Isaiah Whitehead
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I really disagree. Not saying he played well today. The 2nd and 3rd fouls took him out of it. I
don't think he was the story as far as the basketball is concerned. We played atrocious defense
and the frontcourt was just brutal today. IW was not allowing easy basket after easy basket.
I think he's playing better this year.
I wonder if he is sorry he came here...making him change his thinking, not really using his talent to the fullest. If he went to a school with one or two other M. A. A., he could continue playing the game where he was one of the best. I not sure if he is thinking this but I am.
Yes. I don't think people remember what they watched. He was not great but far from bad. We had the lead with him playing. Angels d was awful and I would have benched him after that t. Desi I saw like I saw iw. Not a great game but not awful. Gordon played well. Braeden didn't do much subbing for ad and I wished Anthony was playing. And I saw all three kids cheering. They were in front of me and I watched them put their hands together.
Feel like the 1st half fouls got him out of rhythm and he never recovered. He's been much improved this year, but yesterday was a tough game. Needs to have a very short memory with Dunn looming.
Whitehead is a McD AA who is not playing like one so far through two seasons. He has played for the most part a very selfish game. He is not all that quick, he is not that good of a shooter and he is not a good foul shooter. Instead of making his teammates better, he does not trust them and thinks he should take all the shots.
He has been essentially treated deferentially by this board. Contrast this to what used to be said of Jeremy Hazel. Hazel was an under recruited player who played far better than Whitehead as thus far during their freshman and sophomore years.
Hazel used to be criticized as a volume shooter who was always looking for his own shot and not anyone else. Well, at least Hazell made his shots and shot for a better percentage. Hazel was and is an under appreciated Pirate. Jeremy was a a game changer.
He has been essentially treated deferentially by this board. Contrast this to what used to be said of Jeremy Hazel. Hazel was an under recruited player who played far better than Whitehead as thus far during their freshman and sophomore years.
Hazel used to be criticized as a volume shooter who was always looking for his own shot and not anyone else. Well, at least Hazell made his shots and shot for a better percentage. Hazel was and is an under appreciated Pirate. Jeremy was a a game changer.
I think what Whitehead needs is a real coach to guide him. Someone to give him tough love. Tiny wasn't that guy and obviously KW isn't either. I'd bet with a coach like Calipari or Pitino Whitehead would blossom. They wouldn't stand for his hogging the ball. How many McDonald's AA's has Calipari brought in there (all with big egos) and he got them to play team ball.
Whitehead has been a pretty big disappointment so far here. I don't know if it's Willard, the losing, playing in front of a half empty arena, learning to play the point, thinking he would get to the NBA after this season, or other things we don't know about. He just hasn't been able to play with any type of consistency so far at the Hall. He shows flashes but just something just seems off.
What we watched was too many poor shots early in the shot clock. No 22 foot shots with 17 secs remaining please. Yes he makes 1 out of 5 but when the going gets tough don't throw up 3s. How about some extra passes. And how about some better passes and ball control.
I agree. Willard should end his tweeting. Could you imagine if he were playing for Calhoun?
Imo, isaiah gets less praise here than any of our guys. Jeremy was also treated the same way here.
I don't know if I'd call Whitehead a selfish player. Jeremy Hazell, as good a shooter as he was, was very selfish. We've seen IW drive and dish or drive and draw a double team and find the open shooter. We've seen him have games with lots of assists. He can do those things well along with driving to the basket and take a bump and still finish. However I think he's average at everything else. Confidence keeps him going. I think when he sees the team struggle then he tries to take over. I don't think thats necessarily a bad thing as Gibbs did that all last year. When everyone else can't score what do you do??
If we are down 15 i don think we have a chance with whitehead in the game. i did with hazell.
Hazell, from 4 point territory!
Hazell, from 4 point territory!
Creighton coach has recruited well for all positions. Watson a transfer from BU who makes everyone around him better. True pass first point guard with plenty of ball movement/shooters to make him look good. Let's hope we bounce back against Providence.
