Class of 2020 PF Woody Newton (MD) COMMITTED/SIGNED TO SYRACUSE

[General20]

Does anyone have more videos of full games of his? Curious to see more of him. I watched the entire PSA game. Couldn't find a box score anywhere but I have him down with the following line:

16 points (I think 11 in the first half)
3 rebounds
1 assist
2 blocks
2 steals
4 turnovers
3/11 shooting inside the arc (I think 1/6 at the rim and 2/5 from mid-range)
3/5 3 point shooting
1/4 free throws
5 fouls (honestly think it should have been 7...they gave one foul to the wrong player instead of him and he got credited with a block on what was clearly a foul)

Some other notes specifically from that game:

• Really like him as a 1 on 1 defender, gets down into his stance, spreads his arms, and makes it difficult for people to get by.
• Pretty lazy outside of that though (pretty common in high school), caught leaking out a lot, jogging back on the defense even when he could clearly make a play, etc.
• Rarely looks to box anyone out and seems pretty weak/tentative in general. His team was pretty dominant on the glass and he's the tallest guy out there and he was a complete non-factor in that regard.
• He's purely functioning as a spot up shooter and occasional cutter/screener. Turned the ball over whenever he tried to create on his own.
• Started the game 3/3 from the 3 point line and 2 of them were swishes. Definitely want to see more games of his though...his mechanics aren't very consistent from shot to shot (following through on some shots, not following through on others at all, mostly straight up and down motion on one shot and kicking his legs out and fading unnecessarily the next, etc.

If his shooting stroke is legit, he seems like he'l be a nice fit for us. If he's not really a shooter right now, he has plenty of developing to do because he won't really offer anything offensively outside of that. As I mentioned though, really liked his 1 on 1 defense and he showed good timing for some helpside block/contests as well.

This is a great post.

I watched his game against Brewster and came away with a lot of the same thoughts.

He was matched up against Terrence Clark in that game who is a top 10 McDonald's All American going to Kentucky. It seemed pretty clear to me that Mt. Zion didn't think the best course of action was to attack Clark, so Newton stayed on the perimeter and either set or ran off screens mostly.

Newton still had a really good game, something like 18 points on 6-9 from the field. I recall liking it because it was efficient despite him not having the ball in his hands often and not having many plays run for him, which is exactly how it will be in college.

He was able to take Clark off the dribble for a basket once, but he also turned it over twice trying to do it. The rest were 3 pointers and free throws out side of one post up against a smaller defender.

Defensively I thought he put a very good shift in against Clark and bothered him. Most of Clark's points came when he got switched off of Newton.

For the little time that Clark was out of the game and Newton in, he was guarded by someone several inches shorter, so they took Newton off the perimeter and put him down low. He was able to score one post up basket this way.

My hot take is I think Newton will be fine on the boards. His game and his body are improving quickly, and he's got the length and athleticism to rebound in our zone. I think he will get there.

That said, I don't expect Newton to contribute as a freshman, and I expect him to be an off the bench type contributor as a sophomore, so I am looking down the road to junior and senior Newtwon who I think will be a starter and a really good role player for us who defends well, shoots it well, and offers some ball handling and passing to go along with it.

If you need a comparison, maybe Demetrius Nichols, but with a better handle, better passing, better athleticism, but a worse jump shot.

 

[Cusefan69]

Woody is a 3 in college.
Unless he’s the one guy we’re able to put some muscle onto, he’s gonna remain a 3.

My bad, was looking at vids and Twitter feeds attached and they seem to refer to him as a PF. if he plays the 3 that’s different. I thought he was a PF expanding his game out.

 

[721Comstock]

My bad, was looking at vids and Twitter feeds attached and they seem to refer to him as a PF. if he plays the 3 that’s different. I thought he was a PF expanding his game out.

Not a bad to be had there.
He’s listed as a “PF” as a HS player/‘croot -
but pretty clearly doesn’t have the goods to be a “PF” in college.

 

[Melancer46]

Not a bad to be had there.
He’s listed as a “PF” as a HS player/‘croot -
but pretty clearly doesn’t have the goods to be a “PF” in college.

