Coming into the game, his assist% (per possession, independent of playing time) was an extremely poor 3.9%. Even after last night's march of dimes, his assist% (7.0%) is better than only Joey Baker among Duke's rotation players.
And my eyes have seen something different from yours. To me, he's been a catch-and-shoot guy (like Baker) who rarely gives up the ball to others. Maybe he has vision and passing ability but, until last night, he hadn't shown it.
Assist % is percentage of possessions that become assists - not how often or skilled of a passer a player is. He's had a number of good passes that ended up as fouls or missed shots. Those don't get factored in to assist %.
I've seen plenty of good passes by Brakefield in his limited time on the floor, and when you look at the assist rate as a ratio of usage, he stacks up pretty well, which means the assist rate compared to how often he got the ball, is pretty solid.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...duke/2021.html
rate:usage rate ratios
Moore assist - 13.6:21.5
Jalen Johnson - 23:29.4
Roach - 12.1:18.6
Steward - 12:22.4
Baker - 3.4:16.8
Brakefield - 8:13.8
That's an interesting stat I've never seen before. I don't know how to evaluate it. But usage rate doesn't measure how often he gets the ball, it measures how often he shoots, gets fouled, or turns it over compared to the team's possessions. Jaemyn hardly ever goes to the FT line and (to his credit) doesn't turn it over much, leading to a low usage number. Also, you've quoted conference stats, rather than full season stats (for which his assist rate is 7.0 and his usage is 15.4, rather than the 8/13.8 in conference). Finally, yesterday morning Jaemyn's assist rate was 3.9 in conference play, literally less than half it is 24 hours later. To me, a great performance in one game doesn't define a characteristic.
If you want to say he's a great passer who's passes simply haven't ended up as assists, that's one thing. My eye test has seen something different, a catch-and-shoot guy who rarely looks for an open man. But I don't have any stats for that other than assist%, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
I'm mainly basing it on my recollection of thinking "wow nice pass" when he's made a no look bounce pass in the post in previous games. But his role has not been playmaker - especially early in the season. In his first few games (when we couldn't miss from three) I recall he would get the ball on the perimeter and if there was no open shot, he'd give it right back up to a guard - as if the coaches told him not to dribble. (which explains the low usage rate) Most of the "good passes" I recall came in the post, without dribbling. He'd pump fake and then hit a cutter or someone else with a nice dish. Then his shooting went cold and he rode the pine for a few weeks.
But last night, he either had way more confidence or the green light to try to make plays. He was driving and dishing more and looking to make plays. I imagine he'd been showing that strength in practices and was told by the coaches to do that in games.
I believe that O'Dea Catholic Hi School from Seattle has cancelled their basketball season.
I will say that the reports of Brakefield out of high school were generally that he had a variety of skills. He could shoot, he could pass, he could score in a variety of ways. The big questions seemed to be consistency and defense. Which, seems not inconsistent with what we've seen so far, nor inconsistent with what both Kedsy and Ferry are saying. I think he has good passing skills, but perhaps hasn't shown the consistency to translate those into results yet. Last night's game was generally a real success for him in a lot of ways. He passed well, he took good shots, he made good decisions with the ball, and he was solid defensively. Hopefully it's something he can build from. He has shown spurts in his limited minutes, but hasn't made it stick to this point.
That game will not be happening, but several Duke players and recruiting targets were named to the 24-member roster for the boys' team, including Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin. Patrick Baldwin, Jr., and Trevor Keels also made the cut.
The two Dukies are the only two from the ACC so far this year. Michigan has three with G Kobe Bufkin, F Caleb Houstan, and F Moussa Diabate. There are a number of players going to the West Coast and Pac 12 schools, including C Nate Bittle to Oregon, C Jackson Grant to Washington, SF Harrison Ingram to Stanford, and SF Peyton Watson to UCLA.
In addition to Baldwin and Keels, the undecided players include PF Michael Foster (most likely going pro), G Jaden Hardy, C Chet Holmgren (likely Gonzaga), and G Hunter Sallis (also Gonzaga).
Hardy is interesting players. He has some noise about going pro as well, but he could really help a team as an elite offensive player. I'm surprised Kentucky hasn't made a bigger push. Then again, they may be hoping for Class of 2022 player Skyy Clark to reclassify.
Pitt star Xavier Johnson just entered the transfer portal. Think Duke would be interested?
My guess is no. Seems like he had issues with the coach. I can't imagine Coach K would take on a guy under that circumstance, especially given the apparent issues with team chemistry that he dealt with this year. On top of that, within-conference transfers aren't viewed favorably except in grad-transfer situations, so I'm not sure Pitt would be okay with it either.
And I know you implied it here, but obviously the coach in question is a, um, friend of the Duke program. If the player had issues with Capel, it'd have to be pretty spectacular circumstances that the Duke staff would look past that. Even if the transfer was wholly unrelated to a coach/player issue, rightly or wrongly, it's tough to see K bringing in a guy who leaves one of his guy's programs.
So yeah no way especially considering it's Capel.
So naturally the question is: with this Johnson "parting ways" with the team and entering the transfer portal before the season ends, did he "quit" the team? Sure sounds like it to me, although it also sounds more overtly mutual than what we heard about Jalen Johnson and Duke. But will it be acknowledged as quitting when it's a guy without a lottery-type reputation at a non-blue blood program?
Yep. It would be odd for Coach K to do it in any circumstance, but I was definitely referencing it in terms of it being Capel, essentially a member of the family.
I agree with your addition as well: even if the kid left Capel/Pitt on good terms, I doubt Coach K would take him on. But almost definitely not given that there was apparently discord with the program.
I dunno, he could be a real X factor on next year’s team.
How about at Creighton ! He could team up with AOC! They could talk about their ACC experience