2012-13 Player Review: #10 Juan Anderson

With the 2012-13 season now in the books, we take a moment to look back at the performance that each member of YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles turned in this year. While we're at it, we'll also take a look back at our player previews and see how our preseason prognostications stack up with how things actually played out. We'll run through the roster in order of total minutes played (lowest to highest). The series continues today with a player we won't see any more of (I presume), Juan Anderson.

What We Said:

Minimum Expectation: Well, Buzz put it best when talking with CBS Sports Network's Jon Rothstein:

"Through 8 individual workouts, he's looked like a good player. He could be in the mix."

Well, that's really all we wanted, right? If Anderson can use his lanky frame to defend bigger wings and smaller post players, allowing Buzz the freedom he loves with switchable defenders, Anderson could be incredibly useful to Marquette this year.

Wildest Dream: Juan goes from getting five minutes a game to earning nearly 15 minutes per contest come Big East conference play, staking out a spot in the rotation and never letting it go. And, to make matters better: there's very little drop off when Juan hits the floor, no matter who he is replacing.

Why, yes, that is what The Admiral said last year. Still holds true, though. It'd be really kind of fun if we could start making Matrix references on a regular basis, too.

Worst Nightmare: It turns out that one shoulder injury makes Anderson prone to shoulder injuries and it hampers him all season long.

Well, would you look at that. We had "15 minutes a game as a solid rotation player" as a Wildest Dream for Anderson, and he ended up averaging 13 minutes a game while playing the Erik Williams Memorial Token Foul Protection Starter role. Even in the Token Foul Protection Starter role, playing more than 25% of the game is a pretty solid spot to have on the team, right?

Well, maybe not.

From the kind people at Statsheet.com:

Ain't nothing we can do about showing both of Anderson's years there, so just pay attention to the brown line, which shows you what his average minutes played was the season progressed. While I think it would be safe to say that most Marquette fans were generally happy with what Anderson was giving MU on the court, it became increasingly more difficult to keep Jamil Wilson off the court.

The good news is that Anderson was well aware of what was most beneficial to Marquette. On at least one occasion that I can remember, head coach Buzz Williams went out of his way to praise Anderson for telling Buzz to leave Jamil in the game because of how well he was playing at the time. It's just too bad that Anderson's playing time had a noticeable affect on his shooting:

Compare that brown line to the brown line in the first graph. That's weird, right? The season long arc of Anderson's shooting percentage is nearly directly proportional to his playing time.

Best Game: Well, this is kind of hard. From looking at the game logs on ESPN.com, nothing jumps out at you right away. A quick check of SB Nation stories that feature Anderson shows that we haven't given him any prominent notice all season. Ultimately, I think it has to go to the first game of the season against Colgate, where Anderson put up nine points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block. He also played 21 minutes in a rare off the bench appearance, a number that he would hit again on just three more occasions all season long.

Season Grade (1 - Worst Nightmare to 10 - Wildest Dreams): This isn't easy either. He hit the minimum expectation, right? I'd definitely call what he did this year as "in the mix." But while he was averaging 13 minute a game at the end of the season and had a definite spot in the rotation, I really can't pull the trigger on calling that a Wildest Dream of a season. I give Juan a 5 for the season. It was completely acceptable, which probably helps explain why he's transferring, stated family reason or not.