Passing Big Men

[TBird41]

Now that the non-conference games are over, I thought I'd point out that Henry has a chance to have the most assists in a season by a big man in Hoya History (to the best of my knowledge).

Through 11 games, Henry has 41 assists, for an average of 3.72 assists per game. If he continues that pace, he'll fall just shy of the 3.77 assists per game that Greg Monroe averaged in 2009-2010. If Henry gets the minimum number of games (20-18 BE, 1BET, 1NCAA/NIT) and maintains his current average, he'd finish with 115 assists, which would be the 3rd most by a Hoya big man ever. He would also be the 3rd Hoya big man ever to reach 100 assists in a season and would be the 4th Hoya big man ever to average more than 3 assists per game.

Two more thoughts: 1) In 2009-2010, Monroe only had 35 assists in his 11 non-conference games, 8 fewer than Henry currently has; 2) Henry is averaging 24.2 MPG so far, about 10MPG fewer than the other Hoya big men who averaged more than 3 assists per game. If the stats were neutralized over 40mpg, his assist rate would be way ahead of all them.

For reference (and in case I missed anyone) here are the top passing seasons by Hoya Big Men based on assists per game:

1. Greg Monroe, 2009-2010:3.8 APG, 34 games played, 128 assists, 34.2 MPG
2. Merlin Wilson, 1972-1973: 3.5 APG, 26 games played, 91 assists, MPG unknown
3. Jeff Green, 2005-2006: 3.3 APG, 33 games played, 108 assists,32.5 MPG
4. Jeff Green, 2006-2007: 3.2 APG, 37 games played, 118 assists, 33.3 MPG
5. Jeff Green, 2004-2005: 2.9 APG, 32 games played, 93 assists, 33.8 MPG

There have only been 8 other seasons in which a Hoya Big Man had more than 50 assists: Roy Hibbert (2007-2008), Greg Monroe (2008-2009), Merlin Wilson (1975-76), (Mike Sweetney (2000-01 & 2002-03), Alonzo Mourning (1991-92), Dikembe Mutombo (1990-91), Jerome Williams (1995-96).

Of those 8 seasons, only Hibbert, Monroe and Sweetney managed more than 60 assists and only Monroe had more than 70 (he had 79 in 2008-09).

Disclaimer: The Hoya Basketball Archive doesn't have assists for pre-JT2 era players, so I don't know if an earlier big man had more assists or a higher APG.

[rosslynhoya]

Yet another reason to pray Nate shrugs off his funk and starts drilling some bunnies again. If nothing else, do it to pad Hank's assist numbers Nate!!!

Thanks for putting this together TBird, particularly for highlighting the fact that Henry's doing this with a third less PT than the others in the discussion.

[SirSaxa]

Thanks Tbird -- good info.
And, as an oldtimer, I loved seeing Merlin Wilson pop up.
A 6'9, hyperathletic Center, he was a DC HS star for JT2 and came with his coach to GU. He was a freshman starter JT2's first year, and - despite some serious back issues - he averaged a Double Double for his career: 11.0 ppg and 11.4 rbg.

FYI: ESPN Insider also has some notes on Henry's remarkable improvement this season:

Excerpts
How unexpected was Henry Sims' breakout senior season (12.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg)? Lets put it this way -- prior to this season, the Hoyas' 6-foot-10 big man never averaged more than 3.6 points or 3.2 rebounds per game.

"No college player may have benefited from the NBA lockout more than Henry Sims," writes Rothstein. "Georgetown's senior big man regularly worked out with former Hoya stars Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert who were regularly at the school's DC campus and it's helped Sims lay the ground work for a memorable senior season. After being a marginal contributor during his first three seasons, Sims is third in scoring for Georgetown and is leading the Hoyas in assists. Don't be surprised if this is the Big East's improved player."

insider.espn.go.com/ncb/features/rumors

[prhoya]

Recruiting board material!!!

