AJ Hawkins

[Capitol Shock]

Wow...that's encouraging?

[Shox21]

Wow...that's encouraging?

I wouldn't be too discouraged by that. That report was from last summer -- AJ has had one full year to practice in Marshall's system. If he isn't getting it by now, he never will. I'm not going to judge until at least a quarter way into this coming season. We should all have our answer about AJ by then and I have some pretty high expectations for this young man.

[WuDrWu]

In response to......

Wow...that's encouraging?

please always pay attention to.......

As previously stated... The real deal. 8)

that is all.

[Wuzee]

Wow...that's encouraging?

I wouldn't be too discouraged by that. That report was from last summer -- AJ has had one full year to practice in Marshall's system. If he isn't getting it by now, he never will. I'm not going to judge until at least a quarter way into this coming season. We should all have our answer about AJ by then and I have some pretty high expectations for this young man.

I would concur with Shox21 and others. If the reports are that he was dominating practices at times, it says to me that he's a player rising in ability -- he's engaged, learning and growing.

[The Mad Hatter]

Gotta chime in on this.

I went up to Koch last summer to see the individual workouts. The wing guards were the group working when I was there (PJ, AJ, Lance and Graham).

They played a game of 2 on 2 with the loser doing pushups. It was PJ and Graham vs AJ and Lance. Not only did AJ not school PJ ... PJ and Graham took them 10-0. My sense was that PJ could have taken AJ to the rack anytime he wanted. The opposite was not true.

Coach was up mocking AJ from half court, yelling "That's A-10 defense. That ain't gonna cut it, A.J. ... You're in the Valley now."

Of course, that was only one day, but what it may indicate is that A) A.J. has used his off year wisely and really busted his tail in practice; and B) It's a great day to be a Shocker.

Thanks for the info. This is my take on what you saw:

I have no doubts that PJ is a better defender than AJ (in fact I believe AJ has mentioned that getting better on D was a major goal of this redshirt year), which leads to this problem of analysis. Was PJ able to get to the basket because he is a better offensive player, on because he was being guarded by a worse defender. It could be that Hawk is a better offensive player, but that it is just a lot harder to score on PJ than it is to score on himself.

The second issue is that PJ never really (in my opinion) fulfilled in game what he was capable of on the offensive end. He would have stretches of play where he attacked the basket and looked like he should be averaging 20 points per game, but then mysteriously disappeared offensively at other times. Even if AJ, one on one, is not as good as PJ offensively, he may prove to be a more consistent scorer within the offense come game time (we shall see).

Of course the main factor is that PJ is two years older than AJ. That means two more years of basketball experience and time in the gym.

I know that it is comparing A10 to MVC (and a good team to a bad one), but let's compare PJ and AJ as sophomores (and since PJ redshirted before his freshman year while AJ is redshirting after his sophomore year, PJ had an extra year under his belt).

Minutes
PJ - 29.6
AJ - 30.4

Points
PJ - 10.2
AJ - 12.2

Rebounds
PJ - 6.2
AJ - 5.2

Assists
PJ - 2.9
AJ - 2.1

Blocks
PJ - 0.49
AJ - 0.59

Steals
PJ - 0.94
AJ - 0.97

Turnovers
PJ - 2.40
AJ - 1.97

FG percentage
PJ - .447
AJ - .446

3 point FG percentage
PJ - .351
AJ - .354

FT percentage
PJ - .729
AJ - .664

Just some food for thought.

[SubGod22]

Have I mentioned that I'm excited?!?! :poster_hawk:

[Shockra]

Hawkins will put the "J" in AJ. Count it.

If AJ performs as well as or better than PJ during his time here, I will be a very happy camper. PJ is one of my favorite players. While I hope AJ doesn't make us forget about PJ, I kind of do.

[SubGod22]

We'll never forget PJ, but if AJ has that kind of ability than we're all gonna be very, very happy. :D

[Wuzee]

Of course the main factor is that PJ is two years older than AJ. That means two more years of basketball experience and time in the gym.

Actually, PJ is one year older, but with two years more DI experience. A.J., who was recruited heavily by Turg out of high school, went the prep school route after his senior year. That's another plus for us, of course ... A.J. is a junior with a senior's body and maturity.

P.J. -- b: Oct. 1984
A.J. -- b: Dec. 1985

[Bigshotmaker]

It's all about skill level and both are highly skilled,I hope for AJ to be more assertive when leadership is needed at crunch time.