You would think Shane Edwards was the leading scorer for the year, but he wasn't. Who was? Stevie Moore 13.6 to Shane's 11.8. And who would you think led the team in steals? John Fowler? Shane Edwards? Brandon Patterson? No. The little white guy that supposedly couldn't play defense. Matt Mouzy. He had 36 steals, to Shane Edwards 29, and Brandon Patterson's 25. Shows you that your eyes and pre conceived notions can sometimes be deceiving.
Defense and steals are not the same thing.
What? Do you get steals while playing offense? Don't agree. Obviously you're correct that there are other factors, but IMO, steals is one of the most important stats. Every game I see, people out on the perimeter get beat by guards on the other teams. It's very difficult to stop a really quick guy slashing to the basket. You had better have backside help to either block the shot or shut the guy off. I saw Solo get beat just as many times as anyone on defense, and I never heard many say he couldn't play defense. Much of defense is anticipation. Larry Bird was very slow afoot, but he could play defense because he had an instinct for where the ball was going, and get there in time to make a steal or prevent a shot.
Good defensive players aren't just ones who stop someone from shooting. They cut off passing lanes, make steals, and get the ball out quickly to turn the steals into points. Watch James Reid. Yes he gets beat some, but he is always around loose balls, rebounds, and errant passes. He has that same instinct. He's a coaches son and understands the game and makes plays beyond his physical talent. It's also the reason Ben Dillard gets so much playing time. He normally doesn't make a lot of mistakes, also having been raised as a coaches son. I just believe people think that people of different color have different talents, and in some cases that's true, but we see what we perceive to be true, and it's not always so. Long answer to a short comment. Happy New Year. Are you coming to the games Tuesday?
There has been many pos players that got steals or block that gave up a lot of points running up those numbers.
Your boy, god knows we all wanted to love him, gave up a lot of points on defense that no amount of steals could over come.
We love Matt and he could have been more than he was if we would have built some offense around him.
That's past history. Got to move on.
Lol Doc, you're the one who brought Matt up again! Hope he's doing well these days.
I know. The Devil made me do it! My bad! I'm trying to repent!
One thing about Matt Mouzy is that he was without a doubt the best walk-on to ever play here, and he was better than three-fourth of the guards Shields has ever recruited.