Dexter Dennis
- Thread starter Gamaliel.
- Start date
Under 30% last year from 3. Not at all what we need.
I’d take him. Upgrades our length and athleticism on the wing. Not great shooting numbers, but he has decent form, looks comfortable going to the basket, and is an explosive athlete. We need more long athletic wing players. Dennis, IMO, would be an overall upgrade over what we got from Stewart/Kopp.
Xavier, Tamar, Trey, JHS, Jordan, Miller…this is what we’re looking at as of now. One of the ways Woodson can stabilize/improve that wing lineup is someone that is athletic and versatile defensively. Jordan, Tamar, and Miller aren’t exactly lock down defenders. Adding an athletic, slashing, long, perimeter defender like Dennis might make it easier to play more offensive minded wings like Tamar and Jordan.
Xavier, Tamar, Trey, JHS, Jordan, Miller…this is what we’re looking at as of now. One of the ways Woodson can stabilize/improve that wing lineup is someone that is athletic and versatile defensively. Jordan, Tamar, and Miller aren’t exactly lock down defenders. Adding an athletic, slashing, long, perimeter defender like Dennis might make it easier to play more offensive minded wings like Tamar and Jordan.
Defensive POY in his conference isnt a “Taller Priller”. I get how you feel about this, but his defense would be something that could help keep our defense where its at. I’d like to see him added to the roster. Defense first fellows!
Read it again, and come back.
I said taller PHINISEE. Not taller Priller. RP was one of the best perimeter defenders in the conference this year. At the Mid Major level he would be competing for DPOY.
Defense doesn’t win championships anymore.
he has a very strange stat line over the course of his 4 yr career. Averaged roughly the same amount of points, rebounds, shooting %, and min each and every year. (only thing is an improvement in FT shooting since frosh yr). Very unusual to see stagnant numbers like for four consecutive years. We'd get someone who would probably give us 9/5 and 30 min every game with great defense but not a great outside shooter. I think it's becoming obvious that CMW isn't expecting Kopp to play a major role next season.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4396676/dexter-dennis
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/4396676/dexter-dennis
Kansas just won the NC because of great defense.
Kansas was 17th in Kenpom Defensive efficiency (we were 24th). They were number 6 in Kenpom Offensive efficiency (we were 94th).
Given those statistics, what do you think IU needs to improve upon most in order to get closer to Kansas? Offense or defense?
Agreed. My point was that our offense is what needs to be improved, not our defense. Dennis doesn’t improve the offense.
To be specific, KU was only 7/17 on 3s v. NC and was out-rebounded 55-35. They held NC to 5/23 on 3s.
'21 Baylor was a very good O team, but better than Gonzaga on D. That's why they won the NC.
He might. He’s better than any wing we have. He can shoot it some too. I bet we get him and he plays a bunch. We could use his quickness. Is he the perfect answer? Probably not.
IU isn’t close to Kansas, UNC, Gonzaga, or Baylor. Those teams are good on both offense and defense. IU is terrible offensively, and nothing has been done this off-season to remedy that. When the offense struggles again next year, it’s on Woodson.
Dennis had a great freshman year shooting (40% on 135 3-attempts), dropped to 34% the next 2 years, then dropped even more this year to 29%.
One interesting thing is that the whole Wichita St team seemed to have an off shooting year. Their main scoring threat Etienne went from a 39% the previous 2 years down to 33% this year. Their 2nd leading scorer Council, while didn't take a ton of 3's last year, dropped from 44% down to 30%. I think every returning player dropped their 3 point shooting by at least 5%. Very possible that shooting in practice was deemphasized by the coaching staff, or at least coached/drilled differently since Marshall was fired. So very possible that Dennis might be able to rebound his shooting in a new environment.
Also, there don't really appear to be a lot of great scoring prospects at guard in the portal and the ones that are in there mostly seem to be undersized and not all that athletic. On top of that, with Bates having the potential for a big Soph jump and JHS likely competing for time at the 2 spot, a lot of transfers might be hesitant due to uncertainty with playing time.
He shoots under 30% from 3 and 35% from the field. That’s really bad. He’s not better than Bates.
If you notice it’s efficiency that wins. KU doesn’t take or make many 3s. They can certainly hit more if they take more. That’s why IU won a lot of games hitting only 6-8 3s while taking 20 or less. Turnovers hurt us early in the year not the 3 point count. I get both arguments but our defense isn’t the problem it’s offensive efficiency.
