Player Ratings and +/- for Texas Tech

The player ratings for the Texas Tech game aligned very closely with my subjective eye test. Ochai and Jalen had great games. The timing and mental toughness of Ochai are apparent to the eye test but do not translate into the player rating. So Ochai really had a transcendent game where the player rating just shows a very very good game. Christian continues to struggle relatively. He always seems to have a robust stat line but his poor shooting has hurt us on occasion. He has been in a "slump" of sorts for the better part of 7 games now. But his style of play still makes him a contributor. Remy and KJ had standout performances which is exactly what my eye test said. Remy had the highest +/- per minute by a fair margin followed by KJ in 2nd. And KJ's defensive +/- per minute of 1.46 was eye-opening. KJ made a huge put back shot but his defense was what really set him apart. It was easy to see why Self had him in in the 2nd overtime since McCormack struggled mightily on defense having the worst defensive +/- per minute of the main minutes guys. DaJaun just had a poor game relatively and absolutely. He was largely ineffective. His +/- of -9 was by far the worst on the team. From a +/- standpoint the team was far more effective when DaJuan was on the bench than in the game to the tune of almost 1 point per minute.

That is what I thought I saw. I think with Mr. Braun it is a matter of him not shooting 3s very well right now. Maybe he has lost confidence in his shot or something but I see that as what is different. On Mr. Adams I would say his ability to defend on the perimeter is what sets him apart from the other bigs. He also brings great energy without the frenetic over amped energy that Mr. McCormack has a tendency to have.

I'd love to know the rationale for sitting Remy when Self did. That was a major head-scratcher IMHO.

TTU's Adams was rotating 10 players quite freely.

Self does not have confidence in Remy not doing something stupid at a critical time. On CB, note that his apparent regression coincided with Wilson finding his game. In other words, his role has changed. With it, perhaps a little loss in confidence but he still does a lot of the dirty work. His occasional silly pass is what bothers me the most.

I think the observation of Mr. Braun's lower effectiveness coinciding with Mr. Wilson's resurgence is astute. It is tough to say if it is really the cause but it is interesting. I think Mr. Braun is a strong enough player to get passed this bump. His nose for the ball and versatility are so strong it will come through. As one article about the game last night pointed out in the last minute of OT he was the one that made both of his free throws.

Hoshi makes some good observations. I had not associated the rise of Jalen with the swoon of Christian. That is an interesting though. As for Self not having confidence in Remy not to do something defensively stupid, that is my though exactly. And since with Ochai, Christian and Jalen and often David on the floor, DaJaun's lack of offense is a smaller issue than the fact that he is steady and makes few errors. But Remy, when he is on is a spark unlike any other we have. He can spread the floor in a way no other player on our team can. But gosh he has been inconsistent and spotty on defense. We are 1 game into the gauntlet of 5 super tough games. Maybe Agbaji can emerge from the phone booth every game like this one but I would not count on it. McCormack HAS to be better on defense and Christian has to play a little more soundly and shoot a little better for us to survive this gauntlet. Jalen seems to have really found the groove. With the exception of the Iowa St. game (really bad game), he has been consistently at a very high level in 6 of the last 7 games. In fact, he has the highest player rating on the team cumulatively in the last 7 games. Ochai's last 6 games are just wonderfully outstanding. In his first 13 games Ochai averaged 15.0 which is actually quite good. But in the last 6 games he has averaged 17.4 which is outstanding. Christian is just the opposite. In the 1st 11 games Christian averaged 18.3 which is MVP type numbers. But in the last 8 games he has averaged 14.3. Certainly not bad but a considerable drop off. But in the 6 good games of the last 7 Jalen has averaged 18.9 which is crazy good. Ochai and Jalen have really responded to league play whereas Christian has been okay but has faded a bit.