Andy Lyons - Getty Images
Some think Teague is struggling, but the numbers say otherwise.
Marquis Teague was one of the top ten players in America in high school. That's no small feat to achieve, and being heralded as "Calipari's next great point guard" has become routine over the last few years, and has mostly been something of a self-fulfilling prophecy -- you are acclaimed, you are recruited, you get drafted top ten, ipso facto.
This year, something happened on the way to Marquis Teague's coronation as the successor to Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall and Brandon Knight. That something is known as the clash between reality and expectations, and how the two often diverge. Marquis Teague did not march in, take the reigns, and awe us all with his play-making or shot-making ability. Instead, he has done something unexpected, and far more normal; reminded us all that having ups and downs as a freshman is the rule, not the exception.
Since John Calipari has been here, it seems like the point guards haven't had a learning curve -- they just pop straight to greatness and consideration for top player in the nation honors as if the sprung from their mother's womb with a 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. The fact that a Calipari point guard isn't wowing the college basketball world seems earth-shattering to some, but what it more likely represents is a return to normalcy.
As a case in point, there was once a point guard at Kentucky who did pretty well for himself. Like Teague, he was also highly touted out of high school, a McDonalds All-American, and considered amongst the best players in the country when he matriculated to Lexington. Also like Teague, he was possessed of outstanding athleticism and skill with the ball in his hands. He currently sits at #4 all-time at Kentucky in assists as a freshman. You all know him as the current point guard of the Boston Celtics and arguable the best in the NBA, Rajon Rondo.
Let's take a look at the ballhandling statistics between Rondo's freshman year, and Teague's. Rondo averaged 3.5 assists/game, Teague 4.5 as of now. A/T ratios are similar at 1.7 for Rondo, 1.5 for Teague. Assist % 25.7 for Rondo, 24.6 for Teague. Turnovers: 2 per game for Rondo, 3 for Teague. Believe it or not, Teague is on pace not only to blow past Rondo for his freshman assist standing, but is in a very good position to supplant Brandon Knight at #2 depending upon how deep the Wildcats go in March. John Wall's freshman assist record is in no jeopardy, but that one will probably stand for decades.
Teague, like Rondo before him, is putting up solid numbers as a freshman that are likely to get better with more experience. The transition from high school to college has been a bit trickier for him than it was for the cerebral, cool-shooting Knight or the stunningly athletic Wall. Like Wall, Teague is not a great jumpshooter, nor does he have the blazing speed that Wall possessed, but he takes better care of the basketball and perhaps makes better decisions with it, although that is certainly debatable.
Teague has struggled a bit with his confidence as the lead guard, and particularly with the necessary role of being an extension of the coach on the floor. Knight embraced that role, as did Wall, but Teague has spit the bit a few times, allegedly refusing to do what Calipari wanted and substituting his judgment for that of the coach. That happened occasionally with Wall as well, but perhaps to a less publicized degree.
The good news is that the last two games by Teague have been solid performances where his decision-making was much better. As a defender, he has always been good, and even though he has occasionally been foul prone, for the most part he is very careful to manage his fouls and reaches less than Doron Lamb or Terrence Jones.
Teague has always been the kind of player who was less likely to stand out than any of Calipari's prior point guards for a variety of reasons, chief among which is that he has no skill that is off the charts, like the combination of size and athleticism for Rose, Evans, and Wall, or the great perimeter shooting of Knight. Instead, he has ability in all areas, but stands out in none.
In other words, he is a mostly-complete point guard. All he lacks is the clarity and confidence that come from experience, and that is growing day by day.
0 recs | 45 comments
Good Commentary
Ever notice that it’s much easier to compliment an opinion when it’s one with which we agree? Such it is with your interpretation of young Mr. Teague. The comparison with Rondo is interesting and revealing but it omits an important factor: coach. Rajan had the misfortune of playing for Smith who had a restrictive nature for his PG while Marcus has a much softer hand on the reins in Calipari.
I still have vivid mind pictures of Rondo, multiple times, standing near mid-court in Allen Fieldhouse pounding the dribble for the first 20-seconds of the shot clock.
Wild Weasel - January 9, 2012
Great comparisons w/ Rondo...
I think by March, we will all be praising Teague along w/ our other great guys!! We will have more stories/posts like this showing how much they have improved, talking draft stock, etc.
It will happen… :)
kentuckyrules - January 9, 2012
While expectations are always high for UK fans
I think that this year’s team was expected to be greater from the start than the last two. Because of this, I think that Teague is operating under a much more critical eye than Wall and Knight. Any shortcomings in a particular game are then blown somewhat out of proportion to a reasonable learning curve. In my opinion, Teague will be fine by the end of SEC play and tournament ready.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
+1.1
kentuckyrules - January 9, 2012
Teague has such unreal expectations from fans, he wanted this. He wanted to play for Cal. He knew it was going to be really tough. He is a fighter and will lead this team to the promise land. He shows flashes of brilliance every game.