I'm not thrilled with the way things have shaken out since he's arrived, and some of it is his fault, and plenty of it is not, but it's terribly unfair and really ridiculous to say that IW, halfway through his sophomore year, will "never change."
If you had to guess right now, do you think he will "never change?" I agree with your point, i just wonder how many people in the back of their minds believe differently.
I think he has changed, from last year. He's still a young kid, so he reverts to 1-on-5 play every so often, but there's been progress. Would I love for him to have developed, like our last McD AA guard did? Absolutely.
Watching this stale offense, for yet another year, I wonder how much is hurting that progress. I'm not about to discount last season, and absolve him from his involvement in the turmoil. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on attitude, but I just don't know.
Watching this stale offense, for yet another year, I wonder how much is hurting that progress. I'm not about to discount last season, and absolve him from his involvement in the turmoil. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on attitude, but I just don't know.
No one on this team wants to succeed more than he. That's the positive.
The negative is he's still far from a finished product and must continued to learn what he must do on the court to maximize his talent.
The negative is he's still far from a finished product and must continued to learn what he must do on the court to maximize his talent.
For anyone with more than a 50 IQ can notice that Isaiah has and is willing to change/develop. He's a very driven young man and it has been noticeable especially this year because of his position change. Unfortunately, Kevin Willard is not going to be able to teach Isaiah anything more. Not that Kevin isn't a good coach, it's that he has no experience developing NBA players. Isaiah is the most talented player Kevin has ever recruited. Kevin is used to coaching mediocre to decent basketball player. Not superstars.
I'm glad Isaiah chose us. But I wonder where he would be if he had chosen Indiana or Pittsburgh.
I'm glad Isaiah chose us. But I wonder where he would be if he had chosen Indiana or Pittsburgh.
I have been a critic of our coach, but I disagree with what you have written. Willard coached in the NBA, albeit as an assistant. What are you trying to do, persuade Whitehead to transfer????
This whole post is very questionable and feels like an emotional post-game reaction (and I have had these so I'm not innocent either).
When we recruited him we knew he was not a PG. So last year we have him playing the three. And now this year he is making a significant change to play the PG position. And he is still our most talented player but he came from a background of street AAU ball that won't work here and people are unhappy with the uneven play. If you look at the history I'm actually surprised he is doing this well to be honest. The kid is an excellent defender and gives us all he is on every play. I've never seen him take a play off. He is struggling with his shooting and is still battling those old AAU tendencies and needs to recognize/take better shots. But I think he is a gym rat and will keep working. I'm behind the kid and glad he came here. I'm not sure about the coaching overall for the team and because IW is the MCDAA he is getting a lot of heat after the Creighton game. Creighton exposed us and looked pretty good against Providence last night. I'm hoping Creighton is a lot better than advertised and this game is just part of the maturation process. Creighton is a very, very well coached team.
IW will never be Shaheen Holloway (another McDAA) - two very different players. I'm hoping he will become a very good lead guard for us because he has all the skills and talent to do it and he can do other things that Shaheen could not do as well. IMO he is an elite defender and goes to the basket very strong and gets his shot up every time. He also has very good vision on the court which will help him evolve. I think he needs to concentrate more on his mid range game. If you notice his shots from 20 feet, he elevates really high, has great form and I have never witnessed anyone block that shot. Kid also has the guts to take a shot and make it when the game is on the line - that should be appreciated.
Our problem is we are tired of the ups and downs of this team and suffer from PCCS (Post Crappy Coach Syndrome) for the last twelve years. Orr then Gonzo and now Coach Willard. The good news IMO is we have Shaheen and Coach Willard that were both PGs and they developed Jordan Theodore into a very good PG. IW has way more talent than Jordan and can do more things. He's bigger and stronger too. We just have to be patient and celebrate his strengths and be careful not to put him down when he is clearly giving us everything he has right now. And posts like this do not help IMO.
When we recruited him we knew he was not a PG. So last year we have him playing the three. And now this year he is making a significant change to play the PG position. And he is still our most talented player but he came from a background of street AAU ball that won't work here and people are unhappy with the uneven play. If you look at the history I'm actually surprised he is doing this well to be honest. The kid is an excellent defender and gives us all he is on every play. I've never seen him take a play off. He is struggling with his shooting and is still battling those old AAU tendencies and needs to recognize/take better shots. But I think he is a gym rat and will keep working. I'm behind the kid and glad he came here. I'm not sure about the coaching overall for the team and because IW is the MCDAA he is getting a lot of heat after the Creighton game. Creighton exposed us and looked pretty good against Providence last night. I'm hoping Creighton is a lot better than advertised and this game is just part of the maturation process. Creighton is a very, very well coached team.
IW will never be Shaheen Holloway (another McDAA) - two very different players. I'm hoping he will become a very good lead guard for us because he has all the skills and talent to do it and he can do other things that Shaheen could not do as well. IMO he is an elite defender and goes to the basket very strong and gets his shot up every time. He also has very good vision on the court which will help him evolve. I think he needs to concentrate more on his mid range game. If you notice his shots from 20 feet, he elevates really high, has great form and I have never witnessed anyone block that shot. Kid also has the guts to take a shot and make it when the game is on the line - that should be appreciated.
Our problem is we are tired of the ups and downs of this team and suffer from PCCS (Post Crappy Coach Syndrome) for the last twelve years. Orr then Gonzo and now Coach Willard. The good news IMO is we have Shaheen and Coach Willard that were both PGs and they developed Jordan Theodore into a very good PG. IW has way more talent than Jordan and can do more things. He's bigger and stronger too. We just have to be patient and celebrate his strengths and be careful not to put him down when he is clearly giving us everything he has right now. And posts like this do not help IMO.
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Kid definitely gets an unfair wrap, mainly IMO because the expectations placed on him by this board were completely unreasonable. He's still too inefficient, inconsistent, and ball dominant. Some of that is his fault, some can be attributed to inexperience, and some is a byproduct of the horse**** offense we run.
I agree there is a lot of silliness over the tweet a few days ago, and some of the locker room BS from last year.
I will say most of the grief given on this board to Isaiah has been about ill-advised shots and poor distribution. People recognize how talented he is, but if your talent for something doesn't show up in the results than people are going to ask about what is going on. I do understand that transitioning roles takes time, and I hope he can really grow into a distributor as well as a shooter. I thought the big rationale for his transition was that he is short for an SG at the next level, and needs to become more of a PG. Not sure if that's true but that's what I remember reading.
His stats:
1.5 Assist/Turnover Ratio, 15 points per game but taking significantly more shots than anyone else at a lower clip (.352 FG%, .322 3P%).
Since he was brought up I wanted to look at Jordan when he was a sophomore.
Theo:
2.33 Assist/Turnover, 9.8 points per game at a clip of (.419 FG%, .365 3P%)
The comparison between JT and IW kind of underscores the way in which IW has been set up for disappointment this year. As a sophomore, JT was a role player, splitting time with Harvey, surrounded by upperclassmen, and playing in an offense that was at least somewhat efficient.
IW splits time with no one, has the second highest usage rate in the league (behind only Kris Dunn), and plays in an offense that requires him to do virtually everything himself.
Did you forget about Andre Barrett and Eddie Griffin? At Seton Hall, we have been spoiled through out the years with having good to excellent point guards from Gerald Green to Oliver Taylor to Bryan Caver to Danny Hurley to Shaheen Holloway to Andre Barrett, to Copeland, to Eugene Harvey to Jordan Theodore. The point guard position was always a position of strength.
We have Shaheen as an assistant coach to teach Whitehead. Who better to learn from? IW has the talent to be a point guard. The question is will he ?
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