Hason Ward Appreciation Thread

[WhoISthis]

Holmes was never a good/great defender, nor could he rebound. If he wasn't scoring, or at least penetrating and kicking out, he had little value. C Jones and Holmes have virtually nothing in common as basketball players.

That’s hyperbole. At best.

Holmes isn’t being recruited, let alone playing 32 minutes/gm without being sufficient on defense. We’re not an elite defense without him being sufficient, either.

Jones is another cog of great team defense, that isn’t elite at anything, but can do a little of many things. On offense, you can’t count on their shooting most games, but they can still have a positive impact. Similar athleticism. Similar upside in terms of impact

 

[NATEizKING]

Naw. If Holmes wasn't scoring he was virtually useless and he was a very incapable defender. C Jones can play plus defense, thus remaining a contributor (so long as he recognizes when he doesn't have it and abstains from shooting 10-15 times).

He was almost always scoring, had 3 games where he scored 4, 5, 7. Rest were 8+ and all but 9 games were double digits. He would have been better with some more shooters, if Gabe and Grill were off he was our only option.

 

[ZRF]

That’s hyperbole. At best.

Holmes isn’t being recruited, let alone playing 32 minutes/gm without being sufficient on defense. We’re not an elite defense without him being sufficient, either.

Jones is another cog of great team defense, that isn’t elite at anything, but can do a little of many things. On offense, you can’t count on their shooting most games, but they can still have a positive impact. Similar athleticism. Similar upside in terms of impact

That depends on what your definition of "sufficient" is.

Holmes was, to put it mildly, a subpar defender that could play passable man defense when paired against an equally sloth-footed rival. The real problems came away from the ball where Holmes would routinely collapse toward the lane and leave his man wide open. He wasn't fast enough to recover and was a very poor rotational defender. If you ever keyed on Holmes on the defensive end you'd realize he was often the start of a defensive breakdown that lead to a bucket.

Offensively, as at least one other poster already noted, he was one of our 3 "capable" volume scorers. I quote capable as he was often very inefficient in doing so. The best version of Jaren was the one that would dice into the lane and score the majority of his points in getting to the basket. The problem was he was often getting his 15 points on 5-15 shooting. When we got that version of Jalen (low efficiency), or the version that was sub 10 points, he was a negative player because of his defense and complete inability to rebound for his position.

Nothing about that previous post was hyperbole. If anything it's hyperbole to "assume" everyone that plays or has played under Otz is/was a sufficient defender.

 

[ZRF]

He was almost always scoring, had 3 games where he scored 4, 5, 7. Rest were 8+ and all but 9 games were double digits. He would have been better with some more shooters, if Gabe and Grill were off he was our only option.

Problem was some of those double digit games were high volume, low efficiency outputs. Sometimes that wasn't always his fault (as we had several guys on the team that wouldn't or couldn't shoot at all) but sometimes Jaren took too many shots, or took shots of the wrong variety.

Mostly though, he was problematic on the other end of the floor. Go back and watch some of the games and key on him, especially away from the ball. He would sometimes struggle with on the ball defense, but it was a much bigger issue when he left his man, routinely triggering a scramble and rotational fail. He was also a terrible rebounder given his size, position, and minute per game average.

He had some really good games for us, especially the ones where was able to get to the lane and score/create (the best version of Holmes). But man, if he wasn't one of those sneaky "negative" players because of his defense.

 

[Cyched]

Ward wins the Melvin Ejim Legacy Award his first trip to Provo. Go Hason

 

[Cyclonepride]

Ward wins the Melvin Ejim Legacy Award his first trip to Provo. Go Hason

He took exception to that douche Waterman purposely laying on Gilbert with his arm over his face. Just picked the next goofy looking dude to take it out on. Not a great move, but I like the spirit.

 

[kentkel]

He took exception to that douche Waterman purposely laying on Gilbert with his arm over his face. Just picked the next goofy looking dude to take it out on. Not a great move, but I like the spirit.

