Arkansas (Jaylin's team) vs. Gonzaga (Chet's team) in the 2022 March Madness tournament. They're matched up against each other for the whole game. Full official game replay if you want to watch it, some of my thoughts inside if you're curious.

The title's just a liiiittle bit clickbait, as while Chet was assigned to guard Jaylin and they went up against each other for the opening tip, Jaylin was actually assigned to Drew Timme for the whole game to the point where it looks like the Arkansas coach matched up their minutes on purpose. It wasn't a strict 1v1 matchup due to the Timme factor, but they did go up against each other multiple times, especially when Chet was on defense.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401408625

Overall: Jaylin had an outstanding game and looked like his team's best player, if not the best two-way player in the game straight up. Chet was in bullshit foul trouble the entire game and didn't get to do much as a result, but still grabbed 14 rebounds, hit a three, and blocked two shots.

-Can't understate the weird foul calls on Chet. Even the supposedly neutral commentators (i.e. people who didn't just draft Chet at #2 on their team and are biased for Chet) talked about it, calling three of his five fouls (five fouls max in college basketball) straight verticality. Even the "represents the ref" guy they called in for commentary disagreed with some of the foul calls Chet got. Chet was clearly frustrated by it, but the camera never shows Chet arguing with the refs or being vocal about it--which is good re: technical fouls and re: not being an annoying complaining NBA player. His reaction to each weird foul was simply to stand there in disbelief with his hands up to demonstrate his verticality.

-When people say Jaylin is a playmaker, they mean it. He was involved in every offensive play he was in the game for, and not just by setting on-ball and off-ball screens (of which he did many), but holding the ball and making passes for the whole game. Interestingly enough, his preferred spots on offense were basically all above the free throw line extended. He was never positioned in the corner, low post, or baseline.

-Also of note re: Jaylin's basketball IQ, there were multiple Arkansas offensive possessions where a guard was holding the ball, but Jaylin was the one pointing at people, directing traffic, and setting up the offense. Very impressive.

-Jaylin got left open by Gonzaga for multiple open threes on the wing and above-the-break. He hesitated on and passed up quite a few of them (ones that would have been lightly contested but still considered open shots), but still ended up finishing the game going 2-5 including a big clutch three near the end. Because he spent most of the game being a playmaking big around and above the free throw line extended, his three point shot is going to be a huge swing factor in his career. Very much Draymond Green vibes here--yes, he can be a playmaker but will teams sag off of him and can he make them pay for it?

-Jaylin really is a natural charge taker. It was his clear instinct on multiple possessions to go for the charge rather than attempting to block a shot. From what I remember, I believe he drew two charges but also got called for two blocking fouls. Those tend to be 50-50 calls due to the refs, so a big factor in Jaylin's career is going to be him getting a reputation as a charge taker, because that'll influence refs' decisions on those 50-50 calls.

-Jaylin and Drew Timme spent basically the whole game wrestling each other on Gonzaga's offensive possessions (as Chet was on Jaylin for Arkansas' offensive possessions). Despite spending the entire game banging on each other and getting their arms tangled up and other assorted dirty work post stuff, there was a late play where Timme fell over after some wrestling. Jaylin immediately rushed over to help Timme up--even before other Gonzaga players could get there--and they silently gave each other some pats before getting ready for the next play. Good sportsmanship from the two of them. Steven Adams vibes of getting under people's skins without ever being dirty or nasty.

-I'm not the only one struck by Jaylin's performance in this game. I'm willing to bet that if you counted up the times the commentators talked about a specific player, Jaylin wins out. They were constantly talking about him on both offense and defense. Touched every aspect of the game. And the camera loved him--I mean, that smile though.

tl;dr: I meant to spend the game focusing back and forth between Chet and Jaylin as a scouting exercise. Due to Chet's BS foul trouble and Jaylin's impact on the entire game, I ended up on Jaylin Watch for most of the game. Found myself focusing more on Jaylin on defense rather than Chet on offense on the Gonzaga possessions. Jaylin looked awesome--a perfect role player for Mark's offense/defense. Seems like the kind of guy who might end up in the starting lineup but not in the closing lineup, if that makes sense (I assume closing lineups will mostly be small-ball-five-Chet lineups). Chet looked like a unicorn dealing with weird foul trouble, but still did unicorn things.

Not gonna lie, after seeing this I wouldn't be against OKC trying a Giddey, Shai, Dort, Chet, JWill line up.

If anything the tournament has shown it’s better to put Chet as a PF to start off first. It’s a big health risk to let aNY NBA athletes driving towards him.

JWill had a great game. Razorback/ Thunder fan who is beyond ecstatic that JWill was drafted by OKC where I hope he develops well and earns playing time. He is so fun to watch. He is an even better person. I’m not sold on Chet. I really like Jabari better so I’m somewhat disappointed but we’ll see how Chet develops. The calls against Chet in this game were well deserved. Trey Wade made Chet look like a child.