i think both parties are correct…
its an unquestionable fact that mark has to improve on his shot, thats undeniable… but once he gets over the hurdle of improving his shot anything is possible for him, even potentially all american
… and shots can improve, dotson shot 31% as a soph at oregon, and then probably had the statistically best 3pt shooting season at UH ever, shooting 45% from 3 on 8atts a game…im not saying mark will “definitely improve” but that its possibility if he dedicates himself
he is extremely agile and has great handles for 6’5 , has great passing skills, good defender, and fearless scorer. despite not having great percentage he never hesitated to shoot …there were others on the team who shot poorly early and then stopped shooting 3s
his potential is limitless depending on how hard he wants to work, he could be dejon with a shot, grimes with better ball skills, gray but 6’5, galen but with legitimate offense…
something that i think about with mark is from an interview with sampson a while back, we have defensive drill, where its 1 on 1 (no help defense), if the offensive player scores you have to do laps… sampson noted that mark made everyone do laps including grimes and dejon. made a joke that mark didn’t even care about the purpose of the drill, he just liked making everyone do laps … once he figures out his shot, the potential for what he can be really opens up
Before you guys dump on Butch too much, maybe you should wait and see how Mark does this year. It is not unfathomable to think he may make an All American list. I definitely remember CKS saying how great he is.
Some are only going to look at numbers but there is more to it than that. He is a better shooter than the numbers represent. For one, he struggled coming back from the Covid break and also had a limited off season to prepare. Also he is used to having the ball in his hands with no limitations on what he can do and making an adjustment to coming off the bench and not being the primary option.
Mark can shoot the ball, at what volume and the nature of his shots to be effective remains to be seen. Predictions are based on projections and another year, like Butch said, is going to do wonders for his game. There may be an acclimation period playing with new teammates and an increased role but I think the potential of him being right there with Sasser, Murray and White is right there.
I’m no expert, but it sure looked to me like Mark had an unusually high number of shots that were just barely off the mark. If just a few of those go in per game all of a sudden he’s a good or great shooter.
Time will tell, but I’m excited to see him this fall.
Mark missed quite a few shots during a stretch that were out of character for him. Tends to happen when a players is struggling with confidence.
To me it is not as much about being a better shooter as it is feeling comfortable. My bet is we see big improvements on both ends.
he was shooting 26% from 3 before the covid break… he shot horribly throughout the season…
the difference before the covid break and after was the frequency he was able to get to the freethrow line
mark really needs to work on his shooting, i said this during the season also, it wasn’t covid IMO, i also dont think it was confidence, i think he just had bad mechanics…shead had confidence issues but i never sensed that at all from mark… mark never hesitated to shot at any point when open
mark wasnt a technically sound shooter…armoni, corey, grimes, dotson. if you overlapped their shots, 98% of the time its the exact same shooting motion down to the tiniest detail…mark shoots a different shot almost every time… sometimes he jumps forward sometimes backwards., sometimes he lands with his legs spread apart (mini split), sometime he kicks both feet forward, sometime he fades away/leans back, sometimes not… there were about 3 or 4 threes i originally added into his reel but made a decision to pull them because the shooting motion was odd despite him making it because i didn’t want the vid to be used as justification for anything negative
here is every miss and make in the south carolina game (precovid-- about 6 mins if interested) Tramon Mark #12 vs South Carolina (18 Pts 4 Rebs) - YouTube… pay attention to his shooting motion and how it slightly or largely changes each time… mark really needs to work on his mechanics and tightening it up this offseason…
For the whole season, including the dance, Sasser was 134 of 353 for 38.0% and only in the dance he was 23 of 71 for 32.4%.
For the whole season, including the dance, Mark was 85 of 224 for 37.9% and only in the dance he was 12 of 34 for 35.3%.
At the end of season when it was all on the line, Mark came through several times. Yes, early in the season, after he came back from COVID, Mark was off; but down the stretch he came through and basically saved a couple of big games against Memphis and in the dance.
Not the prettiest shot and will lean to get his feet set and shoot the ball through his lower body more efficiently. He certainly need to practice. It is just another game at this level and the role and expectations are so different than any where he has ever played. No real reason to go breakdown the why. He just needs to shoot better. I think he has it in him to have a good year in 21-22 and to be great the following season.
This concerns SHOOTING only for those whose reading comprehension and retention skills are waning.
Any attempt to make Mark’s less than stellar shooting by comparing him to Sasser’s shooting is folly. Sasser shot well to very well in a couple of the big dance games, but starting with the game at Temple, and for most of the rest of the season save maybe 1 or at the most 2 games down the stretch of the regular season, Sasser was shooting horribly.
When Grimes was out of the lineup with an injury at Temple, I don’t know if Sasser thought he needed to distribute the ball more I don’t know, but he went into the deep freeze. When he showed signs of maybe coming out of it his teammates would show him some love with support and encouragement as was evident to see going into a timeout.
Grimes is gone, Sasser is a junior. Now it’s his time to step up and be da man from 3 land. I love the guy. Love his shot, love the tear drop floater. He doesn’t need to be consistently great, but consistently good with some great games/shooting thrown in now and then.
Keep in mind that the 27% shooting from 3 was on average only 2 attempts per game during the regular season (I removed OLLU) with only 59 attempts in 23 games. He average 4 attempts per game during the regular season inside the arc and made over 40% of those (not outstanding but not horrible).
He did not shoot that well in the post season (1-11 from 3 and 16-43 inside the arc) but he came up big at times as someone pointed out. Plus, he was over 70% from the foul line in post-season and 75% for the regular season.
If his volume of shots from 3 are going to go up, then he needs to improve on that % but it is such a small sample right now. What I like best is his vision and passing. It will be fun to watch him take that next step in Year 2.