Who improved/regressed as the season went on?

[cdclark09]

This was sparked by the Clarke question thread...

I think Rotnei showed remarkable improvement after his rocky start and I feel like he was a much better player by loss no. 14 that loss no. 1.

I would also say Sanchez and Britt improved marginally.

Other than that, I'm not sure anyone else improved and our two 'experienced leaders (Wash and Welsh)' didn't get any better and Welsh regressed significantly as the season went on.  IMHO. 

Any other thoughts...?

[The Marmot]

Sanchez improved?

[cdclark09]

Sanchez improved?

Marginally very very marginally

[Hoggy1]

Clarke went forward, everyone else went backwards.

[heathtits]

Sanchez improved?

Didn't you watch the game last night? 28 minutes and 4 rebounds!

[Kevin]

i thought sanchez did improve, will continue to improve because he will work at it.

clark improved, will continue to improve because he will work at it.

britt improved

washington improved a lot from last season to this season, wore down with the minutes he played

we need a big off season of improvement from everyone

[Biggus Piggus]

Rotnei Clarke improved a lot.  Marcus Britt improved and finished with the highest 3-point shooting %.

Sanchez's rebounding fell way off in SEC play, as did his shooting. 

Henry did better in the SEC than in his injury- and doghouse-limited non-conference playing time.

No one else improved through the season.

[hawgsav1]

Rotnei Clarke improved a lot.  Marcus Britt improved and finished with the highest 3-point shooting %.

Sanchez's rebounding fell way off in SEC play, as did his shooting. 

Henry did better in the SEC than in his injury- and doghouse-limited non-conference playing time.

No one else improved through the season.

On point.

[heathtits]

On point.

Its saddening how easy it is to quell almost any optimism regarding our program. You simply have to look at the box scores.

[The Marmot]

i thought sanchez did improve, will continue to improve because he will work at it.

Sanchez is a hard worker with marginal talent who freezes up on the court. He's just not an SEC starter.

[Biggus Piggus]

Its saddening how easy it is to quell almost any optimism regarding our program. You simply have to look at the box scores.

Too many guys had to play out of position, the bench was mostly awful, and four guys had to play more than 30 minutes a game.  The ONLY solution is more players.  A lot of these players will look tons better when the depth is appropriate and nobody drowns in undeserved minutes.

[joeyself]

Rotnei Clarke improved a lot.  Marcus Britt improved and finished with the highest 3-point shooting %.

Sanchez's rebounding fell way off in SEC play, as did his shooting. 

Henry did better in the SEC than in his injury- and doghouse-limited non-conference playing time.

No one else improved through the season.

Hard to argue with any of this; Britt, Clarke and Henry were the ones I thought made the most improvement.  Sanchez seemed about the same at the end as at the start, Washington wasn't the force late that he was early, Fortson was brilliant at times early and late, but also a turnover machine, and Welsh didn't pick up his game as one of two experienced players needed to do.  Moore and Clark didn't rise to challenge anyone on the front line for playing time.

JcS

[donewithdale]

Rotnei's improvement has been discussed today as well as Britt's.

I saw no improvement from anyone else.  I disagree that Welsh regressed.  He is the same player now as he was in December and last year.  Same for Fortson.  No regression.  The defenses got bigger and better from the non conference season, scouting reports got more accurate and he had few options to create offense for if Wash was in foul trouble. 

Sanchez tries hard.  How is that for optimistic?

Disappointed Clark didn't get more minutes.  Our baseline defense in the zone was awful anyway no matter who was in. 

[heathtits]

Too many guys had to play out of position, the bench was mostly awful, and four guys had to play more than 30 minutes a game.  The ONLY solution is more players.  A lot of these players will look tons better when the depth is appropriate and nobody drowns in undeserved minutes.

100% valid. But to me that does not justify being 6-8 240 ibs and still getting only 4 boards this late in the year.

I watched Michael Sanchez his whole high school career and always said he was a major beneficiary of NWA hype. There's a reason FHS fans used to chant "ya'll need Christa" when we played Harbor. Christa was his older sister who played for OU.

[blacksuit]

The defenses got bigger and better from the non conference season, scouting reports got more accurate and he had few options to create offense for if Wash was in foul trouble.

It's important to emphasize how other teams learned to play against us as the season went on. We began the season as an enigma, a bunch of freshmen, playing in the non-conference schedule. For the most part those teams rarely had one player who could match up with Mike Washington, Fortson had not yet earned respect. As we began conference play you see teams that can throw bodies at our thin, young front court, you see teams game planning around taking the ball out of Fortson's hands. The conference schedule is a lot tougher, the teams scout more carefully, and have better game plans.

On a side note, Fortson has taken a lot of heat for his TOs this year, but he's also taken the lion's share of defensive attention. Every time he touches the ball, he has 2 or 3 guys trying to take it away. Sure, he's reckless at times, but the way he was defended, it's hard to fault the kid for coughing up the ball a few more times than usual.

It's a symptom of our team's overall lack of weapons. You just put a faster guard on Clarke, double Fortson, and double Washington when they get the ball. Nobody else on our team could consistently beat people this year, and it showed up in the weaker performances from Washington and Fortson over the last 15 games or so.