At least not yet. In our system, the two are pretty much interchangeable anyways; play the same spot defensively and essentially play the same role offensively. With the centers we generally trot out there though, we're going to need some serious rebounding intensity from some of our other players if Newton doesn't improve in that regard. Like a front court of Edwards, Newton, and an average rebounding SF could be historically bad based on the way they currently play.

Hoping Boeheim can coach some more off-ball effort into Newton, but the track record of guys learning to box out aggressively here is not good at all.

If Griffin is as good a rebounder as his numbers suggest, that should theoretically help a lot.

 

[Melancer46]

Okay, watched the game against Brewster (link here: )

If I kept the numbers correctly, Newton finished with:

21 points
5 rebounds
1 assist
0 blocks
2 steals
6 turnovers
2 fouls

3/4 shooting from inside the arc
5/7 3 point shooting
no free throws

Some takeaways having watched two games now:

• As much as I kinda question the mechanics, 8/12 shooting from the 3 point line in the two games I watched is obviously very impressive (though 1 of them I would categorize as accidentally making it as he pretty much just threw the ball up and it happened to bounce off the backboard and in). Still a very small sample size, but impressive in that sample nonetheless.
• He showed much better passing chops in the Brewster game than he showed against PSA. Had 2 really nice interior passes as well as a post entry pass.
• Had a couple successful and impressive drives in the Brewster game, though he failed to finish on one of them.
• I think my initial summary of his defense remains the same: very impressive 1 on 1 defender, flat out lazy off-ball defender/rebounder. He can really put the clamps on people when he wants to, but off the ball, he had two instances that looked like one of those James Harden videos where he just completely fell asleep and had no idea where his man had gone. Still pretty much no effort to rebound which is pretty concerning considering his size and raw offensive game.
• Overall, hard for me to see him playing much as a freshman if these two games are an accurate representation of his current skill set. If he brings more effort on the glass, I think there's a role for him as a 3nD guy, but absent improvement on the glass or improvement in terms of creating offense, I can't really see him getting minutes early on.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I think he projects more as a Demetris Nichols or Kris Joseph type than Cj Fair.

Well, I don't think he has the pure shooting stroke of a Nichols. I also don't think he runs the court like a greyhound on the fast break like Kris Joseph did. Fair was crafty along the baseline and could hit an open 3 when people weren't focusing on him.

I see Woody as a kind of Damone Brown player. Kind of a tweener forward, not a great outside shot despite his gaudy recent numbers. He's not an inside-out kind of guy like Ryan Blackwell. Brown had to fill out his body and wait his turn, but by the time he got his shot, he had learned how to play.

That's kind of how I see Woody, although his body is filling out quicker than people may have expected. That's great (for once!). I do hope that Bobby Braswell gets his shot next year, though.

Maybe if more guys could see a legitimate way to the floor, so the coach could see them get more than 1 or 2 minutes run if they make a mistake, maybe we only lose 2 transfers and not 4 of them. I hate having to rebuild teams on the fly like this. We don't have the contacts into the top AAU teams like we used to.

Now mostly we focus on prep schools where we can get the kids who were under the radar - either recuperating from an injury that messed up their senior year recruiting (like Fair), or for those kids who need a year or two to mature and play against a higher level of competition than their local high school league could offer (like Lydon or Buddy).

 

[Melancer46]

Alright, I've watched a couple more games of Woody's this morning against Sunrise Academy and Action Sports Institute.

Links here:
Mt. Zion vs. Sunrise Academy
Mt. Zion vs. Action Sports Institute

In these two games combined, he had:

18 points
8 rebounds
1 assist
1 block
2 steals
7 turnovers
4 fouls (at least as far as I could tell; the ASI game didn't have good sound nor was the camera angle particularly good, but I didn't notice him get called for any fouls)

4/6 shooting inside the arc (all layups/dunks)
2/5 3 point shooting
4/7 free throw shooting

Four games in now and he's at just under 14 points per game, 4 rebounds, less than 1 assist, less than 1 block, 1.5 steals, and over 4 turnovers per game. Shot 47.6% inside the arc, 58.8% from 3 point range, and as is tradition, 45.5% from the free throw line. Overall, great true shooting percentage, though pretty much all of his makes inside the arc were fast break opportunities.

