Player of the Week
[player: Isaac Hamilton] – UCLA
Hamilton had himself a week. UCLA had a couple of incredibly hard games this week and split the results, beating Gonzaga and losing to UNC. Hamilton was a beast against Gonzaga. While [player: Bryce Alford] had some massive jump shots in the game, Hamilton is still incredibly important in taking the pressure off Alford. Having one outside threat isn’t good enough, having Hamilton posting 20 point games is huge for the Bruins. The junior guard had 20 points on 8-15 shooting against Gonzaga, adding some efficiency to the Alford run offense. He also scored 23 points against UNC, all on 9-12 shooting. It makes you wonder what Hamilton has to do to touch the ball more. Looking deeper into Hamilton’s play, he doesn’t add much to UCLA other than scoring. Hamilton is okay defensively, but doesn’t have the quick feet that lets a guard excel on defense. If Hamilton can touch the ball more and create shots for other it can go a long way in taking pressure of Alford and UCLA as a whole to make plays.
Who’s Hot
[player: Jakob Poeltl]
This comes with a bit of an asterix. The Utes had an odd week, getting rocked by Wichita St. then beating Duke while playing, well frankly, pretty badly. Poeltl is in the center of all of this. The sophomore struggled mightily against Wichita St. The Shockers doubled Poeltl every single time he put the ball on the floor, really a brilliant strategy. The sophomore center had no idea what to do. Now, if he was more experience he would know just to pass the ball to the guy that doubled. The Utes also should have helped out more, especially by moving around whenever they saw the double coming. It was really interesting to see the Utes basically shut down without Poeltl. This is something the soon to be lottery pick must definitely get better with, teams will be looking to double him the rest of the year. Against, Duke it was an entirely different story. Poeltl did eventually foul out, but he was a beast in the paint, grabbing a career high 14 boards and scoring 19 points on 8-11 shooting. Every time a Duke player drove to the hoop, Poeltl was there waiting to stop it. Just being in the paint is important for Poeltl, his presence alone forces tougher shots and can change the angle of the shot as well. There is no question that Poeltl is a force, but he will be scrutinized with every move he makes, lets see how he works with double teams next week.
Arizona St.
Ah time to pay homage to the team that is certainly the surprise of the Pac-12, Arizona St. Even without [player: Savon Goodman], the Sun Devils took down UNLV at UNLV. Arizona St. really is an enjoyable team to watch. They play together, moving the ball around on offense and play ferocious defense, hustling all over the court on every possession. While Arizona St. did lose to Kentucky, I enjoyed their effort. The Sun Devils dirtied the game up, for lack of a better term. They were scrappy and took it to the Wildcats in the first half. Honestly, their shots just weren’t falling. The Sun Devils seem to be for real, and much of the credit must be given to their coach, Bobby Hurley.
Who’s Cold
[player: Jordan Loveridge] – Utah
Loveridge just has been flat out bad the last three games, never topping 10 points. Now, Loveridge really hasn’t gotten many good looks, but you can still put the blame on the senior forward. I know the Utes guards aren’t the best, but Loveridge can come off screens harder and move his feet more on defense. We all know turnovers can lead to instant offense and Loveridge hasn’t helped that much on the defensive end. With Poeltl playing so well, I was really looking forward to Loveridge just bombing from three, it just hasn’t happened yet. Teams have keyed on him, but he still must shoot better if Utah is going to keep beating teams like Duke. In honor of Christmas rapidly approaching I wanted to give out some gifts. Honestly, I just wanted to be a Grinch, so here are my top 5 players who are receiving coal this year.
Top 5 Pac-12 Players who might get coal this Christmas
5. [player: Jaylen Brown] – California
Alright, I understand he picked California but I really do expect more out of Brown this year. [player: Ivan Rabb] has actually been pretty good and seems like a beast on the defensive end, but Brown still seems lost. The freshman forward still doesn’t know what to do without the ball and that is clearly a problem, [player: Tyrone Wallace] isn’t going anywhere. Brown is shooting 41 percent on the season and only 25 percent from three, all while shooting 11 times a game. The freshman is even struggling from the free throw line, shooting 62 percent. On top of Brown not shooting that well, I would expect a better effort on the defensive end.
4. Pat O’Connell – USC
For those of you that don’t know O’Connell, he is the director of basketball operations for USC. Sorry guys, I’m still so incredibly disappointed in USC’s schedule. No challenges whatsoever. USC still hasn’t traveled out of California and have two losses to Xavier and Monmouth. Don’t get me wrong, the Trojans can be a good team this year, but this schedule has not prepared them for the Pac-12. This is one of the more wide open years in the Pac-12 with no completely dominant team, but USC hasn’t been challenged all year. Come their first big road games, the Trojans will definitely struggle, as O’Connell didn’t give them any games to challenge them in the non-conference schedule.
3. Johnny Dawkins – Stanford
The Cardinals sit in the basement of the Pac-12 right now, right as non-conference play is about to finish out. Frankly, Dawkins doesn’t have that much talent on this years team, but they are just bad. The Cardinals offensive has been atrocious only scoring more than 66 points in two games. With some bad loses to both SMU and SMC, Stanford is struggling to find any answers. I understand that [player: Chasson Randle] is no longer on the team, but that’s not excuse for a Division 1 program to not have anyone else to step up. Defensively, the entire team also has to step up. With no real point guard to distribute, the Cardinals may be stuck in the basement of the Pac-12 for the rest of the year.
2. California Golden Bears
Still disappointed in California’s play, even though they haven’t yet. Brown hasn’t been that good, Wallace clearly isn’t a true point guard, and it is starting to look like their are just too many mouths to feed on offense. Chemistry wise, I expected this team to be a lot better. Passing can be fun! Setting players up and getting great shots all equal wins, last time I checked winning was pretty fun. It seems like the Golden Bears are just too selfish right now and that’s honestly a tough fix. Wallace is the only player on the team averaging more than 1 assist a game. That is astounding on a team with so many offensive weapons. The Golden Bears have to find a way to change their offense, not to get so many catch a shoot shots and to pass the ball even more, only then can they reach their full potential. In the meantime, looks like the Bears are just getting coal this year.
1. [player: Brandon Taylor] – Utah
Time to single out the one player that seems to be holding the Utes back, senior guard Brandon Taylor. [player: Lorenzo Bonam] seems to be stepping up with the ball in his hands much more, but Taylor has been awful. The senior is shooting 34 percent on the year and only averaging 8 points a game, I even rounded up. While Taylor is okay defensively, I question the rationale of him still playing 30 plus minutes a game, he just hasn’t justified it. Not only is Taylor not shooting well, he is turning the ball over almost three times a game. The senior doesn’t get to the free throw line, hasn’t passed very well and costs the team open looks. Bonam has played better and [player: Kyle Kuzma] can add some more playmaking ability. Santa will be bringing coal to the senior guard’s locker this year.