[CTHoya08]

Dec 23, 2011 12:42:12 GMT -5 SirSaxa said:

Thanks Tbird -- good info.
And, as an oldtimer, I loved seeing Merlin Wilson pop up.
A 6'9, hyperathletic Center, he was a DC HS star for JT2 and came with his coach to GU. He was a freshman starter JT2's first year, and - despite some serious back issues - he averaged a Double Double for his career: 11.0 ppg and 11.4 rbg.

FYI: ESPN Insider also has some notes on Henry's remarkable improvement this season:

Excerpts
How unexpected was Henry Sims' breakout senior season (12.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg)? Lets put it this way -- prior to this season, the Hoyas' 6-foot-10 big man never averaged more than 3.6 points or 3.2 rebounds per game.

"No college player may have benefited from the NBA lockout more than Henry Sims," writes Rothstein. "Georgetown's senior big man regularly worked out with former Hoya stars Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert who were regularly at the school's DC campus and it's helped Sims lay the ground work for a memorable senior season. After being a marginal contributor during his first three seasons, Sims is third in scoring for Georgetown and is leading the Hoyas in assists. Don't be surprised if this is the Big East's improved player."

insider.espn.go.com/ncb/features/rumors

Big John brought three or four players from St. Anthony's with him that year, right? Does anyone know where they would have played had GU not hired JT2 that year?

[lichoya68]

OHHHHHHHHHHH HENRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BEING MEAN AND FINESSED TOO REBBIES BLOCKS SLAM DOWN DUNKS anddddddddddd ASSISTS ALSO WOWOWOWOOOWOOWW G HOYAS GO HENRY BE REALLY REALLY MEAN VS THE VILLE WILL NEED YOU TO DOMINATE AND YOU CAN HIT THOSE SHOTS. ;D ;D ;D

[jerseyhoya34]

Small point, but I am not sure it is fair to count Jeff after 2005, if we're talking centers only (not sure that we are). In any event, Sims should work as much as he can on that 10-15 foot jumper. If he makes that consistently, his assist numbers will be even better.

[TBird41]

Dec 23, 2011 16:04:01 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

Small point, but I am not sure it is fair to count Jeff after 2005, if we're talking centers only (not sure that we are). In any event, Sims should work as much as he can on that 10-15 foot jumper. If he makes that consistently, his assist numbers will be even better.

My thought here was to look at players that played in the post--I wanted to exclude Small Forwards that might have played PF due to roster construction issues but didn't play like a PF (such as Hollis or Summers). The Princeton makes this a little bit harder, since Jeff obviously had an outside game, but he played PF/C and not SF, so I included him as a "Big Man". If I'd limited it to centers only, the line drawing would be too problematic. Jeff was the back up center his entire career, Sweetney played center and power forward, etc. Another example that hopefully helps--Lubick is a "Big Man", Otto Porter is probably not, even though Porter plays some PF.

[HeartAttackHoya]

As a side note, Rakeem Christmas, who were all up in arms about when he chose to sign with Cuse, has 1 assist in 168 minutes

[bigelephant]

I LOVE the HOYAS

[SirSaxa]

Dec 23, 2011 13:15:20 GMT -5 CTHoya08 said:

Big John brought three or four players from St. Anthony's with him that year, right? Does anyone know where they would have played had GU not hired JT2 that year?

Jonathan (Swift) Smith, 6'0 lightning quick PG, and PF Greg Brooks all came from St. Anthony's with Merlin (The Magician) Wilson and JT2.

I don't know where they would have gone if not to GU, but I do know that JT and Dean Smith had become close friends and mutually respected coaches as a result of Dean recruiting a kid named Donald Washington -- one of JT's kids. Actually, I think Donald might have even lived with the Thompsons.

Would Wilson and Swift have ended up at UNC? Don't know. But there were very highly regarded recruits out of HS and had highly successful careers at GU... they got the whole ball rolling right from the get go for JT2.

[hoyainspirit]

Nice history. Thanx.

