Brad Davison and Maple Grove played at Robbinsdale Armstrong last night in a game that matched the two top teams in the western division of the Northwest Suburban conference. Armstrong came in at 13-1 in conference and MG at 12-2, though MG won the first game of the season. I was hoping to see a tight game, which is what it turned out to be, but it was a little sloppy and slower than a typical MG game. Davison and MG usually play a pretty fast, attacking offensive game, with a lot of quick possessions due to Davison and fellow senior Tywhon Pickford being so good with the ball. MG has scored at least 75 points in 13 of their 22 game this season, with a few 90+ point efforts. Armstrong plays a little slower, though neither team was particularly sharp last night, and MG was able to scratch out a 58-56 win. This was my second time seeing both Davison and Armstrong’s 2018 forward Race Thompson this season. Neither played great, but both did some good things for their teams.
Davison had a much tougher night than when I saw him earlier this season (41 and 12 vs. Hopkins), but he adjusted as the game went on and was able to lead MG to an important win. Going back to the summer when he really exploded on the AAU circuit, I have read many comments about how good of a shooter Brad is. One of the national guys even called him one of the best shooters in the entire 2017 class. While it is true that he’s a good shooter, I’ve never seen him as a pure catch and shoot guy. I think he’s more of a shot-maker or scorer, who is capable of getting buckets in a number of ways other than just hunting around the 3-point line. Armstrong had some smaller, quicker guards who really got up into Brad in last night’s game, making it tough for him to get many good looks from the perimeter. For the game as a whole, Brad only made 3 of 11 shots, which included a pair of misses from downtown. He also missed a few longer 2-pointers in the first half. The adjustment he made was to simply attack, attack and attack some more. Even against smaller, quicker guys, Brad went to the bucket time and time again, with little trouble beating a variety of defenders off the dribble. Though he is not explosive vertically, he is fast and quick, and uses he strength and size to his advantage in dribble drive situations. I had him for 18 points, 9 boards and 10 assists, but I saw a stat line from one of his AAU coaches that was 18, 10 and 11, which would be his third triple double in the last four games. Despite making only 3 buckets (all in the lane), he ended with 18 points by going 12-12 from the free throw line. Most of those FT opportunities came on strong drives to the hoop. In addition, many of 10 or 11 assists resulted from drives where he drew enough defensive attention to open up a teammate for a layup, or when he started to drive and found a teammates for a good look from the perimeter. Definitely nice to see Brad adjust his game to take advantage of how the defense was playing him.
I’ve noted in the past that Davison has some Josh Gasser in him, in that he’s willing to do some dirty work to help the team, and even to adjust his role for the betterment of the team. In last night’s game, Brad played a weird role defensively. He is a good individual defender and will be a great team defender at UW. I think he may struggle a little on the ball early on in Madison, but I think he can be a strong on ball defender in the future. Pickford is a 6’5” wing, whose best offer in Northern Iowa. He is MG’s tallest guy who plays, so he spent the majority of the night defending Thompson. Pickford worked hard to either ¾ front Thompson pretty hard, or to just simply front Race. Davison then guarded a guy who was less of a threat offensively, but he would essentially play centerfield in the lane so that he was almost always providing weakside help on Thompson. It worked for the most part, as Brad got a few steals and generally made it difficult for Thompson to get a decent entry pass, and it was really interesting to watch Davison call out switches and direct teammates at the defensive end in this sort of strategy. He will obviously be called on to play a different role on the defensive end at UW, but he is a very smart player who is willing and able to do a lot of things to help his team. Couple other really nice individual plays he made resulted in easy buckets for MG. He came running out in the passing lane to challenge a pass from the wing to the top of the key. He had to dive to get his hands on the pass, with both Brad and the offensive player ending up on the floor. Brad was able to quickly roll over and throw the ball ahead, while still laying on the ground, resulting in a dunk for Pickford. Late in game when Thompson had 4 fouls, Armstrong switched to a 2-3 zone, which slowed MG down even further. MG was up 1 with around 3 minutes to go, and they just patiently milked the clock against the zone. Davison eventually got around the corner and beat Thompson baseline, then made a great dump off pass for layup in the lane that ended up being a very important hoop in MG’s win. Not a great scoring night Davison, but he found other ways to help MG to another win.
Thompson has been a guy mentioned on UW boards as a potential alternative for the Badgers in 2018 should they miss on Joey Hauser. Race has Minnesota and Iowa St. offers at this point, and the ISU head coach was in attendance last night. He played better last night than when I saw him earlier in the season against Nate Reuvers, but I still wonder if there other guys the UW staff has looked at who are better. Against Reuvers, Thompson was not able to do much of anything. In last night’s game, I had him for 22 and 10, but most of that came in the paint when he was able to score over or thru the smaller defender (Pickford in most cases). Race is skilled and has good size, but he is not nearly as explosive as I was thinking (from seeing him last year). His shot looks reasonable, but he’s been 1 for 4 and 1 for 5 from downtown in the two games I’ve seen. He did make 7 of 8 from the line last night though. I like his versatility, as a 4 who can handle and pass the ball well and moves well enough to help defend on the perimeter, but I’m just not quite convinced at this point. I suspect the UW staff will spend some time watching him during the spring evaluation period and I hope he stays on the radar, but I believe Race still has a little ways to go.
