With the departure of KGG, our guard corp looks a lot smaller. Even with him last year, we were vulnerable to big physical guards who could score – e.g., Lipscomb. This year, the biggest and most physical guard on the squad is Devin Harris at 6’4” 200.

Devin gives a contrast with the speed and quickness of smaller guys like Petey McClain and Jalen Riley. Against Lipscomb it was often a question of whether ETSU could blow by them enough times with our quicker guys to make up for what we would lose in size and muscle. That will often be the question again this year – unless Devin can step up and help change the equation.

It is hard to do a real profile on a guy who played so little. He got a shot during the first few games, and again in a 4 game stretch in conference. But Jalen Riley got less erratic and Petey McClain improved steadily toward season’s end. The Bucs seemed to do better taking advantage of the quickness that those two provided. So Devin lost minutes.

The good thing is that his attitude didn’t seem to suffer. And at seasons’ end when he had to step in for 10 and 15 minute stretches in the ASun tournament versus Lipscomb and FGCU, he was productive. Against Lipscomb he gave us a big 3 steals to go with 3 rebounds and 4 points on 2-3 shooting in only 10 minutes against their bigger guards. Now THAT was useful. In the next game he was one of the brighter spots in a losing cause against FGCU. In 15 minutes he put up 10 points on 3-6 shooting (4-5 free throws), got 4 rebounds and another steal. He looked tough and confident on the floor. Those were almost all the steals he got all year, indicating that he had been working on his defense in practice despite the lack of PT.

Then, against Chattanooga in the CIT, our quickness was killing a slower team, and Devin went back to the bench.

In the 6 ASun games where Devin got 10 minutes or more he played 12.7 minutes and averaged 5 points 3.3 rebounds 1.3 assists, 0.8 t.o., 0.7 steals.

A tough bigger guard who can rebound (important with our uncertain front court)and defend gives ETSU a different look to throw at opponents. Hopefully Devin is also working on his handle and his shot (.385 from the field; .250 from 3; but .692 from the line) in the off season. If he can improve those weaknesses the way that Rashawn Rembert did, he could become a very special player for us.

Right now, I think the Bucs are best when our small guards (McClain and Riley) are taking advantage of their quickness and speed. But Devin Harris can make a huge difference by giving us another way to go.

(08-20-2014 07:22 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote:  With the departure of KGG, our guard corp looks a lot smaller. Even with him last year, we were vulnerable to big physical guards who could score – e.g., Lipscomb. This year, the biggest and most physical guard on the squad is Devin Harris at 6’4” 200.

Devin gives a contrast with the speed and quickness of smaller guys like Petey McClain and Jalen Riley. Against Lipscomb it was often a question of whether ETSU could blow by them enough times with our quicker guys to make up for what we would lose in size and muscle. That will often be the question again this year – unless Devin can step up and help change the equation.

It is hard to do a real profile on a guy who played so little. He got a shot during the first few games, and again in a 4 game stretch in conference. But Jalen Riley got less erratic and Petey McClain improved steadily toward season’s end. The Bucs seemed to do better taking advantage of the quickness that those two provided. So Devin lost minutes.

The good thing is that his attitude didn’t seem to suffer. And at seasons’ end when he had to step in for 10 and 15 minute stretches in the ASun tournament versus Lipscomb and FGCU, he was productive. Against Lipscomb he gave us a big 3 steals to go with 3 rebounds and 4 points on 2-3 shooting in only 10 minutes against their bigger guards. Now THAT was useful. In the next game he was one of the brighter spots in a losing cause against FGCU. In 15 minutes he put up 10 points on 3-6 shooting (4-5 free throws), got 4 rebounds and another steal. He looked tough and confident on the floor. Those were almost all the steals he got all year, indicating that he had been working on his defense in practice despite the lack of PT.

Then, against Chattanooga in the CIT, our quickness was killing a slower team, and Devin went back to the bench.

In the 6 ASun games where Devin got 10 minutes or more he played 12.7 minutes and averaged 5 points 3.3 rebounds 1.3 assists, 0.8 t.o., 0.7 steals.

A tough bigger guard who can rebound (important with our uncertain front court)and defend gives ETSU a different look to throw at opponents. Hopefully Devin is also working on his handle and his shot (.385 from the field; .250 from 3; but .692 from the line) in the off season. If he can improve those weaknesses the way that Rashawn Rembert did, he could become a very special player for us.

Right now, I think the Bucs are best when our small guards (McClain and Riley) are taking advantage of their quickness and speed. But Devin Harris can make a huge difference by giving us another way to go.

Yes I think it is great just having Devin out there for the coaches put into the game to give the other team another look and something different to worry about. I think he will make a large contribution this year.

Here’s the ideal result for Devin – let him take a page from the book of 2 other underappreciated freshmen: Tommy Hubbard and Rashawn Rembert. Both of them made huge improvements in sophomore and junior years to become great Bucs. Devin has already shown more freshman year promise than either of them.