All in all, my breakdown of his game would be:

Pros:

• 6'8", long wingspan, and he can run and jump when he wants to.
• When he's defending the ball, he gets down into his defensive stance and does a really nice job making things difficult for his man.
• With his length and timing, he could be a good shot blocker in our back line.
• At least from the games I've seen, he seems to be a good spot-up shooter.
• Ball doesn't stick to his hands; if he doesn't have an open shot, he moves on and passes the ball off to someone else.
• Very rarely forces up bad shots.

Cons:

• Part of the reason he doesn't force up bad shots is that he doesn't really try to do anything offensively outside of spotting up and taking open jumpers.
• Ball-handling is simply bad; he's not going to lose the ball on a breakaway, but anytime he dribbles in a half-court setting, he's more likely to turn the ball over than anything else.
• Struggles to finish around the rim when the defense contests; hopefully this improves as he gets stronger...he's pretty weak right now.
• Just doesn't want to rebound. Doesn't try to position himself for rebounds and even if the ball bounces to him he pretty much only grabs the ball as a last resort. There were numerous times he was by himself and the ball came within inches of hitting him and he still didn't end up with the rebound.
• Consistently the last person back on defense regardless of where he is when the shot goes up.
• One of those guys where even if he should be back on defense, he'll come up and pretend to go for a steal so that he's out of the play and can slowly jog back and allow the other team to get a shot up so that he's hopefully already positioned for the ensuing fast break.

Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly potential for him to become a 3 and D guy on our backline. If things break right for him, I could see him being something like a James Southerland kind of player. Having said that, I do wonder if he'll ever get there. When I look at a basketball player, I want to see someone that knows who he is (granted this might not be realistic of most high schoolers). His skills and tools clearly point to a kid that should be making things happen on defense while being a spot-up threat on the 3 point line. With most of his future impact coming on the defensive end, I want to see a kid hustling back on defense, playing passing lanes, being a communicator on defense, and boxing out/using his length and athleticism to grab rebounds. He does the opposite of all of those things. Maybe Boeheim will be able to pull those things out of him in a way the Mt. Zion coach cannot; I don't know.

It mostly boils down to effort and he doesn't seem to care very much in high school. He was benched heading into the game against Sunrise for some reason...when he finally checked in, he immediately turned it over 3 or 4 times in consecutive possessions. In the second half, he was clearly frustrated with the way things were going and for a minute or maybe two, he played angry. For the first time, he showed real effort to box out, drew an off-ball foul, and attacked the defense (also blatantly shoved a kid, got into a heated exchange, T'd up, and consequently benched for the last 5 minutes of the game). He took it a little too far at the very end there, but that's the kind of thing that Boeheim needs to get out of him if he's ever going to play a meaningful role here IMO. He needs to turn him into a dog on the defensive end.

The demeanor that Woody's shown for 99% of his minutes that I've seen makes me think he likely ends up a disappointment here and transfers elsewhere after not getting much playing time. Obviously hope he has more hunger than he appears to show right now and ends up making the most of his impressive physical gifts.

TLDR: There's potential for him to be a really valuable 3nD role player here, but his on-court demeanor makes me think it won't be realized.

I have 3 games in my queue for Kadary Richmond next, but so far, I'm much higher on Kadary than I am Woody.

 

[Gabjon]

Alright, I've watched a couple more games of Woody's this morning against Sunrise Academy and Action Sports Institute.

