A quick note while starting to write the first of these pieces about Jurian Dixon – this has been a much harder year for these pieces than in previous years. As recently as last year, you could throw a rock and hit a full game recording from most previous teams on Youtube. Now, increased scrutiny has made them harder to come by (at least for non-major conferences). ESPN putting most games behind their ESPN+ paywall has given good access in-season, but those go into the archive after 30 days or so. I still have some creative ways to find what I need – but it’s much more difficult than it used to be and, as a result, I don’t feel quite as well-versed in these reviews as I have been in previous seasons. It used to be, I’d watch all full games available for a player, pick the four most fitting that showed off what I’d noticed, and feature those in these pieces. Now, I’m lucky to find four full games and they are not against as good of competition, on the whole, as I prefer to spotlight. I’ve still combed through all content available including highlights – but while those can be informative, nothing is as informative as watching a game and seeing the player’s role within the team and watching them for full possession after full possession. We have that now, just not on the same scale as previously, and I may try to proactively work out a solution in advance of next year.
A point worth making as it relates to this, though, is that I will not be doing a full breakdown on Kalu Anya this year – the incoming PF from St. Louis. For one, he redshirted all of last season and I’ve made it an emphasis in the past to only include previous film’s tape as it’s the most recent window into their playing time. I could make an exception and look at the previous year for Saint Louis – but he was playing sick most of that year as well. You’d have to go back two years prior to his time at Brown to find a healthy season’s worth of playing time from him and none of these film options are readily available except for a game or two. Basically, I can infer some things that might be true about his game, but in my opinion there’s very little value in doing a deep dive given the time that’s elapsed. Who knows what he’s been working on or how he will look with some health after a year working out and ramping up? For this series, I try to be as accurate and detailed as possible – and I just wouldn’t feel like it’s appropriate to make an assessment of this player’s game at that level without more recent information.
So, that’s where we’ll kick things off. I’m about to start on the Jurian Dixon piece, Christian Harmon will be next, followed by Jan Vide. If anyone else signs, we’ll wrap with them. Thanks, as always, for reading the site. I’m looking forward to heading into this second season under Ryan Odom and staff!
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