[TBird41]

Through the first third of the Big East, Henry is now averaging 3.6 assists per game for the season and 3.5 assists per game in the Big East. He's only gotten 3 assists total in the last two games, however (perhaps as a consequence of his inability to finish in the Big East?), but is still on pace to finish with approximately 110 assists this year (if the Hoyas play only the minimum 14 games).

Also, he became only the 6th Hoya Big Man to reach 60 assists in a season after the Cincinnati game.

[professorhoya]

Jan 16, 2012 12:56:12 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

Through the first third of the Big East, Henry is now averaging 3.6 assists per game for the season and 3.5 assists per game in the Big East. He's only gotten 3 assists total in the last two games, however (perhaps as a consequence of his inability to finish in the Big East?), but is still on pace to finish with approximately 110 assists this year (if the Hoyas play only the minimum 14 games).

Also, he became only the 6th Hoya Big Man to reach 60 assists in a season after the Cincinnati game.

Yeah the St. Johns game (1 assist) killed his average.

[TBird41]

Jan 16, 2012 13:24:13 GMT -5 professorhoya said:

Jan 16, 2012 12:56:12 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

Through the first third of the Big East, Henry is now averaging 3.6 assists per game for the season and 3.5 assists per game in the Big East. He's only gotten 3 assists total in the last two games, however (perhaps as a consequence of his inability to finish in the Big East?), but is still on pace to finish with approximately 110 assists this year (if the Hoyas play only the minimum 14 games).

Also, he became only the 6th Hoya Big Man to reach 60 assists in a season after the Cincinnati game.

Yeah the St. Johns game (1 assist) killed his average.

Yup. Though Greg had three BE games w/ only 1 assist, along with the game @ Cuse where he didn't have an assist, so Sims can definitely overcome a 1 assist game. Of course Greg had 7 assists in 3 BE games and the 12 assist game against PC--Henry's only gotten 7 assists in a game once, against Chaminade

[prhoya]

Jan 16, 2012 12:56:12 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

Through the first third of the Big East, Henry is now averaging 3.6 assists per game for the season and 3.5 assists per game in the Big East.

As good as that sounds, he is averaging 3.66 TOs per game since BE started. That's what he needs to focus on for the team to win. The less TOs, the more opportunities for assists, points and wins.

[lichoya68]

SQUEEZE THE BALL HENRY BE MEAN and assists toooooo ;D ;D

[CTHoya08]

Two assists, three turnovers tonight.

[TBird41]

Turnovers are obviously not good, and Henry needs to cut down on his, but turnovers don't just come from passes. I think two of his three turnovers last night were offensive fouls (and I know he's had a few turnovers when he's driving to the hoop and gets stripped). You can't really knock his passing abilities by looking at his turnovers, any more than you could knock his three point shooting by looking at his field goal percentage.

[prhoya]

I like to look at the facts. According to the box score, Henry had 3 TO's, all in the second half. Here they are:

2nd half:
15:58 - Nate gets it in to Henry around Nate's defender with another defender on Henry's back. Henry looks back at the defender and turns before catching the passed ball and fumbles.
8:46 - Henry tries to back his defender and go around him, but is called for the hook around and grab. Offensive foul.
3:00 - Henry tries to back his defender, but loses ball.

Two of the three were of the fumbling senior version and one was a clear hook and grab offensive foul. But, that's not all. Although the following two instances were not called TOs by Henry, I'll let you be the judge:

1st half:
10:37 - Henry makes a hard pass to the feet of Nate, who is cutting hard to the basket. There's no way Nate can catch it and the ball ends up kicked out of bounds by Nate. Both of the announcers make fun of the pass - It counted as a TO for Nate.
8:54 - Henry makes a great move around his defender and goes up. Instead of dunking it (it was there for the dunking), he tries a finesse jumper from 1 ft., airballs it over the rim, grabs the rebound and gets blocked going up. In that situation, not dunking and missing is the same as a TO.