He’s better on the bench!

Agreed - this Hardaway guy didn't put up a single point, rebound, or assist all game!

And Hadaway's statline wasn't much better.

And least he didn't have any turnovers nor pick up an technical fouls.

Hadaway and Kuany a combined 0-6 from three. But did combine for 6 fouls.

Why are the power forwards launching scud missiles from three anyway.

Terrible roster construction. And regression by Hadaway. Starting to feel like Ivo Baltic and Ben Roderick all over again.

The career trajectory of Captain Chaos at Ohio should have been so different.

Somewhere a long the way he believed he had the skills of Luka Doncic and the temperament of Draymond Green.

Pathetic how this coaching staff refused to coach him up and learn how to discipline and reign in his attitude.

It’s pathetic how Captain Chaos never grew up on the basketball court these last four years.

I just don't know where he gets the ego. Dude has not earned it. He has been a "good" player. I always hoped he would be an Ivo or a BVP Lite, acting as a point forward. Instead he's an offensive black hole is bluntly put, acts like an A-Hole. He does not rep the Green and White well. So disappointing.

I blame Julie Cromer.

The discourse around Hadaway's shooting volume led me to do a quick look around the conference. There are 39 players in the conference this year who have attempted 75 or more 3s. Of those 39 high-volume shooters, here are the top 3 and bottom 3 in shooting percentage:

1. Jahari Williamson (Kent St.) - 45.3% on 117 3PA
2. K'Jei Parker (UMASS) - 44.6% on 130 3PA
3. Eian Elmer (Miami) - 44.2% on 104 3PA

...

37. Juwan Maxey (Ball St.) - 26.6% on 94 3PA
38. Aidan Hadaway (Ohio) - 25.7% on 109 3PA
39. Elmore James (Ball St.) - 25% on 80 3PA

The only player worse is one we are all very familiar with.

To be fair to Aidan, it also has to be pointed out just how great he is close to the rim. Of the 34 players who have shot from inside the paint at least 80 times, Hadaway ranks:

Inside the Paint: 5th/34 (70.3% on 118 attempts)
Overall 2P%: 7th/34 (61.6% on 177 attempts)

I don't think this will surprise anyone who has watched them all year, but smarter teams are figuring out that all they have to do is let Hadaway have space from 3 and he'll take the bait. Why deal with the threat of his hyper-efficient inside game when you can simply bait him into taking a shot he makes 25% of the time?

The math is simple. His expected points per shot (PPS) looks like this:

Inside the Paint: 1.4 PPS
Overall 2: 1.2 PPS
3: 0.77 PPS

Even if his shooting returns to the 33-34% form he showed the prior 2 years, that is still only 1.0 PPS. That is a shot he should never be taking instead of attacking the rim.

This. All of this.

Problem is - outside of Sheldon (and only due to a recent hot stretch) - NOBODY on this team should be shooting 3s if we had our druthers and relied on expected PPS.

The other team knows this too.

If I played us? I'd play a zone and tell guys one foot is ALWAYS in the paint. Have fun getting zero penetration, zero post touches, zero offensive rebounds and zero shots at the rim.

We might not score 40.

Great stuff, QuantCat.

I find it interesting that the bottom 2, Hadaway and James, are from the same Ohio recruiting class of 2023. That stellar class also included another prolific shooter from deep - Sheldon.

This coaching staff is just loaded with elite recruiters.

Welcome and well said. I have been tooting this horn for 4 years now, and a very similar story with Clayton as well. The coaching staff's failure to lean into this data and adjust approach accordingly has been the most frustrating aspect of the program to me the last few years.

I also love the humor of the only worse high volume shooter being a guy that left us. We sure now how to create overconfidence from behind the arc.

Indeed.

I'm sick to death of even showing the stats every game, and I think it's a coaching failure. A failure to sit guys, even if they're your best guys, to say this isn't acceptable. This isn't how I want to run things.

We're one of the worst shooting three point teams in the country, but still launch 20 a game. It's so bizarre that its become hilarious. Our 2 point % is quite high. Yet absolutely no one will wait for those FG's to open up, no one will swing the ball around, no one will pass up their opportunity to jack one up from 35 feet and hope it draws rim. How on earth did this happen - and better yet - WHY DOES IT CONTINUE


But circling back to Hadway, he was my dark horse for MAC PoY. *facepalm*