BRADLEY MAKING ADJUSTMENTS FOR SDSU
Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 68-62 win against UT Arlington at Viejas Arena on Saturday night:
1. Finding rhythm
The half-empty view: Through four games, heralded Cal transfer Matt Bradley is shooting 40.1 percent overall and 2 of 11 on 3s and has struggled to find an offensive rhythm with his new team.
The half-full view: He’s still averaging a team-leading 14.5 points.
Transfers, no matter how talented, are rarely plug-and-play pieces on offense, particularly those who have spent three seasons at their previous school with different schemes and surrounding skill sets.
“For me right now, the most important thing is just trying to be a good teammate,” Bradley said after a 15-point night on 3 of 9 shooting. “I’m trying to stay positive. I just have to keep learning every day. It’s a challenge I’m willing to accept and just keep trying to get better.
“Just trying to manage my emotions, have that next-play mentality and not worry about what I did in the past, stay loyal to the grind, trust my coaches, trust my teammates. I’m in a new environment,
so keep jelling with everybody every day.”
Coach Brian Dutcher has designed plays that put Bradley in iso situations, but teams are increasingly collapsing defenses, directing
their attention to him more than who they’re leaving open on the perimeter. Bradley had 23 points in the opener against UC Riverside and the Aztecs were plus-16 points with him on the floor; in the three games since, he’s averaging 11.7 points and is a combined minus-15.
The half-full view: After opening the season 0 of 6, Bradley made a pair of 3s Saturday that should stop defenders sagging off him and help unlock his entire offensive arsenal.
“It’s as much on me as it is on him, trying to put him in positions where he can be dangerous,” Dutcher said. “I have to continue to find ways for us both to be comfortable. That’s the difference between college and the NBA. In the NBA, they’re talking, oh, they’re only 20 games into the year, they’re not in a rhythm yet.
“I have to be in a rhythm four games in, because I’ve got a 30game schedule. It’s the same game but it’s a different standard. We have to understand the urgency and I have to find ways to get it going faster for us.”
History says patience is warranted.
Through his first six games with SDSU, future NBA first-round pick Malachi Flynn was averaging 13.3 points and shooting 39.7 percent. The breakout came at a Thanksgiving tournament in Las Vegas, dropping 21 and 28 points in wins against Creighton and Iowa.
2. Flopping
It’s the most dreaded signal in college basketball: Arms moving from shoulders to waist, palms up.
The flop warning was introduced by the NCAA two years ago but with little consequence. This season, the stakes were raised: Your entire team gets a warning for the first act of simulation — falling
down with minimal or no contact, or bobbing your head in an disingenuous attempt to draw a foul. The next flop results in a “Class B” one-shot technical, no matter who commits it.
“After two years of using warnings, we didn’t feel like we were getting the results that we wanted,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle, the rules committee chair, said in May. “We are trying to get flopping out of our game. We’re asking the officials to call them when they happen.”
Four flops were whistled Saturday, resulting in a technical foul for each team. The Aztecs also were called for a flop tech late in a one-possession game at BYU.
Missouri State has the biggest gripe. It was called for three flops at No. 21 Xavier, including one in the final minute of a tie game when Lamont West fell down attempting a 3pointer (and replays showed he was hit on the arm).
It is their subjective nature that has coaches concerned, especially since most occur on the hardest call in basketball: the block/charge. SDSU’s technical Saturday came from
Nathan Mensah trying to take a charge. UT Arlington’s tech came when Shemar Wilson got tangled with Mensah battling for a rebound and appeared to slip. (Out of sympathy, Mensah helped him up.)
“Some of them are enough contact where the ref used to say, ‘You didn’t really get hit that hard, get up,’ ” Dutcher said. “Now you get hit but it’s not hard enough where they want to call a foul, so they call a f lop. A lot of these, there is contact. It’s a fine line if there’s contact, is it a flop? That’s something they’re working through.”
Referees are just doing what they’re instructed, whether they agree or not.
“It’s a point of emphasis, so it’s something we’ll see like crazy for the first month of the season,” Dutcher said. “But like anything, if they think it’s affecting the game in a negative way, they’ll just quit calling as many of them.”
3. Koren commits
A couple hours before Saturday’s game, former SDSU commit Koren Johnson, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, quietly pledged his allegiance to Washington on social media.
The 6-2 guard committed to the Aztecs on Oct. 11, then reopened
his recruitment on Nov. 8, two days before the national letter of intent signing window. It was only a matter of time before he was heading to Washington, although he’ll have to wait until April now to formally sign.
Johnson is from Seattle and led Garfield High, coached by Huskies alum Brandon Roy, to a state title as a junior before transferring to Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Part of the reason was the challenge of playing for one of the nation’s top prep academies. Part was to get away from detrimental influences of his hometown, and several members of his family privately pushed him to do the same for college.
“I just felt like being home was the best thing for me,” Johnson told 247Sports. “Also, they’re going to let me rock and do what I need to do to get where I need to go. … They want me to come in, score the ball and facilitate.”
Assuming, that is, coach Mike Hopkins and his staff are still there. The Huskies have finished 11th and 12th in the Pac-12 over the previous two seasons and they’re headed that way again, already losing home games against Northern Illinois (ranked No. 322 in Kenpom) and Wyoming. Power
conference coaches usually don’t survive that.
There’s also the cautionary tale of the last three players to decommit from SDSU, which recruits very specific skill sets that may not automatically translate to other programs. All three ended up transferring.
Keith Smith was a top 100 prospect who went to Oregon instead in 2016, then left for Pepperdine after averaging 1.9 points and 7.9 minutes in two seasons. The 6-7 wing scored even less in 15 games for the Waves before filing for a medical retirement.
Brodricks “Buddah” Jones asked for a release from his letter of intent just weeks before he was supposed to arrive on campus in 2015 and enrolled at UTEP instead. The 6-9 post lasted one season and transferred to Wyoming, where he washed out after a year.
Jordan Campbell asked for his release after SDSU assistant Justin Hutson, his primary recruiter, took the job at Fresno State in 2018 and went to Oregon State instead. The 6-4 guard didn’t make it to the semester break with the Beavers and transferred to Fresno State, where he has averaged 5.0 points in three seasons.