I went to about 6 of Marcus's games when he was a senior in HS. And while he showed potential to be good, I had no idea that he would be this productive and this fast in his career. He has improved each year, and the good thing is that he still has areas of growth. One thing that has been evident is that, Marcus plays well when we win. His stats over the last 2 years when we win, are all better than his normal stats:
17ppg 48.3 FG% 45% 3P% 5.8 rpg 2.3 assists
I think the key thing for Marcus is that when the opposition takes him out of the game, he has to continue to find ways to be productive. Get fouled, O-boards, or low post his man. Needham went thru the exact type of thing, and was able to overcome it. Passing is always the key.
Last Edit: Dec 16, 2014 12:52:37 GMT -5 by JoeStag
I went to about 6 of Marcus's games when he was a senior in HS. And while he showed potential to be good, I had no idea that he would be this productive and this fast in his career. He has improved each year, and the good thing is that he still has areas of growth. One thing that has been evident is that, Marcus plays well when we win. His stats over the last 2 years when we win, are all better than his normal stats:
17ppg 48.3 FG% 45% 3P% 5.8 rpg 2.3 assists
I think the key thing for Marcus is that when the opposition takes him out of the game, he has to continue to find ways to be productive. Get fouled, O-boards, or low post his man. Needham went thru the exact type of thing, and was able to overcome it. Passing is always the key.
I think this is exactly right joestag. Marcus is fantastic, but does need to figure out a way to add value when the opposition singles him out. When they put their best defender on him, or double team him, his production is way down. If he can overcome this and still find a way to be productive, he will be unstoppable
I went to about 6 of Marcus's games when he was a senior in HS. And while he showed potential to be good, I had no idea that he would be this productive and this fast in his career. He has improved each year, and the good thing is that he still has areas of growth. One thing that has been evident is that, Marcus plays well when we win. His stats over the last 2 years when we win, are all better than his normal stats:
17ppg 48.3 FG% 45% 3P% 5.8 rpg 2.3 assists
I think the key thing for Marcus is that when the opposition takes him out of the game, he has to continue to find ways to be productive. Get fouled, O-boards, or low post his man. Needham went thru the exact type of thing, and was able to overcome it. Passing is always the key.
I think this is exactly right joestag. Marcus is fantastic, but does need to figure out a way to add value when the opposition singles him out. When they put their best defender on him, or double team him, his production is way down. If he can overcome this and still find a way to be productive, he will be unstoppable
I would agree that Marcus has to overcome the increased defensive attention. But what would really help.... would be Scoring from the 2G (Nelson, StevieJ) and PF (Kirkland). We have got that production off an on this year, but we need it to be more consistent.
If only one of (Marcus/Tyler/Kirkland) are on ..... we struggle If 2 are playing well its a 50-50 game If all 3 are on (double digits), I think we can beat anybody in the MAAC.
Post by nashvillestag on Dec 18, 2014 11:50:23 GMT -5
Great to have the reminders that Marcus has indeed come up big a few times before his latest heroics against Quinnipiac. Sometimes a player developes a certain "it" factor where he can have the confidence to take (and many times make) the big shots. Maybe Marcus is becoming that man. Great reminder also that Needham WAS that man. Unfortunately we can't have him back. But that's why it's so important to have someone else consistently step up as I think it's pretty certain a lot of games are going to go right down to the wire from here on in.
Great to have the reminders that Marcus has indeed come up big a few times before his latest heroics against Quinnipiac. Sometimes a player developes a certain "it" factor where he can have the confidence to take (and many times make) the big shots. Maybe Marcus is becoming that man. Great reminder also that Needham WAS that man. Unfortunately we can't have him back. But that's why it's so important to have someone else consistently step up as I think it's pretty certain a lot of games are going to go right down to the wire from here on in.
Needham was one of the all time great big shot makers at Fairfield, he could have an off shooting day but somehow found a way to make the big shot when it mattered. People will always talk about the Iona game and some other games, but I think perhaps for me, the series of games he played again Manhattan best illustrate his big game abilities. During his Freshman season Needham had a woeful shooting day (2-11) in the 2010 game but scored 3 points in the final 30 seconds and I had a big assist to AJ and hit a big bucket in the final two minutes. In the game in 2011, Needham was 4-13 from the floor with 8 seconds remaining in the game and he made an impossible fade away three pointer to give Fairfield a 61-60 lead to win that game. The shot to win that game 61-60 in my mind was probably the most difficult shot I ever saw Derrick Needham make.
Maybe Im biased because it happened 5 feet from me, but Dereks shot against St. Joes was magnificent. The entire arena knew he would shoot it and even had a very very good Langston Galloway in his face. Ice cold. Couple that with drawing the offensive foul on the next possession.
You can see me in the picture too!
Last Edit: Dec 18, 2014 20:05:08 GMT -5 by stags10
Maybe Im biased because it happened 5 feet from me, but Dereks shot against St. Joes was magnificent. The entire arena knew he would shoot it and even had a very very good Langston Galloway in his face. Ice cold. Couple that with drawing the offensive foul on the next possession.
You can see me in the picture too!
The photo of Needham's shot is permantly at the Bottom of every page on this website for Men's Basketball. It is one of the great photos in Fairfield Basketball along with Deng Gai's Block in Hawaii. I was also very close to his shot, and when he took it I said out loud "Oh No" because it was a very difficult shot after coming off 2 picks on the baseline, and he had to do a 180 degree turnaround jumper off a perfect timed bang-bang pass from Wade. Needham had made that shot before in other games, but he was probably only a 20% shooter as a 180 degree turnaround jumper from the arc. And the best thing it was viewed by a lot of people, hanging from rafters. After the game, Fairfield fans just did not want to leave the court..... just soaking it in.