Henry Sims-Best Passing Big Man in Hoya History?

by TBird41 on Dec 23, 2011 1:49 AM EST

This is a cross post from Hoyatalk, but hey, why not spread the love and join the Delusion Train over here as well? I promise not to do it again (Plus I got a casual personal invite from HireEsherick to start posting and I thought I'd take him up on it.)

Anyway, Henry has a chance to have the most assists in a season by a big man in Hoya History (to the best of my knowledge). Through 11 games, Henry has 41 assists, for an average of 3.72 assists per game. If he continues that pace, he'll fall just shy of the 3.77 assists per game that Greg Monroe averaged in 2009-2010. If Henry gets the minimum number of games (20-18 BE, 1BET, 1NCAA/NIT) and maintains his current average, he'd finish with 115 assists, which would be the 3rd most by a Hoya big man ever. He would also be the 3rd Hoya big man ever to reach 100 assists in a season and would be the 4th Hoya big man ever to average more than 3 assists per game.

Two more thoughts: 1) In 2009-2010, Monroe only had 35 assists in his 11 non-conference games, 8 fewer than Henry currently has; 2) Henry is averaging 24.2 MPG so far, about 10MPG fewer than the other Hoya big men who averaged more than 3 assists per game. If the stats were neutralized over 40mpg, his assist rate would be way ahead of all them.

For reference (and in case I missed anyone) here are the top passing seasons by Hoya Big Men based on assists per game:

Greg Monroe, 2009-2010: 3.8 APG, 34 games played, 128 assists, 34.2 MPG
Merlin Wilson, 1972-1973: 3.5 APG, 26 games played, 91 assists, MPG unknown
Jeff Green, 2005-2006: 3.3 APG, 33 games played, 108 assists,32.5 MPG
Jeff Green, 2006-2007: 3.2 APG, 37 games played, 118 assists, 33.3 MPG
Jeff Green, 2004-2005: 2.9 APG, 32 games played, 93 assists, 33.8 MPG

There have only been 8 other seasons in which a Hoya Big Man had more than 50 assists: Roy Hibbert (2007-2008), Greg Monroe (2008-2009), Merlin Wilson (1975-76), (Mike Sweetney (2000-01 & 2002-03), Alonzo Mourning (1991-92), Dikembe Mutombo (1990-91), Jerome Williams (1995-96). Of those 8 seasons, only Hibbert, Monroe and Sweetney managed more than 60 assists and only Monroe had more than 70 (he had 79 in 2008-09).

Disclaimer: The Hoya Basketball Archive doesn't have assists for pre-JT2 era players, so I don't know if an earlier big man had more assists or a higher APG.

Stay Casual, my friends.

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I respect all of the numbers you post.

But at a certain point, you have to defer to the eye-test and acknowledge that Henry was not even the best passing big man is his recruiting class.

Not that I don’t want to feed the delusion.

by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Dec 23, 2011 5:13 AM EST reply actions

If you are putting Jeff Green in there...

You may want to include Reggie Williams:

‘83-’84 : 83 Ast
‘84-’85 : 83 Ast
‘85-’86 : 69 Ast
‘86-’87 : 92 Ast

As far as Sims goes, let’s see how he holds up in the Big East. Traditionally APG doesn’t change that much from non-conference to conference play, but I feel like Henry is a special case…I’m almost convinced that he has developed into a top-shelf player, but I am not quite there yet.

by WarmupEwing on Dec 23, 2011 9:18 AM EST reply actions

Did Reggie play center?

I never saw him play, but I assumed positionwise he was more like Holli/Summers/Bowman—a small forward that plays some power forward. Jeff was a power forward that played some center—positionwise he was more like Sweetney.

The Ragnarok

by TBird41 on Dec 23, 2011 12:22 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

That's actually a good question

Considering that all of the ‘80s games I have ever seen with Williams are the few that are archived online. My amateurish eye just saw him in Jeff Green-like role. I can’t really say how often he was fit into the 5 role over the course of his career, but he was definitely distributing from the middle at times by the time he was a senior.

by WarmupEwing on Dec 23, 2011 3:09 PM EST up reply actions

Reggie was

not a power forward. He was a 3 that could also play the 2 very very well.

New sig tba

by PerryMcDonald'sRightCross on Dec 23, 2011 7:31 PM EST up reply actions

I am very, very willing to make room for him...

but I’m still going to wait until the end of the year.

I feel like it depends on whether it’s a pure statistical “best” or if it’s like an MVP award. If the former, currently Greg seems to hold the title. If the latter, it has to be Jeff.

Jeff Green also benefited from being the poster boy for the offense (along with Wallace, arguably).

Oh my god, do you know what I just realized? We haven’t spent any time at ALL this year comparing the guards to Wallace…which indicates to me that maybe CW only had to deal with such comparisons due to proximity in graduation year.

Why so Syracuse?

by HoyaJoker07 on Dec 23, 2011 10:24 AM EST reply actions

I'm not sure how "MVP" works in this context

It seems like there are two ways to judge best passer: 1) assists (or some stat incorporating them); and 2) your eyes. I think the problem with the latter is that it’s hard to fairly evaluate / compare 40 (or 100) years worth of players. Greg is probably the best passing big man talent wise. So far, I think it’s fair to say his stats back it up—highest APG, and most assists in a season. I’d probably still consider him the best passer even if Henry finishes with a higher APG and more assists, but that’s my lying eyes talking. The problem is that assists arent a particularly good way to measure passing ability. I have no idea what a better stat to use would be

The Ragnarok

by TBird41 on Dec 23, 2011 7:21 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

By MVP...

I meant would we count a guy higher based on the team’s success during the seasons he played? Or would it be the guy with the best numbers even if he never saw the NCAA?

That’s why I agree it’s Greg for pure numbers, while Jeff was the big facilitator of several successful teams.

Why so Syracuse?

by HoyaJoker07 on Dec 23, 2011 8:42 PM EST up reply actions

I'm going with no

Respectfully, of course. Statistically, as your numbers show, he has become a fantastic passing big man, and on course to be right on the heels of the best. But in terms of pure, all-around basketball ability, Greg and Jeff have to rank above him.

This is contingent on Henry remaining consistent for the whole season. I really hope he does. Hell, I hope he keeps improving and breaks the existing records. I’d happily eat crow on this one.

by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Dec 27, 2011 1:02 PM EST reply actions

Notably

Henry had 4 assists tonight vs. Louisville. As a team the Hoyas had 11 assists (on 23 made FGs) and no one else on the team had more than one.

I’m just happy that we’ve progressed to this point when roughly a month ago I was chastised for pointing out that Nate Lubick was not, in fact, the best passer on the team nor even the best passing big man on the team. (Again, don’t get me wrong, I’m loyal to Nate, but the facts are the facts.)

by timmadrid on Dec 29, 2011 1:27 AM EST reply actions