Luka vs Zion

[PCHawk]

I think having more shooters around him will actually improve his numbers because he would be more wide open, play more one on one in the post, and get fouled more often. I would like to see his rebounding and shot blocking numbers go up exponentially next year like his scoring has done this year. A run to the Final Four would remove all doubt to all the talking heads out there just because they can’t justify any other reasoning.

That and Boannon is pretty good at feeding the post too. Doubling Garza next year will be brutal for teams but they will still have to. When he doesn't get doubled, its damn near an automatic 2 points.

 

[RobHowe]

Nobody wanted to get in the guys way. He was a beast. They parted like the Red Sea. Nobody wants to be a poster child.

True. He's a freak athlete.

But he also had four NBA players on the court with him who required attention. Luka is almost always doubled and often tripled. The Hawkeyes made Ohio State pay for that last night. But teams are still going to let others try to beat them instead of Luka.

 

[Knight78]

I still can't find a decent comparable for Garza, but McHale never shot any 3s, and that's a huge part of Luka's game.

I still keep landing on Frank Kaminsky. Whats scary is if you compare Luka's junior year to Frank's junior year...Luka is putting Frank to shame. However I wouldn't be shocked to see Luka's numbers dip a bit next year with Bohannon and others a full strength.

Well, there's a reason McHale didn't shoot any threes in college - they didn't have the 3-point line until 1987 and he graduated (yes - graduated, not left for the NBA) in 1980. And he did take a fair amount of wing shots as Randy Breuer was in the middle during his senior year; Mychal Thompson was a senior when McHale was a soph.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Well, there's a reason McHale didn't shoot any threes in college - they didn't have the 3-point line until 1987 and he graduated (yes - graduated, not left for the NBA) in 1980. And he did take a fair amount of wing shots as Randy Breuer was in the middle during his senior year; Mychal Thompson was a senior when McHale was a soph.

The closest comparison I can think of would be a poor-man's Tim Duncan. Tim had outstanding footwork and post moves around the basket, but also had a sneaky good set shot from deep that he would dagger teams with occasionally.

McHale had arguably the best post moves in NBA history, and a competitive fire, but not much of an outside shot beyond 15 feet or so. He also wasn't nearly as physical as Garza.

 

[KCTrainer]

Oh I dunno, maybe because the award itself is named "Player of the Year," not "Team MVP of the Year?" Sorry you're "all" waiting.

With that logic LEBRON JAMES should have won the NBA MVP every year since he joined the league 17 seasons ago and yet he only has 4 MVP awards. So your telling me he was only the best player in the league 4 out of his 17 seasons? Hmmm...

 

[SomersHawk]

I'd be willing to be almost everything I have that White wouldn't trade his senior year at Iowa for one more year of making money in Europe.

THIS^^^^^

 

[dahlhawk]

Uhhhh....wut?
This.

I hate Duke and I hate Mike Krzecsyewscrsvkcrski, but comparing 23 pts a game on an Iowa squad vs 22 pts a game on a Duke team is completely ridiculous. It's "I don't follow basketball" - level ridiculous.

Duke's starters were 4 freshman and a junior, and 4 of them bolted for the NBA. Tre Jones is the only one who stayed and he's gone after this year. Williamson's 22.6 pts and 8.9 rebounds came on a team with another guy who had 22.6 pts and 7.6 rebounds for god's sake.

And that's all in the ACC, which had 5 ranked teams at the end of the year and three of those ranked 1, 2, 3.

People gotta think before posting shit like that, it's taking nothing into context whatsoever.

I really don’t see what your trying to say, that Zion had a harder time scoring playing with the number one recruiting class in America and the Duke holdovers than Garza, who has only one complementary scorer and is double and triple teamed?

 

[ModebaSan]

True. He's a freak athlete.

But he also had four NBA players on the court with him who required attention. Luka is almost always doubled and often tripled. The Hawkeyes made Ohio State pay for that last night. But teams are still going to let others try to beat them instead of Luka.

I agree with you Rob. If Zion was is the same situation as Garza, I doubt he would do as well being doubled and triple teamed. But I believe he played the power forward spot and would have been trapped on the sideline or corner more often. Zion’s biggest asset was running the court and getting buckets in transition. Don’t think he would do as well in the half court game.

 

[CP87]

There are 2 things that make the comparison difficult:
Garza is surrounded by less talent, increasing his usage rate, which will inflate his stats.

Garza is surrounded by less talent, allowing teams to focus more defensive attention his way, which will deflate his stats.

How much impact does each of these have? Impossible to tell.

Garza's usage rate this year is 33.2, a very high number. Zion last year was at 28.8 (identical to Tyler Cook as a soph at Iowa).

Zion was much more efficient, with a 73.3 eFG%, vs. Garza at 59.0%.

While Zion had very talented players around him, I guarantee the defense was focused on stopping him first, second, and third. However, he did not bear the burden of creating the offense, as Garza often does (Barret had a usage rate of 32.1 last year).

Both of them are incredible, and they will both end up with one of the 10 highest PER seasons ever in college basketball.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Uhhhh....wut?
This.

I hate Duke and I hate Mike Krzecsyewscrsvkcrski, but comparing 23 pts a game on an Iowa squad vs 22 pts a game on a Duke team is completely ridiculous. It's "I don't follow basketball" - level ridiculous.

Duke's starters were 4 freshman and a junior, and 4 of them bolted for the NBA. Tre Jones is the only one who stayed and he's gone after this year. Williamson's 22.6 pts and 8.9 rebounds came on a team with another guy who had 22.6 pts and 7.6 rebounds for god's sake.

And that's all in the ACC, which had 5 ranked teams at the end of the year and three of those ranked 1, 2, 3.

People gotta think before posting shit like that, it's taking nothing into context whatsoever.

Coach K needs to buy a vowel, or several of them.

 

[FirstDownHawkeyes]

Check out the highest single-season PERs in college basketball history. Zion is first with 40.8. There is as much distance between him and 2nd place as there is between 2nd place and 23rd place. He was pretty good.

If you are curious, Luka's PER would end up in the top 10 of that list, just ahead of Anthony Davis.

The list in the link is since 2009-10 but nevertheless valid. The top 20 only has 4 players that played in real conferences (sorry Zags your schedule is a joke). Garza would have the 2nd best PER among P5 players if he maintains his production. Kaminsky was 4 lower than A Davis BTW.

The fact we are legitimately comparing numbers of possibly the most athletic human to play college hoops with Garza is telling. Last year Zion had the most dominating college season since Kevin Durant was at Texas.

 

[Robowe]