Links here:
Mt. Zion vs. Sunrise Academy
Mt. Zion vs. Action Sports Institute

In these two games combined, he had:

18 points
8 rebounds
1 assist
1 block
2 steals
7 turnovers
4 fouls (at least as far as I could tell; the ASI game didn't have good sound nor was the camera angle particularly good, but I didn't notice him get called for any fouls)

4/6 shooting inside the arc (all layups/dunks)
2/5 3 point shooting
4/7 free throw shooting

Four games in now and he's at just under 14 points per game, 4 rebounds, less than 1 assist, less than 1 block, 1.5 steals, and over 4 turnovers per game. Shot 47.6% inside the arc, 58.8% from 3 point range, and as is tradition, 45.5% from the free throw line. Overall, great true shooting percentage, though pretty much all of his makes inside the arc were fast break opportunities.

All in all, my breakdown of his game would be:

Pros:

• 6'8", long wingspan, and he can run and jump when he wants to.
• When he's defending the ball, he gets down into his defensive stance and does a really nice job making things difficult for his man.
• With his length and timing, he could be a good shot blocker in our back line.
• At least from the games I've seen, he seems to be a good spot-up shooter.
• Ball doesn't stick to his hands; if he doesn't have an open shot, he moves on and passes the ball off to someone else.
• Very rarely forces up bad shots.

Cons:

• Part of the reason he doesn't force up bad shots is that he doesn't really try to do anything offensive outside of spotting up and taking open jumpers.
• Ball-handling is simply bad; he's not going to lose the ball on a breakaway, but anytime he dribbles in a half-court setting, he's more likely to turn the ball over than anything else.
• Struggles to finish around the rim when the defense contests; hopefully this improves as he gets stronger...he's pretty weak right now.
• Just doesn't want to rebound. Doesn't try to position himself for rebounds and even if the ball bounces to him he pretty much only grabs the ball as a last resort. There were numerous times he was by himself and the ball came within inches of hitting him and he still didn't end up with the rebound.
• Consistently the last person back on defense regardless of where he is when the shot goes up.
• One of those guys where even if he should be back on defense, he'll come up and pretend to go for a steal so that he's out of the play and can slowly jog back and allow the other team to get a shot up so that he's hopefully already positioned for the ensuing fast break.

Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly potential for him to become a 3 and D guy on our backline. If things break right for him, I could see him being something like a James Southerland kind of player. Having said that, I do wonder if he'll ever get there. When I look at a basketball player, I want to see someone that knows who he is (granted this might not be realistic of most high schoolers). His skills and tools clearly point to a kid that should be making things happen on defense while being a spot-up threat on the 3 point line. With most of his future impact coming on the defensive end, I want to see a kid hustling back on defense, playing passing lanes, being a communicator on defense, and boxing out/using his length and athleticism to grab rebounds. He does the opposite of all of those things. Maybe Boeheim will be able to pull those things out of him in a way the Mt. Zion coach cannot; I don't know.

It mostly boils down to effort and he doesn't seem to care very much in high school. He was benched heading into the game against Sunrise for some reason...when he finally checked in, he immediately turned it over 3 or 4 times in consecutive possessions. In the second half, he was clearly frustrated with the way things were going and for a minute or maybe two, he played angry. For the first time, he showed real effort to box out, drew an off-ball foul, and attacked the defense (also blatantly shoved a kid, got into a heated exchange, T'd up, and consequently benched for the last 5 minutes of the game). He took it a little too far at the very end there, but that's the kind of thing that Boeheim needs to get out of him if he's ever going to play a meaningful role here IMO. He needs to turn him into a dog on the defensive end.

The demeanor that Woody's shown for 99% of his minutes that I've seen makes me think he likely ends up a disappointment here and transfers elsewhere after not getting much playing time. Obviously hope he has more hunger than he appears to show right now and ends up making the most of his impressive physical gifts.

TLDR: There's potential for him to be a really valuable 3nD role player here, but his on-court demeanor makes me think it won't be realized.

I have 3 games in my queue for Kadary Richmond next, but so far, I'm much higher on Kadary than I am Woody.

He took a really bad fall in January and missed a few games, he wasn't playing the same when he first came back.

But he wasn't rebounding before the fall either.

 

[DonLightfoot]

From what the announcers were saying it seemed this game was early in the season.

