Well since he and Walton are the best we have at getting shots or finding someone for a shot, they have to have the ball late and it’s worked out great the past few games.
MAAR can definitely play.
On a really good team, I think his role would be akin to Demetrius Calip on the 1990 team - essentially a third guard off the bench who sees solid minutes. But we’re not a really good team. It seems very likely he’ll continue to start at the two next year.
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MAAR is a decent player. But the way he plays is made for a 6th man. We just happen to have players who aren’t playing up to their potential which had forced him into the starting lineup. If Levert was healthy, he’d be getting his 10 minutes a game and we wouldn’t be talking about this at all.
Good thing Jerian Grant and Connaughton aren’t on ND this year.
It would not be pretty for us if they were. Those guys could play.
I think MAAR would actually be more effective in a lineup with Derrick, but without Zak. MAAR is most effective with the ball in his hand, and Derrick is much more effective playing off-ball, at least in a half court set. Would compliment each other nicely.
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I don’t think we need to malign MAAR too much to discount some of the … interesting … things being said. I will say, to your point, that last night MAAR’s eFG% and TS% last night were pretty low, quite a bit lower than Zak’s, Derrick’s, and Duncan’s, and his ORtg was lower than all of those guys’ except a few points higher than Derrick’s. But his season-long numbers on those metrics look pretty good. Stats are good checks on what the eyes see. MAAR’s aggressive and a pretty finisher, which is lacking somewhat on this team, but he does bog the offense down sometimes. He needs to get better about going quick and keeping the ball moving, as he’s not good enough in isolation or PnR to forego the rest of the offense. He is probably quite low in the “hockey-assist” department. But he is getting better in his recognition of situation, as are other of the players. Turning into quite a decent college ball player, and he’s still a sophomore. Another quality late pick-up by Beilein.
If anyone’s interest, here’s where I’m getting my advanced stats from:
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That’s great stuff. MAAR also over dribbles a lot and gets caught in the lane due to not being a creator for others. I do like MAAR, he’s just playing out of his element as the starting shooting guard. Not being a good shooter or making shots off the dribble consistently, he uses his attacking as his only weapon off the dribble. I hope he keeps improving but he’s been this same player all year with not much expansion to his game. I love how aggressive he is but it gets him in trouble a bit.