We have Withers. I think Eddie will have the senior push in stats. Plavich can wait his turn to shoot bombs.
Don’t think it’s going to happen. Our improved inside game will open things up for slower shooters like Sager. 
I don’t think Bobby can lay off.
OK, fewer than last year. How many did we attempt?
We took 682 threes last year, making 232 for 34%. Our opponents took 623, making 202 for 32.4%. Considering that we had two really good 3-pt shooters, I don’t think we took too many. As a team, we won’t be attempting as many this year simply because the point guard (whoever it is) won’t be taking the shots Demon did. Plav will be taking more than he did last year (he took 266) because the defense will be packed in most of the time. The wing is the key. If Eddie and E.J. can knock down a decent percentage of their 3’s, we will be very dangerous because we will force the opponent to spread out. That said, with Withers and a hopefully offensively improved Iti, we should not be as dependent on the 3 as we were last year. We have several options for the games where we can’t hit the barn from beyond the arc. Eddie showed he can create when needed, and EJ is supposed to be good at that also. Mitchell can make things happen on the break to give us a spark as well.
I think Demon not being here will mean we take a lot less. Plav will be the one that shoots them the most. Eddie will take a few as will mitch, but Demon accounted probably fro 35% of our attempts.
We’ll have less. Especially with Drayton and Curt on the inside.
EJ will shoot the 3 more than anyone else besides Plav. He took a lot of them at Colby.
How 'bout a team ft% over 75% for once!!!
[i]Originally posted by NinerFan[/i]@Jul 27 2004, 12:37 PM [b] How 'bout a team ft% over 75% for once!!!!! [/b]I guarantee THAT will win more games for us than 3-pt shooting.
[i]Originally posted by MKNiner[/i]@Jul 27 2004, 08:40 AM [b] I think Demon not being here will mean we take a lot less. Plav will be the one that shoots them the most. Eddie will take a few as will mitch, but Demon accounted probably fro 35% of our attempts.We’ll have less. Especially with Drayton and Curt on the inside. [/b]
This sounds great in theory, however it seems that we draw this conclusion every off season only to see Bobby fall back on the three pointers for whatever reason he has.
Other than CW, we have nobody that can score in the low block and from what I hear, Drayton is not much of a post scorer. This leads me to believe that it will be bombs away as usual, which in turn means another season consisting of a couple surprise wins and several losses to inferior teams. That seems to be a 49er tradition.
[i]Originally posted by 49erpi[/i]@Jul 27 2004, 06:02 PM [b] Other than CW, we have nobody that can score in the low block and from what I hear, Drayton is not much of a post scorer. This leads me to believe that it will be bombs away as usual, which in turn means another season consisting of a couple surprise wins and several losses to inferior teams. That seems to be a 49er tradition. [/b]I think if Iti isn't back you could be right. Iti can draw attention away from Curt, but without Iti Curt will have to do the work by himself, unless Nance turns out to be a great contributor in the early going, which I tend to doubt.
I’m sick of being a long ball team. I want us to be balanced and with Curt on the inside we have that ability, but we need another post presence to make it happen.
Freakin Iti.
[b]This leads me to believe that it will be bombs away as usual[/b]
[b]I'm sick of being a long ball team. [/b]
We could always change our style to that of what the Bilikens play. 
I kid, I kid. Balanced teams most always win the title. If Iti can learn to score and we come to have one more really good 3 point shooter (Drayton, Eddie, Goldwire), we will be in good shape. At times, I don’t think we’ve relied on the 3 so much as that’s all we get to choose from because we only have one post player that is a threat. We beat Syracuse because that’s all they’d give us with their zone, but lost to St Louis because we couldn’t make the ones they gave us. We won with the 3 and died by it, but we couldn’t force it inside when the defense has the lane covered up. I don’t see us taking any less 3’s, I just hope that they are better looks from 3.
The arc moves back this year, I believe, so many teams will be taking less three’s. It won’t affect Brendan though, because he has great range. It will affect the big men who like to pull up from 20 feet. It will be less likely they’ll be making it.
[i]Originally posted by X-49er[/i]@Jul 27 2004, 02:16 PM [b]... i.e. Curtis Withers. I doubt he will have 3 pt range anymore with the line moved back. He was pretty much a toe-the-line at the top of the key type shooter.[b]The arc moves back this year, I believe, so many teams will be taking less three's. It won't affect Brendan though, because he has great range. It will affect the big men who like to pull up from 20 feet. It will be less likely they'll be making it.[/b][/b]
Won’t matter anyway with him in the paint.
