jajuan johnson – Rush The Court

Marquette and the Defensive Perils of Playing Small

Justin Kundrat — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:01:49 +0000

The small ball era has been discussed ad nauseam with case studies such as Golden State in the NBA and Villanova in college acting as manifestations of its success. But for all the talk about how effective shooter-stocked lineups are, the most under-appreciated element of the strategy is player interchangeability on defense. Villanova’s small lineups work because its wing players can effectively guard multiple positions and Jay Wright’s emphasis on help defense shores up any size deficiencies. Marquette‘s small ball approach, on the other hand, has so far come up short. Before diving into the issues surrounding the Golden Eagles’ strategy, though, it’s [...]

Marquette Dancing With Who They Brought

Joe Dzuback (@vtbnblog) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 19:31:26 +0000

Joe Dzuback is the RTC correspondent for the Atlantic 10 Conference and a regular contributor. You can also find his musings online at Villanova by the Numbers or on Twitter @vtbnblog.

This could not be the team Buzz Williams envisioned would play this season as the 2012-13 wound down last April. That team had a backcourt rotation that included All-Conference First Team guard Vander Blue, junior Todd Mayo, a solid backup point guard in junior Derrick Wilson and a pair of promising freshmen, Duane Wilson and JaJuan Johnson, who would be allowed to ease into the system as they logged a [...]

Big East M5: 01.31.14 Edition

George Hershey — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:20:28 +0000

Creighton and Villanova have shot up the rankings this season with great guard play and effective outside shooting. ESPN‘s John Gasaway wrote an article recently looking at the teams with the highest percentage of attempts that come from behind the arc. Creighton takes 43.1 percent of its shots from deep, but Gasaway points out how effective they have become at shooting two-pointers (54.8 percent of their twos in conference action) and how their defense is also much improved (surrendering 1.02 points per possession). Villanova has a similar profile in all three aspects. They take 42.7 percent of their shots from three, making 54 [...]

Big East M5: 01.24.14 Edition

Dan Lyons — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 13:20:17 +0000

Following his amazing performance against Villanova, Creighton’s Ethan Wragge has become something of a ‘cult hero’ on the national stage. Omaha.com‘s Tom Shatel dove into Wragge’s journey to this point, and things haven’t been very easy for a fifth-year senior who struggled as an underclassman and occasionally considered transferring elsewhere. After averaging between spot duty minutes off the bench for nearly four years, Wragge has finally broken into the starting lineup and is hitting around four three-pointers (and for the most part, only three-pointers) per game at a 50 percent clip. We’ve already touched on the “Lumberjack Day” which will be [...]

Big East M5: 01.17.14 Edition

George Hershey — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:20:02 +0000

Marquette freshman Jajuan Johnson suffered a sprained ankle in practice on Wednesday. There was some concern among the Marquette faithful after Johnson sent out three tweets that playfully hinted that he was hurt, but they were taken down soon after. Fellow freshman Duane Wilson was hurt before the season started and decided to redshirt this season. Hopefully Johnson’s injury is nothing severe as he has been getting more consistent minutes recently, and after being such a highly-touted prospect, we would hope that he can start to come into his own as the season progresses. Another day, more attention and praise for [...]

Last Week’s Villanova and Marquette Tournament Runs Spurred by Freshmen

George Hershey — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 15:20:02 +0000

The college basketball world was amazed by Villanova’s surprising run to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship last weekend. After having a relatively easy start to the season, the Wildcats landed in the Bahamas and beat USC prior to a match-up with the #2 ranked team in the nation, Kansas, followed by a battle against #23 Iowa in the title game. Seasoned veterans James Bell, JayVaughn Pinkston and Ryan Arcidiacono helped lead the team on its stunning run, but the play of freshmen Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, especially in the championship game, was instrumental and a major reason the Wildcats [...]

Evaluating Marquette After the Ohio State Loss

George Hershey — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:45:33 +0000

Marquette fans were disheartened after Saturday’s home loss to Ohio State, ending the nation’s longest active home winning streak at 27 games. The Golden Eagles managed to only score 35 points and looked hopeless offensively all game long. They ended up shooting 18 percent from the floor and went a miserable 1-of-18 on threes. Pundits from around the nation were criticizing and making fun of the Golden Eagles’ ineptitude on the offensive end. The Golden Eagles definitely deserved it after the tough loss, but contrary to what some may have you believe, the season is not over and there is still [...]

