Can Greivis defend?
by UMD2012 on Mar 1, 2010 4:30 PM EST
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PrintOn Seth Davis' College Basketball Mailbag, someone asked the following question:
I'm curious as to why Maryland wasn't on your list, yet they are second in the ACC, and there are teams like UConn which are under .500 in their conference. The Terps have a lot of experience with [Greivis] Vasquez (the first player in ACC history to score 1,000 points, collect 700 rebounds and 600 assists), [Eric] Hayes and [Landon] Milbourne, and [Jordan] Williams is starting to develop as a center.
-- Drew Love, Baltimore
First of all Greivis has 2,000 points, not 1,000. So, Seth Davis you're stupid for not catching that. But, his answer is more irritating.
He says, "Also, Greivis Vasquez does not play any defense. They like to hide him by having him guard someone who's not good."
I think this is complete BS. Gary Williams has at times cited Greivis as one of the better defenders on the team. I think Davis is completely wrong in his assertion. What do you guys think?
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Anyone who watches a game
can see he is playing his butt off on D the majority of the game.
Defensive Fundamentals
He lacks fundamentals on defense by standing too upright. This could be due to lack of lateral quickness. He’s not the most explosive of players afterall. If he could defend like Steve Blake, combined with his ability to run that offense, he’d be up there with Jon Wall and Evan Turner.
Case in point, when he went up against NBA talent in Tyreke Evans last year in the tournament, he looked like he was glued to the top of the arch the whole game. Evans was teleporting to the rim every chance he had.
They definitely help him with a lot of team defense. Having a big man behind him as an eraser helps.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Vasquez for what he’s done, but I’m not delusioned. I really wish he worked on this part of his game, because then we’d actually see him in the NBA next year.
Hope he proves me wrong.
Not to sound mean...
…but Seth Davis isn’t a good writer, specifically when it comes to these mailbag features. Earlier in the season he said Jordan Williams was having a “disappointing” year and said Maryland hadn’t been ranked. He also said Maryland fans didn’t have too high of expectations this season because no one thought this team was going to be good. I emailed him, told him I was a writer for Testudo Times and informed him that:
A. – Maryland was ranked for two weeks and most fans thought this team would be a top 4 team in the conference.
B. – Jordan Williams was exceeding expectations (he was averaging 8/8 at the time)
C.- Jordan trailed only Derek Favors in freshman ppg and rpg and that he was a top 10 rebounder OVERALL in the league. Never heard a word back from him.
Davis is yet another national writer who pretends to know more about basketball than he really does. Seth is so bad though that he doesn’t even check basic facts (such as Vasquez’s point total and that Maryland was ranked early in the season). He personifies the downfall of sports journalism, in my opinion. I’m in no way, shape or form saying that I’m a great sports journalist; I’m saying someone employed by what is supposed to be the best sports magazine in the country should be putting out higher quality work than what Seth Davis puts out sometimes.
I've made a habit
of emailing SD at least once a week, pointing out his mistakes/flaws in logic. He continually makes errors in his writing and has been known to stretch the truth to make his points. Let’s not forget that he is a Duke graduate (although he claims to have been a Terps fan as a kid).
I agree with most of this, but...
in this specific instance, Davis is quoting a coach from the ACC he called and ask for a scouting report. He isn’t saying that GV is bad at defense, just reporting what the person he asked said. Also, the point total is from the emailer (though he should have corrected it, either in the email or in the body of his text).
Agreed
He was quoting another assistant coach, but then again that guy is an assistant, and we are 11-3 against the ACC. Greivis can play D, but I’ll take any 6’6" PG playing D any day.
I kinda like Seth Davis. I may be wrong, but Seth once said that if he could make any college player play forever, it would be Juan Dixon. I think Seth, or whoever wrote that quote, had a huge mancrush on Dixon. That has my vote.
Again, please correct me if I am wrong.
I hate Seth Davis
almost as much as Gottleib. Hate reading Gary Parrish on CBS sports he is a joke. and Glockner at SI is also terrible, although he wrote his first positive words on Maryland for his bubble watch today that I think I have ever seen in any of his articles
Also
Jay Bilas may have gone to Duke but he respects MD and says a lot of good things about us and our players. Solid guy
He almost talks more highly of md than he does duke sometimes
by MurlandTerps on Mar 1, 2010 11:21 PM EST up reply actions
Definitely. He's not afraid to be critical to any team.
Which is why I like him so much. He does his job extremely well. Obviously there’s got to be a bias behind cameras, but he does an amazing job at making sure he is fair and critical of everyone when on tv/writing, unlike Dukie Vitale who can’t let go of his bias.
by callmecostanza on Mar 2, 2010 1:14 AM EST up reply actions
gottleib
i still have a soft spot for gottleib for calling out everyone who was gushing over duhon’s “tough” and “gritty” play in the 2004 acc championship game where he dove into that padded camera. anyone have the video of that segment?
by The Gravy Train on Mar 2, 2010 9:28 AM EST up reply actions
me too
I’ve always loved him since that… “What a man! What a man! Are you kidding me?! Okafor’s out there playing with a broken back and you’re gushing over Chris Duhon?!” I’m paraphrasing but that was awesome!
Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth.
-Ambrose Bierce
Yet Glockner has Maryland as a 7 seed
…because he’s an idiot. Seriously, and this isn’t just limited to college basketball, how many good, national sports writers are there these days? Maybe 5?
Also Last year
I remember whoever does the bracket and bubble watch for CBS (Doyle?) didn’t even have Maryland on the bubble or for teams considered with a couple weeks left in the season last year and i wrote a long post to him complaining and he actually wrote back saying he was sorry he left them out and although they “still had work to do” they should have been included on the list. Just frustrating to read all of these articles out there with either incorrect information regarding Maryland, clear disrespect for Maryland, or just plain omission of Maryland. Re: Glockner, at this point I will gladly take the positive words and any seed from this guy. Surprised we weren’t the 12 seed at-large this week
Greivis can play D
but he can’t play good defense against a quick guard. Also, he rarely guards the other teams point guard. Mosely, generally takes that role, but I think that is more because Mosely is a better defender not because GV is a bad defender. Truth is that GV is 6’6" and when guarding a 3 guard he can outquick and out rebound him. Just good strategy, but one on one he is not the best.
PS. Examples… Lawson, Douglas, LAndesberg, and Delanley usually eat him up.
I agree
Unfortunately that’s a flaw that gets magnified as you play better opponents.
Lets hope we have enough depth this year to hide it. There are a lot of quick guards out there.
I’d be happy with Sweet 16 and a shot at sneaking into the elite 8.
Not to hate on anyone
But I’ll just say that Luke Winn, Andy Katz, Jay Bilas, and Jeff Goodman are the only ones I read consistently.
i love greivis
he is the heart and soul of this team and i’ve always been a huge fan. But he is pretty bad defensively. He gets blown up by quick guards and in general he does a poor job of recognizing when he can leave his man to help, and when he has to stick on a shooter. I would want him on my team any day of the week because of his ability to score, pass, rebound and lead, but defensively he is definitely pretty weak.
He could be a decent defender
I agree that small, quicker guards are the most difficult for him to guard, but he’s taller than most and would bet he would be used to guard maybe 2’s at the next level.
I also think it is about effort and I see him being asked to expend a lot of energy on the offensive end of the floor with the ball in his hands.
I have seen him put in a good defensive effort on some plays and I think he could be serviceable at the NBA level.
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