PI, aside from how upset you usually get when you say that, I don’t disagree with you at all. But what else can we do with our personnel? If we just had another 6’7-6’8 forward like Curtis we could play some more on the inside. We don’t really even need a center to be balanced. Syracuse didnt have a productive center when they won it all - they just had a serviceable guy plus Warrick and Mello. We’ll have Withers and Drayton, neither of which can play around teh rim and take abuse like those guys can. Maybe a slimmer Plav could be our Gerry Mac too…
I was talking to another poster from here at lunch and I think we’ve agreed that if Iti doesn’t come back, we’re gonna have to play a lot like UAB did last year in order to be successful. With certain lineups, we’ll be an almost mirror image, minus Mo Finley’s ability to go off for 25+ from time to time. They played that hands all over you game that allowed them to lead the league in steals, which they excelled at turning into easy transition points. I just dont see us having enough half court punch to ever want to play that type of game with our personnel.
I don’t think the line is moving back. The line is 19-9 in the 2004-2005 NCAA rule book. Isn’t that where its been?
Based on what I’ve heard and seen of Drayton…he can score from inside and out. He’s very long and gets to the rim with ease. He doesn’t do it with power, though so he might not be as effective against more physical teams.
I’d like to see Curtis remain strong throughout the year. He was dunking everything early in the season but then resorted to that double-clutch junk as the season went on.
More on Drayton from a ninerreport story jsut after the Louisville game:
While Drayton continues to concentrate on the season at hand, he couldn’t help but to give us a sneak preview on what he feels that he can add to the Niner attack.
“I’ll bring another scoring threat,” said Drayton. "I’m just a well rounded player. I like to rebound, pass and play defense.
"I like to step out and hit the three and I penetrate a lot too. Here, I play a lot on the perimeter, but if I have a smaller guy on me I usually post him up.
Drayton is averaging 19 points and eight rebounds on the season.
He does sound like the SF/perimter type but still gets his share of rebounds.
The arc moving back will be an experimental rule and will be used only in exempt games, and I don’t think we will be playing in any such games.
[b]In a men's committee action that requires no further approval, all certified games (previously known as "exempt" games) that occur before January 1, 2005, will be required to use an experimental free-throw lane that is 1 ½ feet wider on each side, a three-point line that is extended to 20 feet, 6 inches, and an arc drawn 2 feet from the center of the hoop to assist with charge/block calls. [/b]
Here’s the rest of the article.
NABC Rules Committee recommends changes
The NCAA site has it also listed as an experimental rule.
Diagram of Neww Distance from NCAA official site
The diagram also shows that d@%^ halo under the rim. They need to get rid of that before they start using it.
Is there any info that Iti won’t be back or it is just speculation because he’s not on campus yet. Anyhow, if he does come back, he should get 10 and 6 because of his size.
BTW, did he really only measure 6’ 8"? I come to almost all the games and he looked considerable taller than Withers or Clemmons or any “big” guys we had.
[i]Originally posted by MKNiner+Jul 27 2004, 01:09 PM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (MKNiner @ Jul 27 2004, 01:09 PM)
[i]Originally posted by LeftyNiner[/i]@Jul 27 2004, 02:25 PM [b]Based on what I've heard and seen of Drayton...he can score from inside and out. He's very long and gets to the rim with ease. He doesn't do it with power, though so he might not be as effective against more physical teams.[/b]
“Getting to the rim” and being a low post threat are two completely different things. We need someone else besides Withers that is capable of establishing position on the low block and is capable of scoring with his back to the basket. This is not Drayton, however he sounds like a nice player otherwise.
I remember watching EJ play in High School and I think you guys will be surprised at his post up game. He is very frail, but against a team who runs 3 guards or a small 3, he will put this back to the basket and he has a nice fadeaway jumper with decent footwork. When he gets stronger, we get a 20 ppg type player (too bad we don’t have him for 4 years though 
)
[i]Originally posted by 49erpi+Jul 27 2004, 08:40 PM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (49erpi @ Jul 27 2004, 08:40 PM)
I think Iti is important, but certainly not from the offensive standpoint… well not directly. Curtis is our only legit down low scoring option right now. So be it. But without Iti, he’s going to expend a lot more energy/effort on the defensive end, which naturally will affect his scoring and offensive rebounding.
Iti is important to Withers and the team. Just not in glamourous ways.