We've spent five years saying that if Jaylin Williams was engaged even 50% of the team, he would be a big-time player. What we are seeing this year is Jaylin engaged nearly 100% of the time, and what we are getting has outstripped even my most lofty hopes for him. I think we all agree with this, but I didn't really understand how ridiculous his season has been thus far until I look at the stats.
His stat line is pretty good. 12.5 pts, 5.3 boards 2.1 assists per game. Solid, but it doesn't really jump out at you. He averaged 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists a game last year. So an improvement, but nothing crazy You have to dig into his efficiency to really appreciate what he is doing this year.
You'll notice his usage rate is 6th on the team, behind Tre and KD. But his offensive rating is 14th in the country. For the season, his shooting splits are 72.3/43.9/80, for a true shooting percentage of 72.4%. For whatever reason, he doesn't qualify to be ranked nationally for Kenpom, but if we jump over to Team Rankings, he is actually 3rd nationally in true shooting percentage (shoot-out to Reed Sheppard from UK for having a 75 TS for a guard--nasty).
He is also top 10 nationally in effective FG%. We've only played a few conference games, but what Jaylin has done in those few games is remarkable. Look at the comparison between conference and full season.
For some reason there's a discrepancy (but just a little bit) between Kenpom and Team Rankings, because Team Rankings actually has Jaylin second nationally in TR% for conference play at an insane 91% (as supposed his pedestrian 89.7% on Kenpom):
I've said a few times that I think Jaylin could be a dark horse for SEC POY. Smart money is on Johni because of pre-season expectations (which do matter) and his high usage rate. But what Jaylin is doing this season can't be overlooked (not that any of us are overlooking it). He has been hyper-efficient in SEC play with shooting splits (79/66/86) that would make Kevin Durant blush.
It is hard to criticize anything the team has done this year, or anything Bruce has decided, but maybe we should be making Jaylin more of a focal point of the offense. If he had the usage rate even equal to Tre's, Jaylin would start becoming a national name. It's also pretty wild that he has only taken 10 more 3s than Johni has this year.
I really can't say enough about how he has stepped up in his super senior season. He's already the winningest player in Auburn history (getting to play 5 seasons helps, of course), but could end up being a guy remembered in Auburn for a long, long time if he continues to do even 80% of what he's done thus far. I remember watching him come in late in a game in his freshman year and he just looked so uncomfortable. Like he didn't quite have the ability to compete at the SEC level, and I predicted him as a transfer after the season. I think I even texted @DM8 about it. Well, I was definitely wrong about him transferring. He stuck with Auburn even when we recruited over his head (Jabari) and then returned for a 5th year. But he sure as hell can compete at the SEC level. And it was apparent from his sophomore year that was the case. It was always more of an issue of focus, engagement and desire. I don't know what happened in the off-season, but a switch finally flipped and damn is it good to see.
His stat line is pretty good. 12.5 pts, 5.3 boards 2.1 assists per game. Solid, but it doesn't really jump out at you. He averaged 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists a game last year. So an improvement, but nothing crazy You have to dig into his efficiency to really appreciate what he is doing this year.
You'll notice his usage rate is 6th on the team, behind Tre and KD. But his offensive rating is 14th in the country. For the season, his shooting splits are 72.3/43.9/80, for a true shooting percentage of 72.4%. For whatever reason, he doesn't qualify to be ranked nationally for Kenpom, but if we jump over to Team Rankings, he is actually 3rd nationally in true shooting percentage (shoot-out to Reed Sheppard from UK for having a 75 TS for a guard--nasty).
He is also top 10 nationally in effective FG%. We've only played a few conference games, but what Jaylin has done in those few games is remarkable. Look at the comparison between conference and full season.
For some reason there's a discrepancy (but just a little bit) between Kenpom and Team Rankings, because Team Rankings actually has Jaylin second nationally in TR% for conference play at an insane 91% (as supposed his pedestrian 89.7% on Kenpom):
I've said a few times that I think Jaylin could be a dark horse for SEC POY. Smart money is on Johni because of pre-season expectations (which do matter) and his high usage rate. But what Jaylin is doing this season can't be overlooked (not that any of us are overlooking it). He has been hyper-efficient in SEC play with shooting splits (79/66/86) that would make Kevin Durant blush.
It is hard to criticize anything the team has done this year, or anything Bruce has decided, but maybe we should be making Jaylin more of a focal point of the offense. If he had the usage rate even equal to Tre's, Jaylin would start becoming a national name. It's also pretty wild that he has only taken 10 more 3s than Johni has this year.
I really can't say enough about how he has stepped up in his super senior season. He's already the winningest player in Auburn history (getting to play 5 seasons helps, of course), but could end up being a guy remembered in Auburn for a long, long time if he continues to do even 80% of what he's done thus far. I remember watching him come in late in a game in his freshman year and he just looked so uncomfortable. Like he didn't quite have the ability to compete at the SEC level, and I predicted him as a transfer after the season. I think I even texted @DM8 about it. Well, I was definitely wrong about him transferring. He stuck with Auburn even when we recruited over his head (Jabari) and then returned for a 5th year. But he sure as hell can compete at the SEC level. And it was apparent from his sophomore year that was the case. It was always more of an issue of focus, engagement and desire. I don't know what happened in the off-season, but a switch finally flipped and damn is it good to see.
Last edited:
