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

Jaelen House| Guard | 6’1″| Sophomore

2019-20 stats: 3.9 points, 1.2 assists, and 1.3 steals per game

In my opinion, House had a mediocre 2019-20 season, which saw him score in double figures four times but go scoreless on 12 occasions. His 2019-20 season also saw him play 20 or more minutes 11 times, but also play 10 minutes or less 11 times.

Toward the beginning and middle of last season, it seemed as though Arizona State Head Coach, Bobby Hurley, had faith in House’s ability, to help pick up the Sun Devils’ energy, whenever his name was called. However, as the season was coming to a close, Hurley began to retract House’s minutes, most likely because he wasn’t much of a factor on the offensive end of the floor.

Having said that, House was able to earn the playing time he did, by becoming one of the best on-ball defenders in the country. Whenever House is on the floor, he makes it a priority to make opposing guards make quick decisions with the ball. House’s infectious energy always seems like, it causes his teammates to pick up their defensive intensity when they see House get up in his man. I think House is really the lethal defender that he is because he never stops moving his feet.

Some guards may see that the guard that they’re defending isn’t able to handle pressure effectively, so they take the lazy route and try to reach excessively for the ball (even when their opponent hasn’t completed a single crossover).

House, however, is a guard that loves a challenge, and he excels as a defender because he does well at jumping to the spots that his man wants to go so that he can cut them off. Additionally, House always shows his hands to let referees know, that he is playing defense with his feet, and not his hands.

House could easily relax on defense for a few seconds because he knows that his man has given up on trying to wear him down, but he understands that he is not in games to do that. House’s job is to pick up his man full court, turn him multiple times, and ensure that his man’s focus shifts from executing the play he is supposed to get his team into, to making 4 to 5 stationary moves, in order to finally shake him.

In other words, House is able to play mind games with his opponents, and not only make them feel like they are getting somewhere with the ball (when they really aren’t), but also affect their vision. He often forces them to throw unassertive passes, just because they no longer want the pressure of having to function, with an energetic guard in their face 24/7.

I must also point out that last season, House did a pretty good of allowing his opponents to miss shots on their own (when they did get to the rim), and not bailing them out, by putting all of his body weight on them in the lane (which would force referees to blow their whistles).

House recognizes that you can press up on guards all you want out on the perimeter, but as soon as they inch closer to the basket, you must give them a little space, to go up and try to score. He also understands that getting scored on occasionally is a part of the game, which is why he is normally able to live with the result (whether it is positive or negative), that occurs at the rim.

You can choose to be casual all you want with the ball in your hands, as House is defending you, but I can promise you that it will never end well. As I mentioned before, House is far more invested in playing defense with his feet, rather than his hands, but if he sees that his opponent has just made a nonchalant left to right crossover away from his body, 35 feet from the basket, he will certainly poke the ball away cleanly and start a fast break for the Sun Devils.

And if House chooses not to poke the ball away after the first crossover, best believe he will choose to knock it away on the next side to side crossover (which would be from right to left), if his opponent demonstrates that he does not value the ball (and that he does not respect House as a defender).

On the offensive end of the floor, House was somewhat of a liability during the 2019-20 season, which could be the thing that prevents him from seeing the floor, as much as he would like to this season. While House showed signs of being an adequate three-point shooter in transition, and after dribble penetration, his 26.7% shooting from three last season, showed me that consistency was a major issue for him.

I think that House’s problem right now offensively, is his lack of confidence in his ability to make a second move (after he finds himself in the same spot after making his first move), and still get to where to wants to go on the floor. There were too many times last season where House would make an initial move (pushing the ball behind his back for example), get cut off, and quickly swing the ball over to one of his teammates.

Now, sometimes House made the right decision, by not allowing the ball to stick to his hands, but because he did this so often, he never really gave himself a chance to succeed offensively. Last season, House basically made it so that his first move had to work perfectly, or he would rarely have any opportunities to score (which wasn’t really fair to himself).

You’re not going to be able to fool everyone will your initial move, which is why you should make keeping your dribble a habit until you have no choice but to give the ball up. I think because teams were able to watch film on House, and pick up on the fact that it was often one move or bust for him in 2019-20, they knew that they didn’t need to worry about House coming at them with an additional move if his first one didn’t get him anywhere.

So after pushing the ball behind his back, as he is driving toward the baseline, for example, House could try to spin back hard to the middle for instance (while keeping his balance), and then look to see what play should be made next. I think that more than anything, following the steps that I just laid out, or coming up with different moves to make, after frequently running into a dead-end offensively, will certainly help boosts House’s confidence.

It will also get House to understand that he doesn’t need to be a prolific scorer like his teammate, Remy Martin (who averaged 19.1 points last season), but he does need to show that he is willing to make more of an effort, to getting himself free.

If House is able to trust his offensive creativity in 2020-21 and keep defenders on their toes all season long, I could see him having the kind of campaign that Buffalo junior guard, Ronaldo Segu, had in 2019-20 (Segu averaged 8.1 points per game in 2019-20, and won the MAC Sixth Man of the Year Award, after averaging just 2.1 points per game in 2018-19).