Jermaine Sanders
 

Jermaine Sanders has been exactly what this team needed since in was inserted into the starting line-up. He replaced Shaq's nervousness, lack of ball movement and turnovers with solid decision making, solid D and rebounding as well as hitting the occasional 3 (Oh and he was 5-5 on Fts last night). I was with everyone else and was so frustrated with him that I didnt want to see him on the floor, but I guess thats why we should never count out a senior, they just know what a team needs. (Also, LD said that he had some hamstring issues early in the year)

Lets see how this team has been since hes been a starter:

Sanders:
pts- 10.0/g
rbs- 4.5/g
stls- 0.5/g
blks- 0.5/g
to- 1.0/g
fg%- 57.7%
3pt%- 33.3%
ft%- 100%

Team:
4-0
ppg- 69.3/g
Opp ppg- 52.8/g
team Fg%- 48.7%
Opp Fg%- 36.4%


I think that its easy to see that we have been playing very well as a team since he was inserted into the starting line up. Also, its obvious to see how well Sanders has been playing with his current line. Will he keep it up? I dont know, but if he does he can be our glue guy and I can see him having as big of an impact as Rashad Bishop did a few years back in his senior year

Quietly solid is the best way I can describe him. He will never wow you, but rarely makes mistakes and bad decisions. Basically, the exact opposite of what Shaq was giving us.

Aside from the one stupid turnover when he brought the ball across half court and threw the lazy pass, I thought he played a tremendous game. For a guy not known for his athleticism, he has been playing solid defense and is surprisingly crafty in transition. He's playing like a senior and that's exactly what this team needs.

Sanders has never been a horrible player to me, he just disappears. He is a role player and will play that role. Right now he's being asked to start and look to score and he is doing that. Wish it didn't take him being put into a starters role to be more aggressive but at least he has responded. I've been saying the last year and a half that Sanders should be starting over Shaq. I'm glad they finally pulled the plug on giving Shaq so many minutes.

I was ready to send Sanders to the end of the bench after the Memphis game. So glad I was wrong and the staff did the opposite. He has been very tough. Exactly what we need at the 3. He has rebounded pretty well and finished around the basket too. The free throw stroke last night was better than I've ever seen from him. I'm glad that he seems to have learned that "role player" doesn't mean just being another guy out there. He has found his niche with the starters and is a big reason why there is a renewed sense of energy surrounding the program lately. Let's hope he can keep it up! We're gonna need him down the stretch .

Does anyone else notice that at least once a game the PA announcer says, "Kevin Sanders?"

Sanders was the best +/- last year if I recall properly. He is never going to be the best player on the floor but the team has consistently looked better when he was out there.

Yes and it drives me nuts, he's done it at least four or five times this year and did it a few last year, too. There is/was a Kevin Sanders on either Houston or SMU I think and after that game last year the announcer has been confused.

We don't need him to be the best player on the floor and that's where alot of fans criticize him and other players but lets face it there are five guys on the floor. Each player has a job and an assignment. You're working together on offense and are going to take one shot. So if it comes 20% from each player or 80% from one player and 5% from each of the others or whatever then it doesn't really matter. Some people (and I know from your posts you're not one of them) get too wrapped up in points scored and think if you're not scoring you are worthless. We need him to not turn the ball over and part of the fluid motion of the offense and to hold his own defensively. He does that hands down better than Shaq. He also rebounds well and can knock down the open three which is a big part of our offense whether us fans like it or not. I think with Shaq the defense knows he isn't going to shoot the three and also he puts the ball on the floor too much being stationary trying to create some crossover move or fake and it allows the defense to adjust and get reset and ultimately it stalls the offense because we go from passing to watching Shaq dribble. I think Cobb at times dribbles too much too. Sanders never holds onto the ball. He sneaks in for a nice backdoor cut or drive every now and again. Mostly he moves the ball around the perimeter quickly which if nothing else keeps the defense moving and hopefully helps create an opening to get the ball inside and/or get an open shooter.