Champagne – Matthew Mayer Only one more college basketball left. He has goals and aspirations both as a team and as an individual. He wants to win Big His Ten, win (another) national championship, and go to the NBA.
Of course, these are fairly common goals. Mayer also came to Champaign after her four seasons at Baylor and a national championship. My personal goal is to win the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. However, this is not a new goal.
Mayer wrote a similar goal in the mirror a year ago while at Baylor. He wanted to win the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award. At 6-foot-9, Mayer has the length and versatility to play in multiple positions, and at the program’s media day last week, Illini’s coaching staff praised him for his instincts in the passing lane. rice field.
“I think he’s been an underrated defender for most of his career,” Mayer said. “I think people are starting to realize that I am a good defender. ..Looking at the stats[last season]I really put myself in that conversation. said.
Mayer noted his percentage of steals and blocks, especially in his last two seasons at Baylor. According to KenPom, last season he was 14th in the conference in steals percentage (2.7) in the Big 12, and he was 7th in the conference in block percentage in games in the Big 12 (3.4). For the entire season, he was 142nd in steals percentage and 251st in block percentage. Mayer ranked among the top 20 in the nation for stolen base percentage in the 2021 season. As of last week, he was leading the entire Illinois team in stolen bases during practice.
Synergy said Mayer had slipped in the 32nd percentile on defense as a junior, but last year he moved up to the 49th percentile. While this is average from an analytical standpoint, his nose on the ball and ability to switch across the court are valuable assets.
Mayer, who was restricted due to a back problem when he arrived on campus, said on media day that he had been “out for a few days” and was due to return to practice last week, but he defended himself. The emphasis was on showing off ability. Illinois is focusing heavily on positionless basketball this season to maximize team length and athleticism. This is a perfect match for Mayer’s set of skills.
Mayer Focused on Defense Awards — Rutgers Caleb McConnell We won last season and are back with the Scarlet Knights this year — music to the assistant coach Chester Fraserears. Frazier was Illinois’ defensive coordinator and emphasized defense in his own games during his four-year career with Illinois.
“Me and him have a contract with some goals,” Frazier told the Illini Inquirer. “One of them is to be the best defender in the Big Ten. …We were watching a movie one day and he doesn’t have a reputation as a defender, he told me, ‘Last year I was an elite defender. “It said. I’m like, “Yeah, whatever.” He was like, “Well, I have the numbers to prove it.” He started showing me all the blocks and defensive pluses and minuses. I was like, ‘Man, the numbers don’t tell you everything. You have to put some effort into me.
Did the film studies between Frazier and Mayer confirm Mayer’s ideas?
“He’s good at predicting passes,” Frazier said. “He’s feeling the flex in the passing lane. He’s long and gives you a bonus shot blocker because he’s very long and has weak side help.” He does a lot of good things. Now it’s about maintaining that effort and doing it over the course of the game. ”
Mayer has NBA aspirations and eventually entered the transfer portal after coming up with the idea to go to the NBA after last season, landing in Illinois after a four-year career with Baylor. He is known more for his offensive prowess than his defensive numbers.he An essential role player for Baylor the last two seasons included a 55-9 overall record for the Bears (27-5 Big 12), two No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, and a title in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. rice field.
During the Bears’ 2020-21 National Championship season, Mayer came off the bench in all 30 games, averaging 8.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals. Last season, Mayer started all 33 games, averaging 9.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks while shooting 40.9 percent, including 3 to 32.4 percent.
head coach brad underwood said earlier this month that the defense outnumbered the offense during practice. Given the length of that side of the floor, it adds up. Coleman Hawkins Terrence Shannon Jr. showed last year that he could be a plus defender. And the Conference Defensive could throw his hat in the ring for his Player of the Year award. side of the ball.
Mayer said Frazier has helped him continue to improve his ball defense, a long-time focus for the team Underwood coaches.
“When you look at his defensive numbers while at Baylor, it’s unbelievable,” said Underwood. He has an incredible amount of instincts.He has seen things, and now that he has experience, in his mind and his perspective, the game is slow.…Communicator As, he has to continue to develop as a speaker, but his natural instincts are very good.It’s great to see someone with the ability to score goals, but he wants to be another player. I think that’s his goal to be Defensive Player of the Year and he’ll tie those assignments.Put him in and Coleman in. Nobody knows what Coleman can do on the defensive end. You know, next we’re going to bring in TJ, who’s an elite defender, and that means we can be a very good defensive team.I’m excited about that.”
Now about the deal with Frasier. What’s next for Mayer if he reaches his goal?
“Nothing. This is the standard he set for himself,” Frazier said. “This is what he wanted. Again, it’s fun because he doesn’t have the reputation of an elite defender, but he wants people to see that ‘I can do this too’. ”
