Thursday's Poll: Sam Hauser

Thanks Phantom for doing the tally. Now we may move your collective grades up the next two days.

A-. Sam had a very good season coming of hip surgery and no real offseason work. His 35.6 mpg in BE play probably caught up to him down the stretch. Most noticeable were his 2 point shots in the lane whether face-up or post-up. Those shots were just way off at the end of the season.

Love Sam's all-around game, but he seemed to disappear in too many games this season and he definitely faltered down the stretch.

Had Sam continued to play in March at the same level he had played prior to March, I would have given him an A minus.

However, his shooting nose-dived in March as he made only 29 of 76 shots (38.2%). Sorry, but March is when your best players need to step up, not down. In terms of three-pointers he shot only 37.2% in March (16 of 43). In short, same story.

To his credit, he still rebounded extremely well - 8.5 rpg.

Also, when giving grades, there are two ends of the court. Sam was a respectable defender this year - probably deserves a "B" for his defensive play, but he certainly was not an "A" level defender.

I would give him a B+ for offense and a B for defense, which still comes out to a B+ overall.

In terms of both scoring and shooting, this was Sam's least efficient performance. (See link for details)

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...804/sam-hauser

Sam had a good year, probably even a very good year.

But a grade of "A" in my mind means "Outstanding" or "Superior." An "A minus" grade translates to "Excellent."

Sam's performance in March dropped him into the "Very Good" range for the season. In other words, a "B plus."

A range for me. Probably A-.

I'd like to see the correlation of games he "disappears" in vs. the ones where Markus decides to take every other shot.