Actually, that guy (#15), was by far the dirtiest player on their team. He was grabbing & shoving our players all game long. He was the one that displaced Curtis Jones on an offensive rebound (reaching way over CJ's entire body) & they ended up calling a foul on us & giving him 2 FTs. The refs were letting that little a$$ get away with cheap shots. I don't think it was an accident that Hasan targeted him. #15 was the one that "tackled" Milan on his 3-pt try. I would contend that, while the foul was not worthy of a T1 or 2, it was just as dangerous in possibly causing serious injury to a player. Milan was in far greater pain after that foul than #15 was after Hasan clocked him.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Actually, that guy (#15), was by far the dirtiest player on their team. He was grabbing & shoving our players all game long. He was the one that displaced Curtis Jones on an offensive rebound (reaching way over CJ's entire body) & they ended up calling a foul on us & giving him 2 FTs. The refs were letting that little a$$ get away with cheap shots. I don't think it was an accident that Hasan targeted him. #15 was the one that "tackled" Milan on his 3-pt try. I would contend that, while the foul was not worthy of a T1 or 2, it was just as dangerous in possibly causing serious injury to a player. Milan was in far greater pain after that foul than #15 was after Hasan clocked him.

Well, good to know justice was served lol

That play on Curtis was something else. Don't ever recall a guy getting a piggy back ride and then leaning all the way over the player, and somehow getting a foul called on the other guy. Laughably bad.

 

[Peter]

 

[Bob f]

I’m just glad the Cyclones have 1 pretty reliable shooter this year as opposed to 0 the last 2 years. Even in TJs first year, Brockington was great, but he wasn’t ever what I would consider a shooter.

Umm... brockington a pull up 2 pt jump shot? Umm not a shooter? Ok. ******* guy was a master at pull up j

 

[NWICY]

He flopped.

 

[AllInForISU]

Umm... brockington a pull up 2 pt jump shot? Umm not a shooter? Ok. ******* guy was a master at pull up j

There is a difference between a shooter and a scorer. Izaiah was not a shooter.

 

[ZRF]

If there was any doubt it was 100% intentional, Hason is walking toward the bench/off the court the second the whistle blows. He doesn't even turn to look. He already knew he was going to be ejected.

 

[VeloClone]

Ward wins the Melvin Ejim Legacy Award his first trip to Provo. Go Hason

I thought maybe it would be more the DeAndre Kane award...

 

[chadly82]

He flopped.

Yep, if you see the replay he just shoulder checked him and the officials bought the flop. I cant wait for those douchebags to come to Hilton. Need to bully the hell out of them.

 

[VeloClone]

I don't have a problem with that being a F2 and ejection. His shoulder caught him in the throat. I do have a problem with it being characterized as beyond chippy and a dirty play. Yeah he was trying to block him out excessively to send a message but it wasn't an elbow to the throat his shoulder just was a bit high and caught him in the neck rather than the chest.

BYU fans also latching on to Tamin reaching around Saunders on the same play and saying he grabbed his junk. That is pretty rich considering their fat center was creating space by driving his shoulder into defenders clear out on the arc and clearing a driving lane both by hooking and swim moves with a fully extended arm.

I don't think it is a coincidence that this game turned out as one of the chippiest games I can remember just like ISU's last game at BYU.

 

[Clonefan32]

I don't have a problem with that being a F2 and ejection. His shoulder caught him in the throat. I do have a problem with it being characterized as beyond chippy and a dirty play. Yeah he was trying to block him out excessively to send a message but it wasn't an elbow to the throat his shoulder just was a bit high and caught him in the neck rather than the chest.

BYU fans also latching on to Tamin reaching around Saunders on the same play and saying he grabbed his junk. That is pretty rich considering their fat center was creating space by driving his shoulder into defenders clear out on the arc and clearing a driving lane both by hooking and swim moves with a fully extended arm.

I don't think it is a coincidence that this game turned out as one of the chippiest games I can remember just like ISU's last game at BYU.

I'm guessing Hasan intended to give him a little extra hard box out to his chest and just missed and went high. I can't imagine him intending to get him in the throat. But in any event, he kind of loaded up, looked and hit him high. That's an F2 every time.

 

[cytor]

He flopped.

Agreed. Marcus Smart would have been proud.

 

[VeloClone]

I'm guessing Hasan intended to give him a little extra hard box out to his chest and just missed and went high. I can't imagine him intending to get him in the throat. But in any event, he kind of loaded up, looked and hit him high. That's an F2 every time.

So we are in agreement...

 

[MJ271]

Maybe the BYU player did flop, but I'd say the play was definitely worthy of an ejection.