This time last year Knight wasnt playing awesome either. The only difference is that Knight was our best shooter so we ran the offense through him. So it did not seem he was playing bad from a point guard perspective. Also Knight is not a true point guard. He is a combo guard.
I think another factor is how well Davis and MKG are playing. We were expecting him to be on the same level as them but he isnt cause he is the point guard. He is not called on to score that much. I have watched him countless times. He can get to the rim anytime he wants. His shooting also has a lot to do with it. Teams are sagging off of him to prevent the drive. Until he makes jump shots it will be like that.
To many people remember the Brandon Knight from the SEC and NCAA tournament and forgot about the Knight that played bad as a point guard well into the season. Wall is a once a decade type player. That spoiled cat fans. He won us the game on that last second shot in his first game and we were star struck by him and that team. Wall constantly won us last second games. He is the player that you know is getting the ball in crunch time and there is nothing you can do about it. Wall was turning the ball over like crazy that whole year but people only remember the good things.
I know this does not matter right now but Harrow will have such a leg up on the previous Calipari point guards cause he has a whole year to learn his system unlike the last 5 guards. If Teague comes back and we have both of them next year and the monster class we are bringing in, we will be in very good shape. Thank you basketball Gods for Coach Cal
michael26 - January 9, 2012
Teague is a lead guard, not a point guard
Glenn, you said
-— “In other words, he is a mostly-complete point guard. All he lacks are the clarity and confidence that come from experience, and that is growing day by day.”I disagree and the reason is Teague’s lack of a high basketball IQ. He does not have a feel for the game that great point guards exhibit – Kyle Macy, Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Rondo, etc.
Teague is a lead guard and that’s okay.
ajp40505 - January 9, 2012
ok
He is just a freshman. He has only been playing D1 basketball for 15 games. I can tell he is starting to get it. He is such a good player than when he finally does get it he will be off the charts good. The players you said were not great there freshman years in college. Chris Paul maybe is the only 1
michael26 - January 9, 2012
We will agree to disagree.
“Lead guard” nominally refers to a scoring point guard.
In any case, his basketball IQ is as high or higher than most freshmen. There are rare exceptions, but I think it is on par with Rondo at this time in his career.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
Rondo as a freshman
Rondo was great from the get go defensively. He’s always had the speed and defensive instincts that you just can’t teach. I don’t know if you’d call it his basketball IQ, but the guy couldn’t hit the side of a barn from outside five feet and his free throw shooting was atrocious. Tubby was constantly pulling him out for making bad decisions, particularly for over-penetrating and getting stuck with nowhere to go. I don’t think Tubby had any grey hair before Rondo.
chicagoblues - January 9, 2012
TEAGUE
The thing with Teague is he can get to the basket any time he wants. He is much quicker and stronger than people think. Last year at this time, Cal was trying to get Knight to be more vocal and take control of the team and it took him a while to do so. The team we see now is nothing like the team we will have in March. Teague will be really good. His court vision is very good and he is excellent in transition.
How do you know you have a great team? When your team isnt quite clicking yet and have only played together 15 or so games and we are sitting here with a one loss team that has beat some quality teams and winning by 20 or 30 to weaker teams. Imagine when it is clicking!
michael26 - January 9, 2012
We can be an unrealistic fanbase.
At the end of last year’s final-four run, I remembered back to January, and how we were all saying that we were probably a Sweet-16 team at best. Anything better than that was going to be icing on the cake. By tournament time, banner #8 seemed quite realistic.
I promised myself I was going to keep some perspective this year.
bob in bg - January 9, 2012
i got a kaleidoscope for some perspective
this year ;j
bluecrip - January 9, 2012
amazing to my mind...
mild mannered as in Superman/Clark Kent…or lack of confidence in where they are now…UK of course…i’m observing from a distance and it’s hard to believe these guys…MT, TJ, DM etc…with their skills/talent…haven’t bought into it yet…now, i realize that RR didn’t have the full pack of aggression as he does now, but these kids have come a long, long road and i just want to see them pull out a bit more from their hearts…i know they’re learning at a new level, but some heart-felt Big Blue fight seems to be missing somehow…visible flashes are there, but they’ve gotta know it ain’t there yet!!!
KYCatwoman - January 9, 2012
ipso facto columbo oreo
it may sound like it but it isn’t Latin.
