Welcome to “The Path Forward,” a new series we’re rolling out this summer. Throughout this series, we’re going to take a look at different aspects of W&M’s 2020-21 season and the ways in which the Tribe can improve for this upcoming season. First up, a look at the Tribe men’s center position…
Heading into the 2020-21 men’s basketball season, one hole in the roster was larger than the rest. How would the Tribe replace arguably the best player in school history, and future NBA Conference Finals participant, Nathan Knight?
The answer: by committee. Junior Mehkel Harvey and redshirt freshman Ben Wight split Knight’s duties almost equally. Perhaps the lack of a clear role for Harvey and Wight individually contributed to the lack of identity shown at the center position for the Tribe. Amid a youth movement, in which freshmen players like Connor Kochera and Yuri Covington showed plenty of promise, William and Mary’s bigs did not show the improvement over the course of the season that one would hope. With the caveat that it was a weird year — THE weird year — the 5 position was the weakest on the team.
While Harvey and Wight played roughly the same amount of minutes over the course of last season, each played with a unique skillset that helped and hurt them in different ways last year. Let’s take a look at Harvey first.
MEKHEL HARVEY
Wight may have started most games, but Harvey actually played more minutes. The 6-foot-9 Californian came in as the player we knew more about, even as he played limited minutes over his first two seasons — his length helped him contribute some highlight-reel blocks, even as he was somewhat restricted offensively.
Those each carried over to the 2020-21 season as well. Harvey’s blocks earned him some publicity early in the season — for a short while, he was leading the nation in blocks-per-game. Even by the end of the season, he was 11th in the country in block rate (basically, what percentage of defensive possessions end in a block by him when he’s in the game).
Harvey’s athleticism and ungodly length allowed him to block plenty of shots that many other players would not be able to reach. Harvey’s instincts also improved over the course of the season, making him a slightly better defender above the rim.
As you can see in the play above, Harvey recognizes that he’s in position to help on the drive. Earlier in the season, Harvey may have been caught in between, unable to choose between helping and sticking with his man. This time, though, Harvey commits to help and gets a nice block from behind.
While this highlight shows some improvement, Harvey still has a long way to go in terms of his recognition, his rotation, and his rim protection. Harvey is a great shot blocker, but he’s not a great rim protector overall. This year, William and Mary’s opponents shot 52.1 percent from two. The D-I average was 49.8 percent. The Tribe gave up 57 percent of their points from inside the arc, the 15th-highest mark in college basketball, and much of that was right at the rim.
It’s counterintuitive that a great shot-blocker like Harvey might not be a great rim protector, but one issue that jumps out is his indecisiveness. You can tell that he still thinks just a little too much out there, and in college basketball, those half-seconds when deciding how to defend a pick-and-roll or whether to help on a drive really matter, even when you can recover to influence shots as well as he can.
Harvey also improved rebounding the ball, but still gives up too many offensive boards to the opposing players he’s responsible for.
In this clip, you can see a couple of issues that Harvey needs to address to become a top-tier rebounder. First, look at his positioning. As Harvey gets back on defense, he finds himself too far around Chris Doherty, the offensive player. Doherty, the veteran that he is, sees the shot and closes off Harvey. While Harvey is two inches taller, he’s not strong enough to fight through Doherty and the Tribe is lucky to end up with the bounce.
Body strength is something that Harvey has worked on during his time in Williamsburg. When he first got to Williamsburg, Harvey was barely 200 pounds. He’s now worked up to 225 pounds. He still doesn’t have the body to fight with some of the bigs in the Colonial Athletic Association for boards down low, but I wonder if, for him, a mentality change could seriously help him. He shouldn’t rely on his length to grab boards – he needs to use his body and his strength to gain position.
Lastly on Harvey, we’re going to take a look at his play on the offensive end.
Watch Harvey’s defender on Yuri’s drive. Mehkel is a step off the block, and yet the defender commits to Covington early, not allowing him to reach the rim. Teams could defend the Tribe without paying much attention to Harvey because they knew he wasn’t going to be involved. Keep this point in mind.
