Myreon in SEC Play...

I had totally given up on Jones. Boy was I wrong. His defense and decision making have been superb.

I'd say we're seeing player development. Significant improvement is Kugel as well. Getting KR to grow into his game would be great.

 

Kid is putting 8 pts, 4 rebs, 3 asts in conference play, shooting 40% from the arc and 86% from the line. Also leads the team in steals and in ast/to ratio—literally 8:1!

Golden’s patience completely paid off here. He knew Jones was a very efficient player despite not being a terribly efficient shooter, and that if his shot and confidence could come around, he could bring a lot to the table. I didn’t see it happening a month ago, but Jones’ maturity and experience have kind of separated him in league play. He is never out of control, is always poised and doesn’t lose composure. Just steady and, now, productive as can be.

 

Bad Jones: SG. Good Jones: PG1b (1a?). For whatever reason, he seems to have made the team less manic on offense. Lofton appears to be the most affected.

 

I was going to make a thread about his play lately. I mean he isn't scoring like crazy but you can tell he is steady with the ball and makes great decisions. He also sets the offense up well and sets his teammates up very well. He is night and day from this last year to this year.

 

I said "Jones sucks" probably more than I said "good morning" last season but not this year man. Totally shocked and I totally agree with you

 

I had the same thought last night though didn't know the numbers.
Jones just looks like he belongs- he's not trying to prove himself and he's not out of control like, umm, another player.
We seem to play so much better when he's on the floor.

Is this Golden's coaching or Jones maturing?? Maybe both?

 

He’s been our best rebounding guard all season. And how about that point blank catch and score and one? Castleton was doubled in the paint, Jones cut to the hoop, Castleton drilled pass, but Jones caught it and scored plus the harm.

 

The ball movement and off ball movement we saw last night is one of the things I'm most excited about. It's like real basketball again.

 

if Jones would lay off the threes and only shoot within the the three point line, he would be even more effective. Last night, he proved this point, all his points came from within. This doesn’t mean he can’t make any, only that he percentage within the arc is higher. This makes the team better. When you shoot 0 for 3, all you do is give another team a chance for momentum. I agree he is more in control at his position, rebounds very well and gets a lot of assists. His little runner shots are very effective. Now here comes the litmus test, K State, Tenn, Alabama. All this said, Great game Myreon!

 

Like Exile, I had given up on Jones too, assigning him to the Dan Werner book of loss of shooting confidence.

But defense, and team play has gotten him out of the funk lately it seems and I am proud of him for sticking with it.

If he continues to play at his current level, UF is a different Alligator, I will tell you that!

 

The announcers were discussing UF / Golden is now cutting HARD to the basket and CC is feeding those cutters - It has made a difference IMO.

 

Golden has mentioned this. He realized how important it is to have two steady ballhandlers on the court at the same time to make everything flow. Huge credit to coach for continuing to strategically tweak and work til things have fallen into place.

 

I challenge anyone who gave up more on Jones than I did over the last year. Never been happier to be wrong. While his game still has limitations, he has proven that he CAN play in the SEC. I'm sorry, Myreon...

 

Really gratifying to see him having success - you could always tell he had some court smarts- good vision, rebounded a bit for a guard, took his requisite charge or two…..outside shooting is ( and probably will be) still a weakness, but he seems so much more comfortable on the court and whether a coincidence or the result of complimentary abilities, so does Lofton.

 

Against South Carolina, Myreon Jones had a terrific overall game:
9 pts, 10 reb, 8 Assists.

Jones was that close to getting that rare, triple-double by a Florida Gator. In eight SEC games, Jones had scored in double figures 3/8 games and had just missed out in (scoring double-figures) in three other games. Jones seems to be a more effective player when sharing the point guard duties with Lofton - that seems to help with Florida's winning success as well. Myreon Jones Game by Game Stats and Performance | ESPN

It was also a satisfying, 81-60, win over South Carolina:
- the defense was clamping down the opponent (4 out of the last five opponents had scored 60 points or less against Florida; Mizzou had 64 pts in their loss to Florida),
- the offense was aided by an improvement in getting more fast-break points (?17 pts) against the gamecocks.

If the Gators can keep this up, they may have a chance in some of these next upcoming games against high-quality competition.

 

agreed, I'd pretty much written Myreon off as a serious contributor at UF, but I'm really glad to see I was wrong there.

he'll probably never score consistently here like he did in the PSU system, but he's still a smart and unselfish player who does a lot of valuable things. Having him playing that dual point role is a nice move by coach Golden - MJ and Bonham are both better defenders than Lofton, but Myreon is much less erratic with the ball in his hands than Trey, and he meshes pretty well with Kyle and keeps defenses from keying on him when they're out there together.

MJ deserves a lot of credit for keeping his head up and continuing to work hard and find a way to make an impact after last year and his early struggles this year.

 

Terrific point. In fact, this is exactly what he had at SF in Bouyea and Shabazz. Not necessarily two point guards, but two primarily ballhandlers who could initiate the offense and create for themselves and for others. We struggled with that at the beginning of the year because Reeves isn't comfortable in that capacity. We tried Bonham in that capacity, but he gave away too much defensively. Jones has unexpectedly really helped stabilize is in the halfcourt and promote more ball movement. It is also going to make his loss next year even more notable, though I think Kugel has the vision hand and handle to replace him, provided he can cut down on the turnovers.