If we had at least one good three point shooter on this team, we’d probably be undefeated. Seriously.
Put down the spiked egg nog
It actually is very possible.
Speaking of undefeated, Duquesne (10-1) was one of the last four teams that had not lost this season - until they played UAB (8-4) in a holiday tourney in St. Petersburg earlier this week. The Dukes NET ranking dropped from #20 to #66 after that loss!
Anyway, the Blazers seem to be doing okay since dismissing their best player Zach Bryant (11 ppg, 2.6 apg) in mid-November. Have three averaging in double figures, led by frosh Jalen Benjamin (12.3 ppg; C-USA FOTW on 12-2). Were competitive in losses to Kentucky (58-69), Texas (57-67), and Memphis (57-65).
You’re probably correct
Looking forward to being there Thursday night for this one!
Not your exact scenario, but elevated our 3 point shooting percentage (33.1%) to the D1 average would make the following hypothetical swings to our losses.
@ James Madison (L, 74-79); 9/33 (27.3%) to ≈11/33; W, 80-79
@ App State (L, 55-64); 4/21 (19.0%) to ≈7/21; D, 64-64
@ Georgia State (L, 78-81); 5/22 (22.7%) to ≈7/22; W, 84-78
UNC Asheville (L, 83-75); 4/12 (33.3%) to ≈4/12; L, 83-75 (TURNOVERS BAD!)
@ East Carolina (L ,56-60); 5/24 (20.8%) to ≈8/24; W, 65-60
While this is purely hypothetical, I think it’s safe to say that it’s very likely we have no more than 2 losses with decent shooting, but not undefeated.
A lot of ways we can look at this though. Expecting our shooters to be better shooters is the same thing as wishing they had any other trait that made them better players. And if they had more of said traits, then they wouldn’t be on our team because they’d be at a better program.
Take Shepherd for instance. He’s fairly smart with the ball, plays disciplined within the system, can finish pretty well at the rim. Now, if he could shoot well at all from 3, he’d had a better chance at making it at the P5 program.
Point is, Sanchez has found guys that play hard, smart, and disciplined. If we continue to improve as a program, he’ll eventually find guys with those traits AND the ability to shoot. We suck from outside, but that’s just who we are at the moment. The shooting won’t get much better from here this season.
i think a better way to put it is if guys like bertram, who on paper are good shooters, were living up to their billing, we could be undefeatd. i dont think its wishful thinking to have expected someone like him to hit 2-3 3 pointers in a few games, which could have changed the outcomee of many of these games. our guys are good enough outside shooters to shoot better than we did against teams like app and ecu. we have had tons of open looks and couldnt knock them down. we arent shooting like the warriros but going 0-13 against ecu from 3, especially with many of them wide open looks, is not something i think any of us would have expected.
Yeah we have a couple of guys in Bertram & Vasic who are supposed to be good from long range. Martin, Robb, Edwards and a few others are average from 3. It just seems like we get in slumps as a team & no one can hit a shot when that happens. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a team that goes thru scoring droughts as an entire team like we do this year. I think they are so used to losing when a few shots don’t fall it’s like oh crap here we go again. It will take having some success to get out of that mentality. Like 55 said I don’t expect us to be a top 3 point shooting team but there is no reason we can’t at least be average with our personnel. Really seems like it is mostly mental at this point.
You guys missed my point. Yes, Bertram and Vasic May be better shooters if they got it going, but my point was that these guys aren’t part of the main rotation because they give up in those other areas that are more important to Sanchez. Again, if we had any players who could do all those things AND shoot well from 3, they’d be playing. But Sanchez would rather hold teams under 60 than try to out score them.
You must have a crystal ball since you KNOW our shooting wont get much better. Can you let me know some Powerball numbers please?
I understand what you’re saying but if Bertram & Vasic were doing what they are supposed to be good at they would be getting more minutes regardless of their defense. But they are not hitting shots now so they are a huge liability. It’s hard to give them more minutes if they aren’t scoring but it’s also going to be hard for them to get out of shooting slumps if they can’t get minutes. I think it will happen & our other more average 3 point shooters can’t get much worse so I am optimistic for improvement in conference play.