(Photo by Ryan Messier/Paint Touches)
I wrote at length last week about what a snub not putting Sam Hauser on the All-Big East 2nd Team would be, and sure enough, he was nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, to me, Markus Howard did get enough votes to make the 2nd team and Andrew Rowsey made it on the Honorable mention list.
This isn’t to take anything away from them, as they both put up good efficiency numbers on pretty ridiculous usage, but Hauser was head and shoulders the better player if we’re looking at anything except easy to read offensive box score numbers (Pts, Asts). Take a look at Hauser’s 2018 campaign in chart form:
For Big East players playing at least 70% of their available minutes, Sam Hauser had the best Ortg by a significant margin over Jalen Brunson, just one of the national player of the year candidates. And no, I’m not saying Hauser was better than Brunson. Hauser’s lower usage (18.2%) is a significant detriment for these awards. None of the 1st or 2nd team recipients had less than 21% usage, and it follows that the higher the usage, the lower the efficiency. I get that.
But Hauser didn’t just have a great year compared to his current, he had a historically great year from an efficiency perspective.
Only 6 players in the last 10 years of Big East history have been able to finish the season playing at least 15% usage, 70% of minutes and an ORtg over 128. Mikael Bridges last year, Jimmy Butler 2010 (HM), Ashton Gibbs 2011 (1st team), Tim Abromitis (HM), and Jalen Brunson this year (1st Team). That’s a loaded list.
And again, I do understand the usage caveat, but that’s why I included the % of minutes variable. Using 18% of possessions and only playing 10 minutes a game is a lot different than 18% at 30 minutes a game.
But get this, none have ever put up a 130 Ortg with this many minutes at any usage in the last 10 years. Hauser was historic, and deserved to go down in the Big East record books.
Rowsey Range
Rowsey’s bombs against Creighton wouldn’t be fair if it happened in NBA Jam, that he hit 3 in a row from Green Bay on Senior Day wouldn’t be believable if it was a Lifetime movie. But it had me curious to see his percentage on some of these bombs, as he’s made more than a few this season from way downtown.
That’s a pretty limited sample size, but to have attempted 13 from that far out still speaks volumes to his mentality. To have hit over half speaks volumes about his skill and range.
But I wasn’t content with just going with outlier bombs, I wanted to also see how it broke down from NBA range compared to everywhere else.
Rowsey’s taken over 100 3s from NBA range this season and is hitting them at a 40.9% clip. That’s great on its own, but when you see that it’s a tick better than what he’s shooting from 21-23 feet (the college 3), it makes you wonder how that could be. My hypothesis, that I truly don’t want to see tested, is that defenders give him more space that far out, as they are being guided by the 3 point line. Or it could be that he only shoots the long ones when he’s feeling confident, and more likely to validate the hot hand theory.
Whatever the case may be, the rest of his teammates have only taken 135 NBA 3s this season combined and are only hitting at 34.8%. Howard’s gone 31/79 and Hauser put in 14/35. Rowsey also shot 39.3% from NBA range last season, taking up 61 of Marquette’s 182 total shots.
Let there be no doubt about it, Rowsey may be the rangiest player we may see in the Blue and Gold. Definitely the most confident.
Ice Cold Markus
In case you missed it on Twitter, Markus turned 19 and instantly became the world’s coldest man.
Rooting guide
If you haven’t seen it yet, we’re providing daily updates as to who Marquette should be rooting for in games each day. Big fans of Pitt, Wake and Gonzaga tonight.
But there are two games that will have a direct impact on Marquette that may not be completely obvious. Hoyas v Johnnies and Jays v Friars.
If Georgetown can beat St. John’s, it will count as a road victory for RPI purposes and carry a bit of extra weight. If that does come to pass and they then lose to Xavier, Georgetown’s projected RPI ranking would be 135. What do you know, that’s the exact cutoff for a Q2 road victory, which would elevate Marquette’s W in DC from Q3 to Q2.
And if Creighton beats the Friars, not only does that help as Providence is a direct bubble rival, but it also would mean they are projected to finish with an RPI ranking of 30. What do you know, that’s the exact cutoff for a Q1 home victory, elevating MU’s W last Saturday from Q2 to Q1.
Again, these are projections that may change for better or worse, but there is a huge advantage to be gained if both results end up going in Marquette’s favor. The bubble is so large and so closely grouped, being able to boast 1 extra quality win and elevating another may make all the difference come Sunday.
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