Newton is a pretty good shooter from the looks of it, but he doesn't get his arms and the ball up very high when shooting. Could be susceptible to blocks. Agree that he needs to move faster getting back on defense. With some development I think he will be just fine.

I liked some of the things I saw from Richmond as well. Not really an outside shooter, but more of a driver. Don't see him as a 2 guard.

That kid Cross going to Miami is something special.

 

[Orangezoo]

Alright, I've watched a couple more games of Woody's this morning against Sunrise Academy and Action Sports Institute.

Links here:
Mt. Zion vs. Sunrise Academy
Mt. Zion vs. Action Sports Institute

In these two games combined, he had:

18 points
8 rebounds
1 assist
1 block
2 steals
7 turnovers
4 fouls (at least as far as I could tell; the ASI game didn't have good sound nor was the camera angle particularly good, but I didn't notice him get called for any fouls)

4/6 shooting inside the arc (all layups/dunks)
2/5 3 point shooting
4/7 free throw shooting

Four games in now and he's at just under 14 points per game, 4 rebounds, less than 1 assist, less than 1 block, 1.5 steals, and over 4 turnovers per game. Shot 47.6% inside the arc, 58.8% from 3 point range, and as is tradition, 45.5% from the free throw line. Overall, great true shooting percentage, though pretty much all of his makes inside the arc were fast break opportunities.

All in all, my breakdown of his game would be:

Pros:

• 6'8", long wingspan, and he can run and jump when he wants to.
• When he's defending the ball, he gets down into his defensive stance and does a really nice job making things difficult for his man.
• With his length and timing, he could be a good shot blocker in our back line.
• At least from the games I've seen, he seems to be a good spot-up shooter.
• Ball doesn't stick to his hands; if he doesn't have an open shot, he moves on and passes the ball off to someone else.
• Very rarely forces up bad shots.

Cons:

• Part of the reason he doesn't force up bad shots is that he doesn't really try to do anything offensively outside of spotting up and taking open jumpers.
• Ball-handling is simply bad; he's not going to lose the ball on a breakaway, but anytime he dribbles in a half-court setting, he's more likely to turn the ball over than anything else.
• Struggles to finish around the rim when the defense contests; hopefully this improves as he gets stronger...he's pretty weak right now.
• Just doesn't want to rebound. Doesn't try to position himself for rebounds and even if the ball bounces to him he pretty much only grabs the ball as a last resort. There were numerous times he was by himself and the ball came within inches of hitting him and he still didn't end up with the rebound.
• Consistently the last person back on defense regardless of where he is when the shot goes up.
• One of those guys where even if he should be back on defense, he'll come up and pretend to go for a steal so that he's out of the play and can slowly jog back and allow the other team to get a shot up so that he's hopefully already positioned for the ensuing fast break.

Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly potential for him to become a 3 and D guy on our backline. If things break right for him, I could see him being something like a James Southerland kind of player. Having said that, I do wonder if he'll ever get there. When I look at a basketball player, I want to see someone that knows who he is (granted this might not be realistic of most high schoolers). His skills and tools clearly point to a kid that should be making things happen on defense while being a spot-up threat on the 3 point line. With most of his future impact coming on the defensive end, I want to see a kid hustling back on defense, playing passing lanes, being a communicator on defense, and boxing out/using his length and athleticism to grab rebounds. He does the opposite of all of those things. Maybe Boeheim will be able to pull those things out of him in a way the Mt. Zion coach cannot; I don't know.

It mostly boils down to effort and he doesn't seem to care very much in high school. He was benched heading into the game against Sunrise for some reason...when he finally checked in, he immediately turned it over 3 or 4 times in consecutive possessions. In the second half, he was clearly frustrated with the way things were going and for a minute or maybe two, he played angry. For the first time, he showed real effort to box out, drew an off-ball foul, and attacked the defense (also blatantly shoved a kid, got into a heated exchange, T'd up, and consequently benched for the last 5 minutes of the game). He took it a little too far at the very end there, but that's the kind of thing that Boeheim needs to get out of him if he's ever going to play a meaningful role here IMO. He needs to turn him into a dog on the defensive end.

The demeanor that Woody's shown for 99% of his minutes that I've seen makes me think he likely ends up a disappointment here and transfers elsewhere after not getting much playing time. Obviously hope he has more hunger than he appears to show right now and ends up making the most of his impressive physical gifts.

TLDR: There's potential for him to be a really valuable 3nD role player here, but his on-court demeanor makes me think it won't be realized.

I have 3 games in my queue for Kadary Richmond next, but so far, I'm much higher on Kadary than I am Woody.

Great stuff and appreciate the yeoman's work on watching and sharing your analysis!

One thing I wonder is that given Woody looked very much like Sean Williams as a SF in his previous year highlights, how much of a jump can he make given he made a sizeable jump over the previous year?

Sounds like he needs some coaching up for sure. He will have to improve to unseat Griffin for any minutes for sure ( if Griff gets the waiver).

 

[Melancer46]

Great stuff and appreciate the yeoman's work on watching and sharing your analysis!

One thing I wonder is that given Woody looked very much like Sean Williams as a SF in his previous year highlights, how much of a jump can he make given he made a sizeable jump over the previous year?

Sounds like he needs some coaching up for sure. He will have to improve to unseat Griffin for any minutes for sure ( if Griff gets the waiver).

Even if Griff doesn't get a waiver, I think the current version of Woody would likely ride the pine/be a redshirt candidate next year. He needs to improve his effort level and toughness a lot; I think he's probably behind Braswell at the moment (but you never know how he might improve in the offseason).

 

[orangejunkie]

Woody looks to me like a more complete player than Braswell. It will be a good competition for minutes between the two. If Griff gets a waiver, minutes at the forward will be tight.

 

[007]

Alright, I've watched a couple more games of Woody's this morning against Sunrise Academy and Action Sports Institute.

Links here:
Mt. Zion vs. Sunrise Academy
Mt. Zion vs. Action Sports Institute

In these two games combined, he had:

18 points
8 rebounds
1 assist
1 block
2 steals
7 turnovers
4 fouls (at least as far as I could tell; the ASI game didn't have good sound nor was the camera angle particularly good, but I didn't notice him get called for any fouls)

4/6 shooting inside the arc (all layups/dunks)
2/5 3 point shooting
4/7 free throw shooting

Four games in now and he's at just under 14 points per game, 4 rebounds, less than 1 assist, less than 1 block, 1.5 steals, and over 4 turnovers per game. Shot 47.6% inside the arc, 58.8% from 3 point range, and as is tradition, 45.5% from the free throw line. Overall, great true shooting percentage, though pretty much all of his makes inside the arc were fast break opportunities.

All in all, my breakdown of his game would be:

Pros:

• 6'8", long wingspan, and he can run and jump when he wants to.
• When he's defending the ball, he gets down into his defensive stance and does a really nice job making things difficult for his man.
• With his length and timing, he could be a good shot blocker in our back line.
• At least from the games I've seen, he seems to be a good spot-up shooter.
• Ball doesn't stick to his hands; if he doesn't have an open shot, he moves on and passes the ball off to someone else.
• Very rarely forces up bad shots.

Cons:

• Part of the reason he doesn't force up bad shots is that he doesn't really try to do anything offensively outside of spotting up and taking open jumpers.
• Ball-handling is simply bad; he's not going to lose the ball on a breakaway, but anytime he dribbles in a half-court setting, he's more likely to turn the ball over than anything else.
• Struggles to finish around the rim when the defense contests; hopefully this improves as he gets stronger...he's pretty weak right now.
• Just doesn't want to rebound. Doesn't try to position himself for rebounds and even if the ball bounces to him he pretty much only grabs the ball as a last resort. There were numerous times he was by himself and the ball came within inches of hitting him and he still didn't end up with the rebound.
• Consistently the last person back on defense regardless of where he is when the shot goes up.
• One of those guys where even if he should be back on defense, he'll come up and pretend to go for a steal so that he's out of the play and can slowly jog back and allow the other team to get a shot up so that he's hopefully already positioned for the ensuing fast break.

Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly potential for him to become a 3 and D guy on our backline. If things break right for him, I could see him being something like a James Southerland kind of player. Having said that, I do wonder if he'll ever get there. When I look at a basketball player, I want to see someone that knows who he is (granted this might not be realistic of most high schoolers). His skills and tools clearly point to a kid that should be making things happen on defense while being a spot-up threat on the 3 point line. With most of his future impact coming on the defensive end, I want to see a kid hustling back on defense, playing passing lanes, being a communicator on defense, and boxing out/using his length and athleticism to grab rebounds. He does the opposite of all of those things. Maybe Boeheim will be able to pull those things out of him in a way the Mt. Zion coach cannot; I don't know.

It mostly boils down to effort and he doesn't seem to care very much in high school. He was benched heading into the game against Sunrise for some reason...when he finally checked in, he immediately turned it over 3 or 4 times in consecutive possessions. In the second half, he was clearly frustrated with the way things were going and for a minute or maybe two, he played angry. For the first time, he showed real effort to box out, drew an off-ball foul, and attacked the defense (also blatantly shoved a kid, got into a heated exchange, T'd up, and consequently benched for the last 5 minutes of the game). He took it a little too far at the very end there, but that's the kind of thing that Boeheim needs to get out of him if he's ever going to play a meaningful role here IMO. He needs to turn him into a dog on the defensive end.

The demeanor that Woody's shown for 99% of his minutes that I've seen makes me think he likely ends up a disappointment here and transfers elsewhere after not getting much playing time. Obviously hope he has more hunger than he appears to show right now and ends up making the most of his impressive physical gifts.

TLDR: There's potential for him to be a really valuable 3nD role player here, but his on-court demeanor makes me think it won't be realized.

I have 3 games in my queue for Kadary Richmond next, but so far, I'm much higher on Kadary than I am Woody.

Great write up and observations. Thanks for taking the time to do that.

I hope Woody puts the time and effort in when he gets here. There are skills there to work with, but the cons you listed are spot on IMO. Those traits are the kind of things that tend to land players in JB's doghouse. And that leash tends to be very short.

Hopefully, perseverance is one of Woody's strengths.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Woody looks to me like a more complete player than Braswell. It will be a good competition for minutes between the two. If Griff gets a waiver, minutes at the forward will be tight.

Maybe more versatile, but i have a feeling Braswell is significantly better at the one thing he does do on offense, and he's got a leg up (pun intended) with experience in the zone.

 

[orangejunkie]

My big question with Braswell is whether he can evolve as more than just a catch and shoot 3 point shooter. He didn't look very skilled at putting the ball on the floor and finding other ways to score. Hope he has had time in the off season to add to his game on the offensive end as well as put on added strength. Also, is he 100% healthy?

 

[moqui]

Even if Griff doesn't get a waiver, I think the current version of Woody would likely ride the pine/be a redshirt candidate next year. He needs to improve his effort level and toughness a lot; I think he's probably behind Braswell at the moment (but you never know how he might improve in the offseason).

i don't know that we can count on substantial improvements from anyone this offseason

 

[jordville]

 

[moqui]

jb wins best syracuse-themed man cave award

 

[Todoubled23]

that form

 

[orangefog]

that form

Just like in golf. Senior swing=senior shot

 

[OrangeXtreme]

2020 Top Basketball Recruits

The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.

247sports.com

Woody #112

 

[jordville]

Yes sir, Woody...

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Alright, I've watched a couple more games of Woody's this morning against Sunrise Academy and Action Sports Institute.

Links here:
Mt. Zion vs. Sunrise Academy
Mt. Zion vs. Action Sports Institute

In these two games combined, he had:

18 points
8 rebounds
1 assist
1 block
2 steals
7 turnovers
4 fouls (at least as far as I could tell; the ASI game didn't have good sound nor was the camera angle particularly good, but I didn't notice him get called for any fouls)

4/6 shooting inside the arc (all layups/dunks)
2/5 3 point shooting
4/7 free throw shooting

Four games in now and he's at just under 14 points per game, 4 rebounds, less than 1 assist, less than 1 block, 1.5 steals, and over 4 turnovers per game. Shot 47.6% inside the arc, 58.8% from 3 point range, and as is tradition, 45.5% from the free throw line. Overall, great true shooting percentage, though pretty much all of his makes inside the arc were fast break opportunities.

