Our shooting definitely has to improve by March. Great article
The improvement has to come from Cryer and Sharp. As I’ve mentioned numerous times on here in order to win the Championship you have to win SIX games. Our D will keep us in these games but we’ll definitely need Cryer + Sharp to step up their shooting in the tourney.
I don’t know the stat, and I probably wont pull it, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I’m pretty sure teams who are winning the natty in recent years are shooting like 37%+ from 3 and their FG is something like closer to 50%.
Defense is gonna carry us, but this is basketball and you win by scoring more points. We have to get the ball in the hoop.
Can someone answer why our strong defensive teams are not good at shooting? Do we burn our legs out?
I think its Sampsons recruiting preference. We don’t have a player besides Shead, that can break down a defense and drive the ball.
The way we play D with all of the rotations and trapping and the way everyone is expected to hit the boards (offensively + defensively) it can certainly wear you down over 40 minutes.
Sampson’s teams (because they are really good on the offensive boards) get more shots then their opponents so their FG % isn’t as critical as other teams. Also the way we force turnovers (and usually win that stat every game) means the opponents don’t have as many opportunities to score.
Now as you get deeper in the tourney elite teams don’t turn the ball over as much. They also are better passing teams which helps beat our traps/rotations which gives them good looks.
Yea and we really haven’t had a backup PG in a few years either. I think a lack of a stretch 4 has hurt spacing this year since Roberts and Francis are clogging the paint and aren’t threats to shoot a jumper.
That’s kind of why we really need Mylik to develop. I don’t what the stats say but I like when he and Jamal are in the game at the same time
Last year was nice with Sasser essentially being the back up PG. There wasn’t a tremendous drop off in ball handling or running the offense when Sasser took over. The same cannot be said for this year. LJ is not a good back up PG and Mylik is even worse. Our offense pretty much dies when Shead goes to the bench. Couple that with Cryer and Sharp both slumping, and it’s pretty amazing to me that we’ve won 5 conference games in a row. My sincere hope for a deep tourney run is two-fold:
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Shead’s legs hold up and we are able to rest him in some of our home court blow out wins.
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One of LJ or Sharp breaks out of their shooting slump. Both would be nice, but I would take one. I can see more teams trying to take Shead out of the picture like Texas did with Weaver. These other guys HAVE to step up.
Also to add we haven’t had many games where Cryer, Sharp and Dunn all had efficient offense games.
Sasser as the backup was a band aid for not having a backup PG. I wonder how much this played into injuries down the stretch.
I believe that CKS himself recruits mostly guys that can score….not necessarily “sharp shooters “ but guys that can score, ex. ( Rob Gray, etc.)
And then teaches them how to play defense….you can
Turn just about anyone into a high level defender….
Just got to make sure they are coachable and have heart….
You can’t “coach” anyone into becoming a “natural “ scorer.
The fact that we’ve been winning lately despite Sharp and Cryer struggling to make even open 3s makes me somewhat hopeful
Either way i kinda hope Shead gets load managed in the B12 toruney bc I shrudder at the thought of how our offense would look in the tourney if he gets hurt right at the end like Sasser and Fabian did the last 2 years
Agree.
Want to be peaking come the tourney and if Sharp and Cryer can get it going offensively (and be more consistent) it’s going to play a huge part in taking the team to a higher gear.
The offense is going to be the difference between a sweet 16 maybe Elite 8 squad, and a FF/Title team.
I have been disappointed in Cryer. He has a tendency to disappear in big games. But I have been impressed with Sharp lately. He is slowly started to become more of a offensive presence. Maybe come tourney time Sharp can become a reliable and consistent scorer.
Dunn, Sharp and Cryer can’t dribble. They get it stolen every time.
Not accurate
Maybe we are looking at this wrong, you do not need Dunn, Cryer and Sharp to light it up every night,
you need Francis you be a better option with pick and roll and slams. Roberts has developed a good inside game and Tugler will get better, but for this season to be a success we need Francis to step up.
I miss Josh Carlton.