Tommy : 24 games, 4.9 min., 0.6 pts, .438, 0-2 from 3 (.000), .100 free throws, 1.2 rebounds, 6 asst, 11 t.o., 7 steals
Rashawn: 19 games, 6.2 min., 1.5 pts, .242, 4-20 from 3 (.200), .444 free throws, 0.6 rebounds,6 asst, 5 t.o., 5 steals
Devin H.: 18 games, 9.2 min., 2.3 pts, .385, 2-8 from 3 (.250), .692 free throws, 1.6 rebounds, 10 asst, 17 t.o., 8 steals

Sophomore year was a whole other thing for Tommy and Rashawn. Rashawn averaged 27.5 minutes, getting 8.9 points while raising his shooting percentage from .242 to .396, his 3 point percentage from .200 to .397 with 58 makes, his free throws from .444 to .806, his rebounds to 2.3, and his steals from 5 to 27.
Tommy was interrupted by injuries, but managed to average 17.7 minutes, play indispensable, crunching defense, average 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 points and shoot .839 from the free throw line, and become a key part of the Bucs run to the NCAA’s and a memorable battle with Pittsburgh where he snagged 7 rebounds and a steal against the big boys. Again, neither of them showed as much promise as freshmen as Devin did.

Don't forget the standard bearer of unheralded freshman seasons, Zakee Wadood.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/player/...od/similar

I've said this in previous posts, but I think Devin will emerge as the starting PG this season.

(08-21-2014 10:12 AM)Bucfaithful Wrote:  Don't forget the standard bearer of unheralded freshman seasons, Zakee Wadood.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/player/...od/similar

I've said this in previous posts, but I think Devin will emerge as the starting PG this season.

Yes, Zakee was another guy who turned it around after a less than stellar freshman year. He only played in 22 games, and averaged 9.0 minutes in those. He was an offensive liability averaging 2.8 pts on .390 mostly short range tries, .000 (0-2) from 3, and .516 from the free throw line. And he went from a decent defender to one of the best stoppers the Bucs have ever had. But even as a freshman he was an excellent rebounder on a per minute basis – averaging 3.0 in those 9.0 minutes, the best rate of his career. http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/play...ood-1.html

Although I agree that Devin is going to be a fine player, getting a lot more PT now that KGG is gone, I don’t think that it will be as the starting point guard. If Petey McClain starts the season the way that he finished it (4.7 assists, 1.0 t.o., 2.3 rpg, 2.4 pts, 11-12 freethrows; 2-3 threes in 21.3 minutes over the last 7 games) then he’s got the point locked up. Especially if he continues to improve his shooting and his penetration and finish. In strong performances against Lipscomb and FGCU in the ASun tournament Devin still got 1 turnover and 0 assists. There were only 3 games all season where he got more than a single assist – two 3-1 games (Northern Kentucky and a loss at FGCU) and one 2-1 game (a loss at Stetson). There's nothing in this admittedly very limited sample that projects as a starting point guard.

Devin’s got a great chance to make the biggest leap forward of any Buc this year with KGG gone. (He, Lester and Petey are all primed to step it up in a big way, having all finished the year well – with Isaac Banks also being a possibility). As Tommy, Rashawn and Zakee have shown, it’s VERY hard to make predictions based on such a limited freshman year. I frankly thought that both Tommy and Rashawn were unlikely to play much of a role their second years. Devin COULD prove me wrong. But right now I’d say that he will take some minutes at point when Petey’s not on the floor, but will play more as an off guard or 3rd guard/swing man.

It could look like this year, when big KGG was often the de facto point guard when Petey was not on the floor.

Petey was hurt and did not play in the Conference tourney game at FGCU...and we lost by 5... correct???

(08-21-2014 02:17 PM)bucfan1968 Wrote:  Petey was hurt and did not play in the Conference tourney game at FGCU...and we lost by 5... correct???

Correct, although it's hard to blame too much of that on Devin Harris, who scored 10 points on 3-6 from the field and 4-5 from the line, snagged 4 rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes. What he did NOT do was replace Petey's assists and ballhandling - 0 assists and 1 turnover.

Petey also missed the Lipscomb game, and Devin again did well to help that win, getting 4 points on 2-3, 3 rebounds and 3 steals in just 10 minutes. But again, he didn't do the point guard thing, with 0 assists and 0 turnovers.

We split the other 2 FGCU games, getting killed by 28 at their place in January, 90-62, and winning by 8 at the Dome in February. Petey played only 13 minutes in the loss, getting 3 assists and 1 turnover, 3 rebounds and 1 steal, but only a single point (0-1 from the field and 1-4 from the line). Devin got the most minutes of any regular season game all year, 20 minutes, also getting 3 assists and 1 turnover, 6 points (2-9, 0-3 and 2-3 from the line), 5 rebounds and 0 steals.

In the win in February, Petey played 25 minutes, getting 8 assists and 2 turnovers, 4 rebounds and 2 steals, but only 2 points (0-2 from the field and 2-2 from the line). Devin did not see action, coaches decision.

As he did all year, Petey looked more like a point guard against FGCU, although he had trouble scoring.