Here is some video from the game:
Davison had a much tougher night than when I saw him earlier this season (41 and 12 vs. Hopkins), but he adjusted as the game went on and was able to lead MG to an important win. Going back to the summer when he really exploded on the AAU circuit, I have read many comments about how good of a shooter Brad is. One of the national guys even called him one of the best shooters in the entire 2017 class. While it is true that he’s a good shooter, I’ve never seen him as a pure catch and shoot guy. I think he’s more of a shot-maker or scorer, who is capable of getting buckets in a number of ways other than just hunting around the 3-point line. Armstrong had some smaller, quicker guards who really got up into Brad in last night’s game, making it tough for him to get many good looks from the perimeter. For the game as a whole, Brad only made 3 of 11 shots, which included a pair of misses from downtown. He also missed a few longer 2-pointers in the first half. The adjustment he made was to simply attack, attack and attack some more. Even against smaller, quicker guys, Brad went to the bucket time and time again, with little trouble beating a variety of defenders off the dribble. Though he is not explosive vertically, he is fast and quick, and uses he strength and size to his advantage in dribble drive situations. I had him for 18 points, 9 boards and 10 assists, but I saw a stat line from one of his AAU coaches that was 18, 10 and 11, which would be his third triple double in the last four games. Despite making only 3 buckets (all in the lane), he ended with 18 points by going 12-12 from the free throw line. Most of those FT opportunities came on strong drives to the hoop. In addition, many of 10 or 11 assists resulted from drives where he drew enough defensive attention to open up a teammate for a layup, or when he started to drive and found a teammates for a good look from the perimeter. Definitely nice to see Brad adjust his game to take advantage of how the defense was playing him.
I’ve noted in the past that Davison has some Josh Gasser in him, in that he’s willing to do some dirty work to help the team, and even to adjust his role for the betterment of the team. In last night’s game, Brad played a weird role defensively. He is a good individual defender and will be a great team defender at UW. I think he may struggle a little on the ball early on in Madison, but I think he can be a strong on ball defender in the future. Pickford is a 6’5” wing, whose best offer in Northern Iowa. He is MG’s tallest guy who plays, so he spent the majority of the night defending Thompson. Pickford worked hard to either ¾ front Thompson pretty hard, or to just simply front Race. Davison then guarded a guy who was less of a threat offensively, but he would essentially play centerfield in the lane so that he was almost always providing weakside help on Thompson. It worked for the most part, as Brad got a few steals and generally made it difficult for Thompson to get a decent entry pass, and it was really interesting to watch Davison call out switches and direct teammates at the defensive end in this sort of strategy. He will obviously be called on to play a different role on the defensive end at UW, but he is a very smart player who is willing and able to do a lot of things to help his team. Couple other really nice individual plays he made resulted in easy buckets for MG. He came running out in the passing lane to challenge a pass from the wing to the top of the key. He had to dive to get his hands on the pass, with both Brad and the offensive player ending up on the floor. Brad was able to quickly roll over and throw the ball ahead, while still laying on the ground, resulting in a dunk for Pickford. Late in game when Thompson had 4 fouls, Armstrong switched to a 2-3 zone, which slowed MG down even further. MG was up 1 with around 3 minutes to go, and they just patiently milked the clock against the zone. Davison eventually got around the corner and beat Thompson baseline, then made a great dump off pass for layup in the lane that ended up being a very important hoop in MG’s win. Not a great scoring night Davison, but he found other ways to help MG to another win.
Thompson has been a guy mentioned on UW boards as a potential alternative for the Badgers in 2018 should they miss on Joey Hauser. Race has Minnesota and Iowa St. offers at this point, and the ISU head coach was in attendance last night. He played better last night than when I saw him earlier in the season against Nate Reuvers, but I still wonder if there other guys the UW staff has looked at who are better. Against Reuvers, Thompson was not able to do much of anything. In last night’s game, I had him for 22 and 10, but most of that came in the paint when he was able to score over or thru the smaller defender (Pickford in most cases). Race is skilled and has good size, but he is not nearly as explosive as I was thinking (from seeing him last year). His shot looks reasonable, but he’s been 1 for 4 and 1 for 5 from downtown in the two games I’ve seen. He did make 7 of 8 from the line last night though. I like his versatility, as a 4 who can handle and pass the ball well and moves well enough to help defend on the perimeter, but I’m just not quite convinced at this point. I suspect the UW staff will spend some time watching him during the spring evaluation period and I hope he stays on the radar, but I believe Race still has a little ways to go.
Here is some video from the game:
