Last night, Ohio State beat a die-hard Goldy team largely due to the efforts of featured players D'Angelo Russell and Shannon Scott, who combined for well over half of the Buckeyes' 79 points. It was an okayish win over a meh team at the tail end of a bleah kind of season, which is why it's easy to focus on the general awesomeness of guys like Russell and keep your fingers crossed for a Steph Curry kind of situation.
But that's not what I want to talk about today. Instead, I want to focus on performances like the one that Kam Williams put up in that same game. You know, those crucial four points in seven minutes? The assist and a steal that he added in roughly the time it takes to make a couple of Hot Pockets (this 11W post sponsored by Hot Pockets)? What about the two free throws he nailed?
See, sensible (read: unathletic and risk-adverse) kids like me never wanted to be the center of attention while growing up, taking the game winning shot from half court or having the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. Instead, it was enough to fantasize about putting in a workman effort from the end of the bench for brief periods of time. Screw that hometown folk hero crap, I just wanted to look semi-competent for a few minutes and then get some orange slices.
So in honor of that great ideal, I set out to find true greatness through mediocrity on Thad Matta's teams since he came to Ohio State. The criteria for this, the inaugural P.J. HILL TEAR-OFF SWEATPANTS OF COMPETENCE was this:
- Player must make an appearance in half of the overall games
- Player must play for at least 5 and no more than 15 minutes per game
- Player must have been healthy for most of the season
But beyond that, pretty much anyone was eligible, and as you'll see in a second, the list reads like a who's who of fan favorites, stars, and players whose very existence I continue to doubt. It should also be added that I've placed a large emphasis on Points Per Minute, even though many players are situational defenders and aren't expected to rack up points. My response to that is... most of them are bad regardless so, you know... deal with it.
Anyway, here are (in my humble estimation), the top five Not Ready For Prime Time Players Thad Matta has ever had.
| NAME | Games Played | Minutes Per game | PPG | RPG | APG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deshaun Thomas (10-11) | 37 | 14 | 7.5 | 3.5 | 0.5 |
| J.D. Weatherspoon (11-12) | 26 | 6 | 2.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
| Marc Loving (13-14) | 35 | 10.9 | 4.4 | 1.7 | 0.2 |
| Ivan Harris (05-06) | 21 | 9.1 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 0 |
| Keita Bates-Diop (14-15) | 29 | 10.3 | 4 | 2.3 | 0.5 |
It's a landslide. Thomas, in limited minutes, completely outclasses everyone on the rest of the list by a gigantic percentage in nearly every conceivable category. Part of this was because Thomas took a shot a good 75 percent of the time one of his teammates forgot that Deshaun was a basketball black hole and would never attempt a pass if it weren't absolutely necessary. Another part is that Thomas was just damn good in limited minutes, a harbinger of things to come once he became a starter.
Spoony in the 2011-2012 season also is an example of this diamond in the rough way of evaluating players; though J.D. is now a senior with the Toledo Rockets, he's averaging a decent 12 plus points per game in the MAC and shooting 56 percent from the field.
What will hopefully bring good tidings for Keita Bates-Diop is that his rebounding numbers in just over ten minutes per game are pretty impressive, and we can probably look forward to him making an impact in at least that regard next season.
"Probably" being the operative word, because there's always several downsides to this kind of analysis, just one of which is that all coaches, including Thad Matta, are fallible, and sometimes will give regular minutes to players who absolutely should not being on the court under any circumstances.
It might surprise you that Shannon Scott in 2011-2012 is one of these players. In 10.6 minutes a game, Scott averaged a whopping 1.2 points, 1.1 rebounds, and managed to turn it over almost as often as points or rebounds were happening. Dallas Lauderdale in 2007-2008 didn't even manage to average one point in the almost seven minutes he was on the floor, and Amedeo Della Valle had just as many rebounds per game.
All three of those players went on to have decent careers, but what I find interesting is that Matta kept feeding these guys minutes even though they were statistically really, really bad. It's the same interest/irritation that surfaces as I watch Amir Williams flail around for 20 minutes a game, or Trey McDonald somehow get four fouls in what amounts to the lifespan of a mayfly.
One thing is for sure though: current guys like Keita Bates-Diop are going to have opportunities to prove their mettle in upcoming seasons. I hope they turn out more Deshaun and less P.J. Hill.