Teague may have the early hype of an ALL WORLD PG but he really isn’t. Once Cal is done with him he’ll have a chance to be one.
bluecrip - January 9, 2012
From Merriam-Webster:
Origin of IPSO FACTO
New Latin, literally, by the fact itself
First Known Use: 1548
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
Comparing Rondo and Teague is like apples and oranges
The coaching styles of Tubby and Cal couldn’t be more different and I find it hard to compare Rondo and Teague because their coaches were asking for different contributions from their point guards. I still have mental images of Tubby having apoplectic fits when Rondo would penetrate and get stuck with nowhere to go. I feel like a comparison between Knight and Teague is more appropriate and fans seem to have already forgotten how much Knight struggled with turnovers even well into the conference schedule. I think Teague is where you would expect him to be at this point in his career.
chicagoblues - January 9, 2012
all you guys are right...
MT will be what we need come post-season…it’s gonna be crazy but controlled…GBB!!!
KYCatwoman - January 9, 2012
I am getting tired of the over personal criticisms
aimed at these young men when they do not live up to the impossible expectations of UK fans. I am 65 years old and have practiced at life every day and there are still many times I don’t live up to my potential. Personally I think we are seeing more fan failures than player failures.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
I'm afraid you'll have to get over it.
We analyze the team, and the game. That carries with it the occasional necessity of criticism. That is what we do as bloggers.
If you’d like to disagree, you are welcome to do so. But realize that you have mischaracerized the criticism. It isn’t personal at all. It’s all about their performance on the court, and has nothing to do with them as people.
There may come a time when personal criticism is warranted, but that’s not what any of the recent articles have been.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
What allows you to assess a player's confidence?
That’s more a personal criticism, a mind-reading divination than game analysis. No?
Wheatgerm - January 9, 2012
Not at all.
Can you play basketball without it? No. Your confidence is the main component of a player’s game. You can’t play without it any more than you can play without hands at the Division I level.
That is most definitely not in my definition of personal criticism. It should not be in anyone’s in my opinion. It certainly isn’t in Calipari’s.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
I am not talking about game performance criticism,
those results are out there for everyone to see. I am talking about people who take it to the levels I have seen such as they are a worthless waste of a scholarship, etc. I haven’t seen much of that yet but wait until the next loss.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
It's more subtle than that.
I think your earlier point is a good one. Maybe instead of “personal” criticism we should say individual criticism. It might be that we are more sensitive to criticism when it’s directed toward one of the players, and repeatedly. Criticism of the team is almost never an issue.
Individual criticism is fair to a point. The danger of repeatedly criticizing a player is to turn him into the goat. We beat up on Miller pretty good this year. Then we moved on to Teague, then Jones. Not without reason, mind you. For me, criticism crosses the line when we stray from a player’s performance on the court to questioning his heart, character or confidence.
I dunno, I need to think about this some more. I’m just thinking out loud. But there is something to what you say. I feel it, and others here have expressed the same sentiment. There must be a basis for it. Maybe it has something to do with Cal. He’s been rather harsh on this players in public. Perhaps that’s worn off on the fans. We have such a special team this year, yet we seem to want to emphasize the negative. You’ll notice, btw, that no one outside of BBN is buying Cal’s “woe is me” act. And lately, Cal himself has been more supportive of his players. When he said they all needed a break at Christmas, I think he realized that he was maybe being a little too hard on his guys.
Wheatgerm - January 9, 2012
thanx Glen...
i’m afraid my reply to those few would not have been as civil or to the point…
KYCatwoman - January 9, 2012
Telling one of our good friends to "get over it" is arguably civil,
but it lacked a certain amount of tact, don’t you think? I love Glenn, but he gets a little defensive sometimes. Like with ipso facto columbo oreo. I’m pretty sure that was a joke.
Wheatgerm - January 9, 2012
I do get defensive.
I don’t like being impugned, and I take it personally. I also extremely dislike my opinions being mischaracterized.
I have tried to be less sarcastic and more tolerant in my response, and it has been difficult, but doable, requiring much time and many rewrites and walking away from the keyboard. Perhaps in a year or so, I’ll mellow even further. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll just ignore them. Anything is possible, and we all change over time.
I work very hard on this blog. Nobody has any idea how much time and effort I have put into this. I don’t care if others think they have the right to take shots at my opinions, I don’t – not on this blog. If anyone wants to take shots at me, they can start their own blog and open fire. I never object to disagreement, even if I often respond, but I reject mischaractarizations and unfair commentary, and repeated unfair commentary will eventually get me much more than defensive. :-)
And to one of your earlier points, questioning a player’s confidence is most definitely not personal, it is absolutely a necessary component of basketball. Without confidence, you cannot succeed in the college game any more than you can with only one leg.
Character and heart are unquestionably off limits, but confidence isn’t, and shouldn’t be.