[joeyself]

It's important to emphasize how other teams learned to play against us as the season went on. We began the season as an enigma, a bunch of freshmen, playing in the non-conference schedule. For the most part those teams rarely had one player who could match up with Mike Washington, Fortson had not yet earned respect. As we began conference play you see teams that can throw bodies at our thin, young front court, you see teams game planning around taking the ball out of Fortson's hands. The conference schedule is a lot tougher, the teams scout more carefully, and have better game plans.

On a side note, Fortson has taken a lot of heat for his TOs this year, but he's also taken the lion's share of defensive attention. Every time he touches the ball, he has 2 or 3 guys trying to take it away. Sure, he's reckless at times, but the way he was defended, it's hard to fault the kid for coughing up the ball a few more times than usual.

It's a symptom of our team's overall lack of weapons. You just put a faster guard on Clarke, double Fortson, and double Washington when they get the ball. Nobody else on our team could consistently beat people this year, and it showed up in the weaker performances from Washington and Fortson over the last 15 games or so.

+1.  Well written and reasoned.

JcS

[Beaverfever]

Improved as the year went on:
Clarke
Britt
Henry

Regressed:
Fortson
Welsh

Everyone else stayed about the same IMO.  Wash actually seemed to get a little worse but I think he was just kind of apathetic towards the end of the year.  When we were playing good I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would be gone after this year.  He was playing like one of the best big men in the country.  I think we'll see that again next year if we get better.  I hope the same is true for Fortson, who in my opinion, played horrific down the stretch. 

[blacksuit]

It's telling that Britt got twice as many minutes as Welsh against Florida last night.

[Iwastherein1969]

This was sparked by the Clarke question thread...

I think Rotnei showed remarkable improvement after his rocky start and I feel like he was a much better player by loss no. 14 that loss no. 1.

I would also say Sanchez and Britt improved marginally.

Other than that, I'm not sure anyone else improved and our two 'experienced leaders (Wash and Welsh)' didn't get any better and Welsh regressed significantly as the season went on.  IMHO. 

Any other thoughts...?

Sanchez improved and Britt improved ?  first of all, I'd disagree with both assertions....both players are marginal Div 1 players as is....Sanchez attempted to draw how many charges this year and got a blocking call on EVERY SINGLE ATTEMPT..why ? because he's a step to two steps too slow...my concern is this: what happened to that team we saw in December and early January that would dive on the floor and kiss the Hog's snout ? answer: the head coach lost control

[NEAHawgfan]

Clarke went forward, everyone else went backwards.

Nobody improved. Clarke stayed where he was...everybody else got worse, including the coaching staff. It was an epic failure.

[Kenny Dowell Loggains]

you may want to ask this question in about a month when everyone has a little time for the anger to melt off.  right now i would say the only improvement i have seen since early January before the meltdown is Andre Clark

[Kenny Dowell Loggains]

Nobody improved. Clarke stayed where he was...everybody else got worse, including the coaching staff. It was an epic failure.

i would also agree with that statement too.

[twistitup]

I think Clarke improved, slightly

[HogBreath]

It is what it is, and 2-15 in league games is bad, really really bad.   But.... I do have some hope for this team.  I've been a harsh critic for a while, but I do see some flashes out of several of these guys, and that may be what frustrates me  the most.  Just real inconsistent.  I wasn't real impressed with Florida last nite, but they are 23-9,  maybe a lucky 23-9 or a weak schedule.

I'd say Clarke improved, Sanchez too, he still has some lapses to be certain, but he will continue to get better, Britt is another who made some slight strides, I'd actually expect him to be quite a bit improved next year.  Fortson either tried to do too much or was forced to try, we could use another option, we need a scorer to ease things up for Fortson.  Washington needs to become more consistent, and Wesh would benefit from a more clearly defined role on the team, he does have some ability, tried to do more than he was capable of.  If some of the newcomers will step up, this team could make serious strides next year.  I expect them to fare much, much better next year.

[hei5manhog]

Sanchez averaged 1 basketball to the face per game.

[hei5manhog]

i would also agree with that statement too.

I wouldn't. Clarke was clearly better the last 7 or 8 games than he was at the beginning/middle of the sec schedule. night and day, i'm not saying he's a better shooter now. He adjusted to sec defenses and learned how to score against them. That's improvement.

[razorvision]

I would say Washington, Rotnei and Britt showed the most improvement.  However, Welsh continued to regress as the season went on. He may be worse than Gary Irvin when it comes to driving to the basket with 3 or more defenders on him and throwing up a brick.  I can't believe how many simple layups his missed this year that were uncontested.

As most people have already pointed out, Fortson really needs to practice free throws and his outside shot. If he can develop an outside shot, he would become very difficult to guard.

[HawgnCorona]

100% valid. But to me that does not justify being 6-8 240 ibs and still getting only 4 boards this late in the year.

I watched Michael Sanchez his whole high school career and always said he was a major beneficiary of NWA hype. There's a reason FHS fans used to chant "ya'll need Christa" when we played Harbor. Christa was his older sister who played for OU.

Ouch!!