NCAA Basketball: 5 guards who need to take the next step(s) in 2020-21

Jacob Gilyard | Guard | 5’9″| Senior

2019-20 stats: 12.7 points, 5.7 assists, and 3.2 steals per game 

I don’t think that anyone will disagree with me when I say that Gilyard had quite the 2019-20 season. His 12.7 points, 5.7 assists, and 3.2 steals per game helped Richmond achieve a 24-7 overall record, and 14-4 conference record last year. And while he wasn’t the only player on Richmond’s roster, that helped the Spiders attain the recent success that they did, he certainly is a guy that the Spiders need, in order to reach their full potential.

In addition to dishing out five or more assists 20 times last season, Gilyard was also able to showcase his ability to be a big-time scorer, notching 20 or more points seven times, and 15 or more points 13 times. His two most impressive scoring performances came against Vanderbilt in early November (when he scored 26 points in a 93-92 overtime home win), and Dayton in late January (when he scored 29 points in an 87-79 home loss).

After observing Gilyard closely last season, I am convinced that no moment is too big for him, and while I like where Gilyard’s game is right now, I do believe that he will benefit from taking a significant leap this year. However, before I get into why, and how Gilyard should take the next step in his game this season, I think I should look at some of the things that he currently does extremely well.

Gilyard is a guard that understands that he will get bumped a lot as he is driving, because of his explosive first step/rip through. That is why he commits to staying as low to the ground as he possibly can, instead of flopping to try and draw fouls (which is what many guards attempt to do nowadays), and potentially taking himself out of plays.

Essentially, he takes the bumps that he receives, and uses them to help him kick things into second gear, and get all the way to the rim (while forcing his defenders to either swipe down at the ball or surrender layups at the basket, if the help side is always nonexistent).

I think that because Gilyard loves to move without the ball, and isn’t the type of guard to give the ball up, and then go and relax in one of the corners, he is able to get a lot of open looks from three (he shot 36.7% from downtown last season).

This is because Gilyard is perfectly fine with sprinting at full speed up to receive dribble hand-offs, and if his opponents take just one second to unwind (and no one decides to help them out), he will take a few dribbles, set his feet, and launch threes with no hesitation.

The one thing that separates Gilyard from many guards around the country, is his superb passing after tightly coming off-ball screens. There are at least a handful of guards, who will change speeds drastically, as they are trying to get around the opposing team’s big man in pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop situations, but are unable to slow themselves down and make an accurate pass to one of their teammates.

Gilyard however, who has some of the quickest feet in college basketball, is excellent at taking two or three quick dribbles to his right, before zipping a pinpoint one-handed pass back to the big at the top of the key (who is normally Grant Golden).

Although Golden only shot 26.3% from three last season, Gilyard’s ability to quickly get Golden the ball, after seeing that the opposing big man, is too worried about trying to prevent a straight-line drive, gave Golden multiple options when he caught the ball in 2019-20. If Golden was wide open and realized that no defender was hustling to go and take the three away from him, he would proceed to fire a confident three-point shot.

If Golden saw that a defender was running over to close out on him wildly, he would pump fake, and then make the best play available (which was either a one-dribble pull-up jump shot, a two dribble kick out to a guard on the perimeter, or a two/three dribble drive to the basket). In short, Gilyard’s quick decision-making, and accurate passing, made Golden’s life, and the lives of other teammates a lot less stressful last season.

If you had the chance to check out Gilyard at all last season, his 3.2 steals per game probably didn’t surprise you one bit. He is exceptional on and off-ball defender, who knows when to go for steals when players have their backs turned, and don’t expect anyone to poke the ball away from behind.

If you want to be a good defender at the collegiate level, you need to understand that timing is everything. If you try to go for a steal a second later than you should have, you may wind up with a costly foul, instead of a game-changing steal in a tight game. Fortunately for Gilyard, he comprehends exactly when he needs to aggressively go for the ball, and when to lay back, and just focus on keeping his man in front of him.

So what does Gilyard need to do to elevate his game in 2020-21? Well, to me, Gilyard must be careful when he is driving at times because he does have a tendency to over-penetrate. As I mentioned before, Gilyard is very good at taking bumps as he is driving, and making big-time plays, but things are a bit different when he is easily able to get past his defenders.

When this occurs, Gilyard often gives into the temptation of taking an extra dribble in the lane, to give himself a better passing angle, and make it tougher for the opposing team’s rim protector to swiftly get off the ground, and block his shot (even though he might be a fast leaper).

You can look at Gilyard’s 1.9 turnovers a game last season, and say that over-penetration wasn’t a huge problem for him, but that is not the only aspect of the game that you need to pay attention to. Taking an unnecessary dribble as you are getting closer to the basket, will almost always give the defense a major advantage because it will give a defender an extra second to slide off, and force you to make a premature decision.

This is what defenders were able to make Gilyard do every now and then last season, and even though they were not always able to generate any turnovers, they were a tip some of his passes, as he was attempting to complete cross-court passes, or bounce passes intended for one of the big men down low. So why is this an issue if his passes are only getting tipped? Well, for starters, it doesn’t allow Richmond to cash in on uncontested threes, or open layups, and it disrupts the flow of their offense.

Basketball is all about seizing every opportunity that is available at the time because it could disappear at any moment. Yes, one of Gilyard’s teammates may have been open, after Gilyard beat his man with a shifty crossover, but because he didn’t attempt to get them the ball, while the defense was somewhat disoriented, that opportunity eventually passed.

Besides, you have to factor in the 30-second shot clock that is a big part of the college game. If one of Gilyard’s passes gets tipped, when there are 10 seconds left on the shot clock, the Spiders may still get off a halfway decent look. However, Gilyard’s inability to make the right play when it was there, would basically force Richmond to be perfect, if they wanted to walk away from that possession with points.

As it relates to scoring, Gilyard is sometimes able to avoid getting his shot blocked, after taking one additional dribble, because he is so quick. Having said that, when Gilyard is driving toward the baseline and makes the mistake of trying to make a play that shouldn’t be made, he sometimes finds himself trying to complete an acrobatic reverse layup, over a big man who has an overwhelming wingspan, an elite first jump, and the athletic/strength advantage (which wouldn’t be a huge problem if he was as strong and as bouncy as Desi Sills).

Additionally, Gilyard is driving into a big, that knows that shooting a rainbow floater is probably option #2 in Gilyard’s mind, because he doesn’t always think that it will give him the best chance to convert, when he is attacking the rim.

When Gilyard is taking that extra dribble, he probably isn’t all that concerned about adding another block to the opposing man’s stat sheet (because blocks are just a part of the game), but shooting that difficult reverse layup (and getting it swatted), instead of taking the floater (which the big may not be able to get a fingertip on, and which is also a shot that is best suited for his game), could be the difference between a 70-69 victory, and a 69-68 loss.

If Gilyard is able to get better at completing step two (which is not being so anxious to put the ball on the floor one more time, when he really doesn’t need to), immediately after completing step one (which is blowing past his defenders, or getting a step on them), he’ll be even more of a dangerous driver in 2020-21.