All in all, my breakdown of his game would be:

Pros:

• 6'8", long wingspan, and he can run and jump when he wants to.
• When he's defending the ball, he gets down into his defensive stance and does a really nice job making things difficult for his man.
• With his length and timing, he could be a good shot blocker in our back line.
• At least from the games I've seen, he seems to be a good spot-up shooter.
• Ball doesn't stick to his hands; if he doesn't have an open shot, he moves on and passes the ball off to someone else.
• Very rarely forces up bad shots.

Cons:

• Part of the reason he doesn't force up bad shots is that he doesn't really try to do anything offensively outside of spotting up and taking open jumpers.
• Ball-handling is simply bad; he's not going to lose the ball on a breakaway, but anytime he dribbles in a half-court setting, he's more likely to turn the ball over than anything else.
• Struggles to finish around the rim when the defense contests; hopefully this improves as he gets stronger...he's pretty weak right now.
• Just doesn't want to rebound. Doesn't try to position himself for rebounds and even if the ball bounces to him he pretty much only grabs the ball as a last resort. There were numerous times he was by himself and the ball came within inches of hitting him and he still didn't end up with the rebound.
• Consistently the last person back on defense regardless of where he is when the shot goes up.
• One of those guys where even if he should be back on defense, he'll come up and pretend to go for a steal so that he's out of the play and can slowly jog back and allow the other team to get a shot up so that he's hopefully already positioned for the ensuing fast break.

Overall Thoughts:
There's certainly potential for him to become a 3 and D guy on our backline. If things break right for him, I could see him being something like a James Southerland kind of player. Having said that, I do wonder if he'll ever get there. When I look at a basketball player, I want to see someone that knows who he is (granted this might not be realistic of most high schoolers). His skills and tools clearly point to a kid that should be making things happen on defense while being a spot-up threat on the 3 point line. With most of his future impact coming on the defensive end, I want to see a kid hustling back on defense, playing passing lanes, being a communicator on defense, and boxing out/using his length and athleticism to grab rebounds. He does the opposite of all of those things. Maybe Boeheim will be able to pull those things out of him in a way the Mt. Zion coach cannot; I don't know.

It mostly boils down to effort and he doesn't seem to care very much in high school. He was benched heading into the game against Sunrise for some reason...when he finally checked in, he immediately turned it over 3 or 4 times in consecutive possessions. In the second half, he was clearly frustrated with the way things were going and for a minute or maybe two, he played angry. For the first time, he showed real effort to box out, drew an off-ball foul, and attacked the defense (also blatantly shoved a kid, got into a heated exchange, T'd up, and consequently benched for the last 5 minutes of the game). He took it a little too far at the very end there, but that's the kind of thing that Boeheim needs to get out of him if he's ever going to play a meaningful role here IMO. He needs to turn him into a dog on the defensive end.

The demeanor that Woody's shown for 99% of his minutes that I've seen makes me think he likely ends up a disappointment here and transfers elsewhere after not getting much playing time. Obviously hope he has more hunger than he appears to show right now and ends up making the most of his impressive physical gifts.

TLDR: There's potential for him to be a really valuable 3nD role player here, but his on-court demeanor makes me think it won't be realized.

I have 3 games in my queue for Kadary Richmond next, but so far, I'm much higher on Kadary than I am Woody.

For incoming freshman who are tall, I think that only the special players are anywhere close to who they will eventually become. Sometimes they haven't been coordinated enough to catch up on certain things. Maybe the HS coach doesn't allow the big guys to dribble. Who knows. Is he athletic? Yes? Does his shot look solid? Yes. Everything else is just how hard will he work.

 

[Cusesky8214]

 

[jordville]