Finally, I have to admit, I am tiring and pretty fed up with this bizarre idea that commentary about players’ performance is somehow off limits. That’s crap, pure and simple. Anyone who can’t stand to read that kind of article should simply not do so, it will save both them and me a lot of grief. The Internet is even easier than TV to turn the channel on. :-)
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
I haven't seen any bad comments from bloggers on ASOB
Now go look at the Card Chron. Card fans are lighting up Ricky P. and the players. I am not saying UK fans don’t do this, I am almost positive they do. But I haven’t seen much of it on here if any. After the first few games of last season I said that Harrellson and Vargas weren’t good enough to play at UK. Harrellson proved me wrong, and Vargas was pretty bad most of the year. I do think that commentary about a players’ performance comes with the territory.
ScottWalls - January 10, 2012
I should have qualified my post
with the explanation that it was not aimed at your post specifically but rather at many posts I have seen by others who are venting their frustrations when the game performance of players does not meet their expectations. With that said, you do not need to demand one standard for responses to your posts and set another for your own responses. "I’m afraid you’ll have to get over it " is very condescending and would upset many people. It does not bother me because I know that when it comes to opinions everyone has one and the purpose of blogs like this should be open debate of the validity of said opinions.
Again, my post was about some of the hateful things that are said about young men because of performance in a game. It was a generalized observation, nothing more.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
Ah.
Okay, after getting blasted in the earlier thread by some guy, I guess I was feeling a little picked on. :-)
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
Sorry for the misconception, but it would have been somewhat
hypocritical of me to attack you personally in a post that was against personal attacks. I sure hope I never stoop to that.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
True.
:-)
Glenn Logan - January 10, 2012
Point Guards
I remember a time when point guards were usually the player who made the best decisions out on the court. They weren’t the best scorers or the most athletic but you sure wanted the ball in their hands especially at crunch time. Somebody mentioned Kyle Macy who happens to be one of the best point guards in the history of UK. Yes he could score because he was a great shooter but it was his smarts that made him great. He was far from being the most athletic player on the ‘78 team that won it all but you sure wanted him with the ball in his hands. I just say all this because on this years team…which I think is the most talented since ’96….Teague doesn’t have to be this wonderkind at the point. Just play smart,limit the turnovers and hit free throws. He isn’t John Wall or Brandon Knight but with this team he doesn’t have to be.
maysvilleblue - January 9, 2012
He won't take the talent that they had when he goes to the next level.
I just hope he takes a championship ring with him.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
Unfair!
Gentlemen and ladies. I am 72 years old and feel I have seen a few “good” point guards at Uk.Having said that I will tell you that you can’t compare them and say one is better than the rest. You will always think the last one was a little better. They are all great in their own way.I try not to be judgemental this early in one’s career. Just my opinion:-)
oldcat73 - January 9, 2012
I'm 54 years old, and I respectfully disagree.
Of course you can compare them. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the comparisons are valid, but statistical comparisons certainly are.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
One as yet unmentioned factor that I believe has some bearing on MT's play
Is that he is virtually IT when it comes to PGs on this team. He has no real back-up that can give a few minutes breather here and there. Lamb is a very good off guard, but he really hasn’t shown he can handle a tough press or a tough straight up man defender very well.
I like Marquis; he is and will continue to get better, I think. The comparison to Rondo is pretty fair.
BCinVA - January 9, 2012
Yes, he more or less is.
We have enough depth now to “hide” his absence, but he is really important to the team, although no more so, I would say, than Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Each of those guys has a noticeable negative impact when they are off the floor for a long time.
Honestly, Davis is probably more valuable to this team’s success, overall, than Teague is. Calipari has said this more than once, in a roundabout way, and it is obvious from watching the team play.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
+2!!!
KYCatwoman - January 9, 2012
Nice article
Teague is coming around. I’m sure he’ll continue to come around. Somewhere in there he is also gonna make us shake our heads in disbelief a time or two as well as make us stand and yell in appreciation.
Go Big Blue.
sweasyf - January 9, 2012
If Marquis Teague can play as perfectly for the rest of the season
as is demanded by UK fans, then it will be he that Tebow Tebows for.
kywineman - January 9, 2012
Price Of Adoration
There are many positives to being a UK BB player, certainly more than enough to balance the inevitable criticism. Any who wears the Blue should recognize the liabilities of being on a pedestal, or as the author of one of my favorites, Dune, said:
Wild Weasel - January 9, 2012
I love that particular passage.
A Bene Tleilax saying, I believe.
Glenn Logan - January 9, 2012
Mr Herbert in the house...
Nice!
EagleTDL - January 10, 2012
Great read, Glenn
I tend to agree with you. He’s been just fine, and will get better this year.
He just hasn’t been otherworldly like Calipari fans have come to expect, and I wonder if his problem spots—shooting, finding the open man, not turning the ball over—will get corrected enough to vault him to at least a Brandon Knight level, let alone a John Wall level.
jc25 - January 10, 2012
Thanks, JC.
Let’s hope so.
Glenn Logan - January 10, 2012
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