BEN WIGHT
By the eye test alone, Wight was a better player than Harvey on the offensive end. Wight’s ability to step out and play competently on the perimeter is something that can help the Tribe moving forward. Wight’s ability to hit a three can be an asset to this team. Over the course of the year, he only shot 2-for-10 from behind the arc, but I’d expect him to improve his perimeter shooting as he grows as a player. Of course, the threat of him connecting from deep can help the team around him as well.
After Wight hit a three in the Delaware game, Dylan Painter had to respect the pick and pop. This allowed Covington to get to the rim in this clip. That was not a common theme throughout the 2020-21 season, as the Tribe was the 12th-worst team in the country in terms of getting shots blocked last year.
On the defensive end, Wight was not nearly as flashy as Harvey but may have been more consistent. Wight seemed to be better when it came to positioning and decisiveness. However, Wight was unable to make the last-ditch plays that Harvey was known for.
In this play, Wight is caught in between on a screen but can’t recover to make the block on the layup. Because Wight lacks the top-end athleticism to make up for these mistakes, he cannot get caught out of position or making the wrong read, lest he give up tons of easy buckets.
Despite the promise he showed during his freshman year, Wight could not stay on the floor for one dumb reason: fouls. Among all CAA players that played 40 percent of their team’s minutes, Wight finished dead last in fouls committed per 40 minutes, with 7.8. The next closest player was Lorenzo Edwards from College of Charleston, with 5.3 FC/40. Plenty of Wight’s fouls were cheap ones that just shouldn’t have happened, and many like the one you see below.
In the clip above, Wight is just way too eager to pop. It’s a fundamental of basketball that you have to stay planted through the screen – there is no reason this should have happened time after time after time. If he’s going to stay on the floor, he has to cut down on these stupid fouls. If he can’t, then maybe he shouldn’t be in the game anyway.
HARVEY AND WIGHT, CENTERS BY COMMITTEE
Looking at their numbers, you might not be able to guess that William & Mary’s bigs were the Tribe’s glaring weakness. Wight and Harvey each posted relatively average offensive ratings as calculated by KenPom. They combined for almost 10 rebounds per game while shooting a decent percentage from the field. And as we noted earlier, Harvey was one of the leading shot-blockers in the nation.
But unfortunately, mediocre offense doesn’t tell the whole story. Harvey and Wight were two of the most sheltered players last season in the CAA. And when I say sheltered, I mean they were utilized an incredibly low amount, to the point where it negatively impacted the rest of the team’s offensive performance. William and Mary was the only team in the conference with no center in their top-5 most utilized players. In fact, Harvey and Wight were the seventh and eighth most used players on the team. (In this case, usage is a measure of what percentage of possessions ended with the ball in the player’s hands when they were on the floor – shots, turnovers, and free throws count.)
That stat lends some nuance to William and Mary’s incredibly high block rate throughout the course of the season. One reason why teams were able to defend the rim so effectively against the Tribe’s guards was because the opponent’s bigs did not have to respect Harvey and Wight as potential offensive threats.
Meanwhile, the defensive inconsistency both Harvey and Wight dealt with, especially in pick-and-roll situations, ensured that neither would make up for their offensive woes on the other end of the court. There is definitely some room to grow in terms of rebounding as well.
Overall, the 5 position turned out to be a problem for most of the season. This coming season, in order for the Tribe to take a step forward, it must receive more production from its centers.
There are three ways that could happen.
First, either Wight, Harvey or both improve upon the weaknesses in their games and become more consistent. Can Wight establish himself as an offensive threat, get a little stronger and more athletic, and stay on the floor? Can Harvey be more assertive with the ball in his hands and become more decisive?
Second, incoming freshman Langdon Hatton could come in and take over the center position right away. Does Langdon Hatton push for playing time with his offensive versatility and solid body?
Lastly, and perhaps most intriguingly, Coach Dane Fischer could elect to play far more small ball this season. The addition of grad transfer Brandon Carroll, who could likely slot in as a power forward in a “turbo” style lineup could lend some credence to this approach. Does Fischer trust Blair as a small-ball center? Can they be good enough defensively against some of the bigger teams in the CAA without a true center on the court?
These questions will be key to the Tribe’s success in 2021-22, and we will be keeping a close eye on them all season long.
Thanks to KenPom.com for stats referenced in this article.