Kwan Kwan and more Kwan

[1981 grad]

Half way through the season and to me one of the biggest surprises and one of the reasons this team is playing so well is Kwan Cheatham Jr.  I am going to eat crow because I had him pegged as a soft outside player who would never develop an inside game.  A guy who loved to pick and pop out for the 3 ball or take fade away jump shots when he could not penetrate. 

However, this year he has proved me wrong.  He has developed an inside game and muscled guys to the basket, has made some athletic drives to the basket, has made some short jump shots, has improved his 3 point shooting, made some unbelievable shots and played great defense with solid rebounding and some great blocks.  Most importantly, he had done this every night, even against top ranked competition.  Tonight he had 17 points and 13 rebounds.  He made a great pass to Poke for a dunk.  In many respects he is having an MVP season.  

[MDZip]

Would love to see Kwan get to 1000 points. He is 223 points away so with the minimum number of games remaining of 14 he'd have to average just under 16 points per game. Seems a stretch but if the Zips can go to 17 games he'd only need about 13. I do hope he makes it.

[zippy5]

He's turning into what we all thought he could be a year or two ago. He's almost unguardable in MAC play now, especially when his shot is falling. How can you defend a 6'10" guy that can bang 3s, drive it and play a post game? 

[skip-zip]

1 minute ago, zippy5 said:

He's almost unguardable in MAC play now, especially when his shot is falling. How can you defend a 6'10" guy that can bang 3s, drive it and play a post game? 

 

Nailing shots has always been the key for him.  I know he worked all off-season on his jumper.  It has improved dramatically, in my opinion.  He still doesn't post up a lot, but enough to prove that he can.  He's a bit more active on the boards than in the past as well.  Pretty much everything else has always been there.  He just needed a little bit more to round out his game.  

 

Whatever Kwan and Ivey did during the off season last year, it needs to be duplicated with other players every off-season from this point forward.  

[wadszip]

People gave up on Kwan on here way too soon. Yeah, his numbers where underwhelming his first three years, but the ability was evident. What has made Kwan so dangerous this year isn't, IMO, that he developed an inside game. It's that he has absolutely refined all aspects of his game ... a scary thought. 

 

Kwan actually always had a decent inside game and always had that face-up ability where he could either shoot over you or put the ball on the floor. But it was his outside game, which he relied on too heavily (and the reason so many were frustrated with him), that made him such an enigma. But he has now put all the pieces in place.

 

That has come with him improving from the 3-point line, while at the same time not forcing that shot. Now, he is almost unguardable. You sag off him on the perimeter, he's going to shoot over you with a very high percentage. You respect the three and try to bring a big man on him to take that away (because he will simply shoot over a smaller guy) and he is putting the ball on the floor either pulling up for a mid-range shot (which he can get off over anybody in the MAC); take it to the rim; or collapse a defense and find an open man.

 

This team still revolves around Big Dog, but Kwan is easily a close second as far as providing a mismatch. If this team continues to get this type of play out of both of them, with the added athletic dimension that Jimond has brought, I can't see how anybody could say with a straight face that this isn't the most talented team in school history ... especially since Antino, Noah, Josh (and now Utomi) are guys who can kill you from behind the arc. I hope tonight was the night where everything finally started to click. If so, look out.

[skip-zip]

5 minutes ago, wadszip said:

People gave up on Kwan on here way too soon.

 

True.  Including me.  I didn't see this kind of jump in his game coming in his final year.  

 

We are not Big Dog + a bunch of 3-point shooting guards, as many of us were expecting.  We're becoming more than that offensively.  

Edited January 18, 2017 by skip-zip

[clarkwgriswold]

Kwan drove me to distraction with his hoisting of threes at inopportune times in past years, but he's really rounded out his game this year.  He seems to be exercising better discretion on the threes and has developed a very nice inside game.  He's also working much harder on the glass.  I've also seen an improvement in his attitude when he misses a shot or makes a mistake.  In the past, he tended to sulk and appeared to get down on himself, while this year he shakes it off and keeps his head in the game.  Glad to see it come to him as he seems like a good kid.

[Blue & Gold]

43 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I've also seen an improvement in his attitude when he misses a shot or makes a mistake.  In the past, he tended to sulk and appeared to get down on himself, while this year he shakes it off and keeps his head in the game.

This is a big deal that I've noticed as well.  Kwan used to mentally check out of the game if he made a mistake.

[Captain Kangaroo]

He's quit trying to bank-in 3-pointers. I like that improvement.

[johnnyzip84]

KD and staff get frequent criticism for not developing players.  Take a look at Kwan's substantial improvement in just about every statistical category for his senior season.  Unreal!  Keep it up KC!

Edited January 18, 2017 by johnnyzip84

[1981 grad]

As I am reading these post about Kwan, it occurred to me that he probably would have benefitted from a red shirt season.  I know that he started school young and I think playing at this level took a certain mental maturity that is hard for a 17 year old.  I thought the same for Zeke Marshall who did not seem to take b ball seriously until he became an upper classman.  Playing division 1 b ball at a high level takes a commitment level that far exceeds what is required in high school.

