2011 Basketball Preview: Aaron Craft

Of all of last year’s new players, Aaron Craft was the most pleasant surprise. His play drew favorable comparisons to another former freshman point guard, Mike Conley, if for no other reason then their spectacular play as a young gun in Matta’s Offense. Craft’s skill set is a bit different than Conley’s though, so one shouldn’t carry that comparison too far.

Hometown: Findlay, Ohio
High School: Liberty Benton
Position: Guard (2/1)
Year: Sophomore
Height: 6-2
Weight: 190

High School Awards:

• Three time All-Ohio selection in basketball.
• As a Senior, he was named Ohio Division III player of the year (2010).
• Starting point guard for state runner-up team as a freshman.
• Two time All-Ohio selection in football.
• Ohio Division V player of the year (2008).

Collegiate Honors:

• Big Ten Freshman of the Week (1/17/2011)
• Yahoo! Sports’ Big Ten Freshman of the year. (2011)
• 2011 Big Ten All Defensive Team.
• 2011 Big Ten All Freshman Team.
• 2011 Sixth Man of the Year.
• 2011 Lefty Driesell All-America Team.

Aaron Craft spent his first season coming off the bench for Matta’s team. There was a long period of speculation that at some point he would start for the Buckeyes during his freshman campaign, but it never came to be. Matta seemed to prefer to run Lauderdale at Center for the tip than have Craft’s talents on the floor from the start.

As the 6 man, Craft provided an incredible spark off the bench, no-where more obvious than on defense. Few players in college basketball displayed the effort that Craft did on the defensive end. He was singularly irritating, often spending his entire time in the back pocket of his opponent.

Career Stats:

As before, stats are from Buckeyes Beat.

Strengths:

Aaron Craft is a defensive specialist, the sort that Thad Matta absolutely loves to have on the floor. He is an aggressive defender capable of making a big play at any moment during a game. He averaged 2 steals per game during his freshman season, quite frequently by swiftly picking his man’s pocket. He is most effective in man-to-man defense, and is at his best defending by himself in space.

Craft is also a spectacular slasher on offense. He has a sneaky quickness to him that often catches his defender off guard, and is capable of seeing the floor open up in ways that few other point guards can. Recall this play against Michigan that Craft just lit them up on:

This is also the reason that Craft has such a high shooting percentage – most of the shots he takes are high percentage ones. That’s certainly something that Matta appreciates out of his point guard.

Weaknesses:

There are two glaring weaknesses to Craft’s game that were apparent in his play during his freshman season. The first is a somewhat low shooting percentage from long range, while the second is an issue with his team defensive play.

Craft’s shooting was not a necessity last season. In fact, the times that Craft hit a three pointer felt like a bonus rather than something that needed to happen. This coming season it may very well turn into a necessity, particularly if Craft wants to see the floor more frequently. With the losses of Jon Diebler and David Lighty, Craft will be looked on to pick up a bigger part of the offensive role.

Defensively, it’s hard to imagine that there could be any complaint about Craft’s play. However, against Kentucky it became quite obvious that Craft much prefers to be the guy on defense. He was victimized repeatedly by the pick and roll because he seemed to prefer to stay on his man rather than switch off on the screen. This is something that had occured occasionally during the season, but Kentucky used it as a weapon against the Buckeyes. He needs to learn to trust his teammates on the defensive end, and that he doesn’t have to try to do it all by himself.

Role for the team:

This may seem like an easy question, but Craft may play a somewhat different role this season than you might expect. While Point Guard is his natural position, with the Buckeyes bringing in Shannon Scott (who we’ll talk about later) it’s possible that Matta will prefer to start Scott at the 1. But Matta will want to have Craft’s experience and defensive abilities on the floor as well.

I expect Craft to start at the 2 position this season. The advantage of having two quality point guards capable of distributing the ball will be huge for this team from a strategic standpoint. However, it will require Craft to become more proficient in shooting the long ball – something that presumably Chris Jent* has been working with him on. If he turns that into a strength, Craft will be one of the most dangerous backcourt players in the Big Ten this year.

* As you might expect, Jent is going to feature favorably in these articles.