Biggest thing is that I don't think there is the perfect answer in the portal, and worst case is that he's a high quality role player that only takes up a scholarship for 1 year.
For the past year. Not sure why but he’s a better shooter than that I suspect. Something was off on that whole team.
Defensively he’s leaps and bounds with the same offense. Bates has a ways to go on defense. I’d love to have Dennis defense in Tamar’s body.
It would depend on who's minutes he'd replace. But IF, he plays 25 minutes, and those take up the minutes of RP, Kopp, Stewart... because of HOW he plays overall, it very well could improve our offense. His defense is MUCH better and more disruptive than Kopp and Stewart, and he's a more versatile defender than Rob was. If our defense improves, that will create some more offensive possessions that are coming off stops, which are, in general, more efficient than offensive possessions that start after giving up a made basket.
Also, he's MUCH more active going to the basket than Kopp and Stewart, and I'd say with his size, probably more capable going to the basket with the congested lanes our offense creates than Rob was.
All in all...he'd upgrade our defense for certain. Obviously some question marks on what his impact offensively would be, but a strong case could be made that his size/length/athleticism would improve us on that end of the floor too.
Bates will be a far and away better offensive player than Dennis this year. I’d put any amount of money on that.
Dennis isn’t being recruited to play the 2. He’s being recruited to play the 3. I don’t see him as an upgrade to Kopp, and he’s very similar Galloway. Someone will be getting Creaned to bring him in. I just don’t see him as an upgrade.
Also, IU's offense struggled not because of a lack of 3 point shooting directly, but that IU frequently had 2 3-point shooting specialists on the court that did a lot of standing around.
You can’t state that his defense is much better than those players. He was playing at a mid major. Big step up to come to the Big Ten.
IU’s offensive struggles were because of the inability to shoot. Teams packed the paint in the second half and the offense stalled. Those two players stood around because that’s where Woodson wanted them.
But if you're certain that Bates becomes far and away a better offensive player than Dennis year, then 1) it goes a long way towards solving some of IU's offensive problems, and 2) would reduce potential interest from transfers.
Woodson wanted them there because that's about all they could do, and the other alternatives were frequently injured/not 100% (Phin/Galloway) or a liability on defense (Bates), so Woodson was kind of stuck with using 2 highly limited players in Kopp/Stewart
Ehhh...its pretty easy to see watching him play that he's a better defender than Kopp and Stewart. And Wichita State, and their competition level, isn't THAT much lower than IU and theirs. Maybe 20 years ago it was, these days, its not a huge difference.
Defensive player of the year in their conference...at his size and athleticism...makes it a virtual certainty that he's a better defender than Kopp and Stewart. And I actually think both of those guys were better than many gave them credit for on this forum.
Geronimo is the only player on our team that can do some of the things he can do athletically, and Dennis is A LOT better perimeter defender than Geronimo is. Versatility is an underappreciated trait. Its why teams like Villanova, Baylor, etc... are as good as they are. They have multiple guys in the game, at all times, that are effective guarding and scoring on multiple positions. Dennis is a guy that can very effectively guard really good players from the 1-4 positions. We don't have a single guy on our team, as of now, that is like that.
The main thing Stewart and Kopp are/were better at than Dennis is stand still shooting. And neither of them got enough shots, nor made enough of them, for that to be much of a factor in their favor. I'd say Stewart is probably a tad better ball handler...but we don't need much of that with JHS coming in, and Tamar likely taking on a larger ball handling/playmaking role.
He's not great on offense, but it's slander to call him a taller Rob.
His career 3 pt % is .344 v 29% for Rob.. Prior to last year he had shot .400, .336 & .336. His career FT% is .765 v. .649 for Rob. And the last 3 years he's been 85%, 80% & 79%. He's not much on assists, and his 2 pt career % is only .400 v. .399 for Rob.
I think he's more like a shorter Kopp than a taller Phin.
His career shooting #s are .400 (2s), .344 (3s) & .765 (FTs). As explained above, he's really more like an 80% FT. Kopp's #s are .416, .360 & .853. On average, he takes just short of 1 more 3 per game than Kopp. He's presumably a better defender than Kopp. And he averages 7.2 rebs per every 40M played v. 4.3 for Kopp.
We do have to remember that he's played on a relatively better team in a lesser conference than MK.
He may be worthwhile if the goal if to toughen up the team. He's not going to be a game changer.
The stagnant #s thing is very Kopp-like.
I don't understand why you think his addition would mean less Kopp next year. He is PS-like in his size. A lesser shooter than PS, but not by much, and a better rebounder & defender.
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