[Dr Z]

2 hours ago, johnnyzip84 said:

KD and staff get frequent criticism for not developing players.  Take a look at Kwan's substantial improvement in just about every statistical category for his senior season.  Unreal!  Keep it up KC!

He should be thinking about his speech, because he has the coveted Jawanza Moore Award all but wrapped up. 

 

 

[zipsrule]

20 hours ago, MDZip said:

Would love to see Kwan get to 1000 points. He is 223 points away so with the minimum number of games remaining of 14 he'd have to average just under 16 points per game. Seems a stretch but if the Zips can go to 17 games he'd only need about 13. I do hope he makes it.

In our 5 conference games, he is averaging 16.4 point per game.

[MDZip]

So another terrific game by Kwan with 20 and 11. Keeping this pace up should certainly warrant some first team all-MAC consideration. Loved this quote from the Hustlebelt story. This ought to terrify other teams.

 

Akron held the lead at the half, led by Kwan Cheatham Jr. with 13 points and 9 boards. Akron was already good, but if this 6’10 athletic freak keeps playing like he has most of the MAC season, they take it up a notch or three.

[NWAkron]

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-01-23/college-basketball-five-teams-slowly-making-their-way-toward

 

speaking of Kwan!!  may be best in different thread.

[zippy5]

29 minutes ago, MDZip said:

So another terrific game by Kwan with 20 and 11. Keeping this pace up should certainly warrant some first team all-MAC consideration. Loved this quote from the Hustlebelt story. This ought to terrify other teams.

 

Akron held the lead at the half, led by Kwan Cheatham Jr. with 13 points and 9 boards. Akron was already good, but if this 6’10 athletic freak keeps playing like he has most of the MAC season, they take it up a notch or three.

First team? How about Player of the Year 

[Captain Kangaroo]

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

First team? How about Player of the Year 

I heard that mentioned in the post game show for the first time last night.

 

I still think the MAC POTY is Big Dog's to lose, but Kwan deserves to be in the conversation.

 

If Keene somehow wins it, I'll puke. 

[kreed5120]

Yeah, I think Keene is the only real threat to Big Dog at the moment. Keene would need CMU to have a strong MAC finish and would probably need Kwan to steal some of Big Dog's votes to steal it IMO.

[tolbob]

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 9:12 AM, clarkwgriswold said:

Kwan drove me to distraction with his hoisting of threes at inopportune times in past years, but he's really rounded out his game this year.  He seems to be exercising better discretion on the threes and has developed a very nice inside game. 

 

I totally agree he is having an MVP season, improvement in all aspects of his game.  HIs 3-point shooting is great, very high percentage of makes, but (hate to nitpick) I don't like the shots he takes from 5 feet beyond the 3-point line.  He missed two of these last night and seems to do this often.  His 3 point shooting percentage would be even better if he stops the shots from 25 feet.

 

 

[skip-zip]

5 minutes ago, tolbob said:

I don't like the shots he takes from 5 feet beyond the 3-point line.  He missed two of these last night and seems to do this often. 

 

You are right.  I can't say that his shot selection has gotten better either.  

 

He's just become a better shooter.  And I didn't see it coming.  Several people I know talk about his dedication, and all the time he puts into improving him game.  It's really paying off.  It's been quite a pleasant surprise, and has a lot to do with our success this year.  

[kreed5120]

Yeah, I actually thought a lot of the 3s Kwan took last year were open looks. At times it seemed Kwan man was cheating to help out on defense elsewhere and teams were almost daring Kwan to shoot. This year teams are doing their best to stay on him and he is still burying 3s with a hand in his face.

Edited January 26, 2017 by kreed5120

[akronzips71]

He is the one player who has a professional future, possibly in the US. He is after all 6'10" and shoots 3's and drives the basket. Someone will probably take a chance they can give him high level skills. You can not teach size.

[1981 grad]

What is really scary is that yesterday his was 3 for 3 on shots fading away from the basket.  The announcer indicated that Western Michigan would give that shot.  They did and he was making it.  Now if he banks in a 3 next game maybe he does have a future pro career in the U.S.  I also agree that I do not like him shooting well beyond the 3 line but I think he is probably still shooting 40% from the ozone.  

[ZippyRulz]

Career high 6 treys for KC tonight vs. Buffalo and it ain't over yet.

 

[tolbob]

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 9:55 PM, tolbob said:

 

I totally agree he is having an MVP season, improvement in all aspects of his game.  HIs 3-point shooting is great, very high percentage of makes, but (hate to nitpick) I don't like the shots he takes from 5 feet beyond the 3-point line. 

 

 

I'm ready to eat my words after Kwan made 3 or 4 from about 25 feet tonight!