to make Simpson shoot a 3 but would definitely not just give him wide open looks. The thing is, though, as a 3 year starter he has seen essentially every type of ball screen defense possible and knows what to do against them. Now the result might not always be great but he will have a counter to whatever a defense tries to do.
 

Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,197
24,865
113
Yes , I would love to let him shoot open threes . Dare him to take them . If we leave him open for three and he shoots 20 of them , no way he even hits 7. 5 if lucky
 

blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
Yes , I would love to let him shoot open threes . Dare him to take them . If we leave him open for three and he shoots 20 of them , no way he even hits 7. 5 if lucky

you are saying a player who shoots 36% overall (including end of shot clock heavily contested heaves) could in no way hit 7 of 20 shots (35%) if left unguarded and even 5 of 20 (25%) would be lucky.

That is some interesting use of math!
 

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
196,501
148,583
113
Contrary to his height he is actually quite good at finishing inside amongst the trees, often with his hook shot. He is 71/110 on shots classified as "at the rim" by Hoop-Math and almost none of those are in fastbreak situations.

He is not a good jump shooter, but he is serviceable, and he is worked his way into becoming decent on wide open shots. Some teams still give him those and he usually makes way more than they would like. But he is one of the better guards in the country at scoring in traffic in the lane and a great passer.


Rutgers has a great defense this year. They should probably just keep doing what they usually do. I'd prefer to make Simpson shoot a 3 but would definitely not just give him wide open looks. The thing is, though, as a 3 year starter he has seen essentially every type of ball screen defense possible and knows what to do against them. Now the result might not always be great but he will have a counter to whatever a defense tries to do.

They dude is a good player. No doubt. But from what I have seen, I would much more like to take our chances forcing him to be a finisher than hedging, keeping his dribble alive, and finding an open shooter or getting the hockey assist.

He most certainly doesn't shoot or finish like he does that. That's clearly his best asset.
 

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
196,501
148,583
113
you are saying a player who shoots 36% overall (including end of shot clock heavily contested heaves) could in no way hit 7 of 20 shots (35%) if left unguarded and even 5 of 20 (25%) would be lucky.

That is some interesting use of math!

I wouldn't leave him open but I would force him to take shots rather than dribble and find people on hedges.

I'd like to see what his % is at the RAC in those situations.
 
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Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,197
24,865
113
I would play him like a big guy and that can’t shoot . You guys don’t get it ; if we are daring him to shoot it takes them out of their normal off FHA’s . He’s going to be like “why am I open “ should i shoot it or not ? Would you rather him shoot open threes. Him penetrate and kick to guys who shoot threes better than him ,. Or would you rather have him get to the basket and finish or set guys up which he is much better at then shooting threes . It’s a no brainer
 
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rume

Senior
Oct 27, 2001
2,146
997
113
I would play him like a big guy and that can’t shoot . You guys don’t get it ; if we are daring him to shoot it takes them out of their normal off FHA’s . He’s going to be like “why am I open “ should i shoot it or not ? Would you rather him shoot open threes. Him penetrate and kick to guys who shoot threes better than him ,. Or would you rather have him get to the basket and finish or set guys up which he is much better at then shooting threes . It’s a no brainer
I hope Young spends a lot of time defending him. Young really did a good job in the 2nd half of the last game.
 

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
196,501
148,583
113
He’s really good. He averages 8 assists per game. You have to stop the penetration as best you can but leaving him open for 3’s is nonsensical

I am not saying you sit in the paint and just say shoot.

But I don't slide to him early that for sure. Him being a scorer is not what they do. So make him to that. He's a D1 good player. He will do that on some level. But I take my chances with that more than watching him dribble around our big and find either their big for the score or their big who finds one of their deadly 3 point shooters for the score.

D to me is all about forcing teams to do what they aren't comfortable doing. That's why our strong hedge works a lot. Teams aren't comfortable being sped up and it takes a quick PG with vision who can keep their dribble alive to really beat it. Michigan has exactly that. For Michigan, that isn't hedging on their quick PG who can find guys in broken situations.

Its making him a scorer which he doesn't do quite as well. What is obvious is you don't play him like you did last game. He absolutely wrecked us single handily.
 
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blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
I would play him like a big guy and that can’t shoot . You guys don’t get it ; if we are daring him to shoot it takes them out of their normal off FHA’s . He’s going to be like “why am I open “ should i shoot it or not ? Would you rather him shoot open threes. Him penetrate and kick to guys who shoot threes better than him ,. Or would you rather have him get to the basket and finish or set guys up which he is much better at then shooting threes . It’s a no brainer

If someone shoots 36% on 3s, maybe 40% when open, you are resigning yourself to allow something like 1.10-1.20 PPP for the game (even allowing the opponent to get no offensive rebounds) if you theoretially let them have an open shot every possession. For comparison, Iowa scored 1.20 PPP in their win over Rutgers in Iowa City.

It literally doesn't matter if you take them out of the offense or whatever, it's just bad ideas to give competent shooters uncontested shots.

The way you defend is to play your normal defense and just shade him to take away the drive. You never give away uncontested shots anywhere on the floor.
 

Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,197
24,865
113
I am not saying you sit in the paint and just say shoot.

But I don't slide to him early that for sure. Him being a scorer is not what they do. So make him to that. He's a D1 good player. He will do that on some level. But I take my chances with that more than watching him dribble around our big and find either their big for the score or their big who finds one of their deadly 3 point shooters for the score.

D to me is all about forcing teams to do what they aren't comfortable doing. That's why our strong hedge works a lot. Teams aren't comfortable being sped up and it takes a quick PG with vision who can keep their dribble alive to really beat it. Michigan has exactly that. For Michigan, that isn't hedging on their quick PG who can find guys in broken situations.

Its making him a scorer which he doesn't do quite as well. What is obvious is you don't play him like you did last game. He absolutely wrecked us single handily.
Exactly right . You want to to make them do something that they are uncomfortable doing ( making Simpson a scorer and a shooter ). Cannot hedge on him and no reason to . Just go under and chest ball screens so we don’t lose contact on either the roll or a pick and pop
 
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Shell21

Heisman
Mar 23, 2004
35,197
24,865
113
Simpson is also 3-17 threes on the road 17%and shooting 42 percent at home . Even more reason to force him to shoot threes
 
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blockm2

Senior
Jul 9, 2001
4,354
584
0
Simpson is also 3-17 threes on the road 17%and shooting 42 percent at home . Even more reason to force him to shoot threes

LOL, great use of sample size.

I'll go out on a limb and guess you will not be able to calculate a p value to show us the statistical significance of that.