Big East Recruiting Superlatives

mlemaire — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:07:31 +0000

Sometimes it is OK to choose an arbitrary date in the college basketball recruiting process and take stock of things, using our Big East goggles of course. That said, this date really isn’t all that arbitrary. Most of the top basketball recruits in the Class of 2013 signed National Letters of Intent last week . Rather than break down and rank the Big East recruiting classes from top to bottom — which the guys at recruiting sites do much better than we would anyway — we figured to have some fun and bring you back to high school for some [...]

Season in Review: Marquette Golden Eagles

Will Tucker — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:01:24 +0000

The Golden Eagles earned a share of their first Big East regular season championship with their second consecutive 14-4 conference record. As the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament, Buzz Williams’ squad was dispatched in their first game by a lower-seeded Notre Dame team. But it rebounded in the Big Dance, visiting the Sweet Sixteen for the third straight year before suffering an Elite Eight loss to Syracuse in Washington, D.C.

Preseason Expectations

Despite coming off the program’s best season as a Big East member in 2011-12, most anticipated a rebuilding year as Buzz Williams sought to replace leading scorers [...]

Seven Sweet Scoops: Andrew Wiggins Visits Florida State, Jabari Parker Returns From Injury…

CLykins — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:49:59 +0000

Seven Sweet Scoops is the newest and hottest column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting analyst. Every Friday he will discuss the seven top stories from the week in the wide world of recruiting, involving offers, which prospect visited where, recent updates regarding school lists, and more chatter from the recruiting scene. You can also check out more of his work at RTC with his weekly column “Who’s Got Next?”, as well as his work dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and [...]

Seven Sweet Scoops: Julius Randle Out Three Months, Andrew Wiggins Plans Visit To Florida State…

CLykins — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:15:19 +0000

Who’s Got Next? Austin Nichols Stays In Memphis; Jarrell Martin Picks Hometown LSU…

CLykins — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:29:56 +0000

Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Chad Lykins, the RTC recruiting guru. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to discussing the recruitments of the top uncommitted players in the country. We also encourage you to check out his contributions dedicated solely to Duke Basketball at Duke Hoop Blog. You can also follow Chad at his Twitter account @CLykinsBlog for up-to-date breaking news from the high school and college hoops scene. If you have any suggestions as to [...]

NBA Draft Thoughts From a College Perspective

rtmsf — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:00:34 +0000

The NBA Draft has come and gone with one of the most boring evenings in its televised history. Maybe it was the arena setting, maybe it was the lack of marquee names, maybe it was the fact that none of the draftees wore anything particularly ridiculous, but the league’s capstone summer event was so uninspiring that even Bill Simmons’ usually-hilarious draft diary felt trite and mailed in. Still, the draft represents to every major college basketball player the culmination of a lifelong dream to hear one’s name called by David Stern, and it’s worth a quick reflection on [...]

2011 RTC Mock Draft: Final Version

zhayes9 — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 19:22:52 +0000

Zach Hayes is a editor, contributor and bracketologist for Rush the Court.

One final stab at how Thursday night will play out before we finally send off some of our favorite college players to the next level:

1 ) Cleveland Cavaliers- Kyrie Irving, PG, Duke. Any Derrick Williams-to-Cleveland rumor is searching for intrigue that’s simply non-existent. Irving was the pick the night the Cavaliers struck gold at the lottery and remains the pick today. Irving is a safe bet to develop into a dynamic player at such a vital position on the floor.

Kyrie Irving appears to [...]

RTC NBA Draft Profiles: JaJuan Johnson

rtmsf — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:31:05 +0000

Over the course of the next month until the NBA Draft on June 23, RTC will be rolling out comprehensive profiles of the 35 collegians we feel have the best chance to hear their names called by David Stern in the first round that night. There won’t be any particular order to the list, but you can scroll back through all the finished profiles by clicking here.

Player Name: JaJuan Johnson

School: Purdue

Height/Weight: 6’10/220 lbs.

NBA Position: Power Forward

Projected Draft Range: Late First/Early Second Round

Overview: Perhaps no [...]