By: Eric Fawcett -- October 9, 2023 In today’s era of college basketball where player turnover is higher than ever it can be tough for teams, even at the high-major level, to return productive pieces. With most transfers only having one year of eligibility remaining, if you hit on a quality player in the portal–it’s not often you have that guy for multiple seasons. Will Richard’s Consistency A Key For This Year’s Gators | GatorCountry.com
RAMPED to see Richard this year. I'm hopeful he can play at the 3 more than the smallball 4 but I will take him and his steady production no matter where he plays.
I had always noticed how consistent Richard was from the start of the season to the end, but what I didn't realize how good he was on defense until Eric posted his defensive stats in this article. Love it that WR became a Gator.
Last player to attempt 7 threes in a season for us was Boybton in 2011-12 (on 41%), but he also got plenty of shots off the bounce. Before that, it was Roberson, who also could get his own shot. I don’t see a world in which Richard gets up to that 7-8 shot range. I am more optimistic about him getting other looks in the lane or off good cuts, maybe even offensive boards (which Golden seems to be emphasizing more this year).
That is a good point--it usually requires a player who shoots off the dribble to get up that kind of volume. However, you saw Noah Locke get 6 three-point attempts per game in a very slow paced offense that wasn't hunting a lot of three-pointers, whereas now the Gators have a coach that wants to play faster and wants to get up as many threes as possible. I suppose the smart money would be on betting he doesn't get 7-8 threes per game, but it's very easy for me to see a world where it's possible.
Richard was a decent rebounder, but there was nothing particularly remarkable about his numbers, and the Gators were a poor rebounding team. Thought the other elements of his game were what I wanted to focus on.
The Gators will benefit from the absence of Kowacie Reeves, the Will Rogers of Basketball. He never saw a shot he didn't like.
Thanks, Eric. My take on Locke's volume is that he was ordinarily surrounded by low volume shooters (exception maybe being Kevaughn one year and Tre Mann another). He was the only consistent perimeter shooter rather often. I am hopeful that isn't the case this year. Kugel averaged 4 threes in conference play and Clayton had 5 per game at Iona. Given their ability to create off the dribble, as well as the fact that we have more ballandlers this year to create for them (namely, each other, plus Pullin). In any event, this offense has far more options than it did a year ago.
IMO, this is a better description of Alex Fudge. He thought he had to be on the ESPN highlight film in order to receive his just deserts in the NBA. Reeves, from beginning to end, seemed to think he HAD to prove himself to himself and when he got fewer and fewer chances, he tried harder and harder. More like chasing demons. But I wish him well.
They ought to call the rule change "The Boynton Axiom." Kenny mastered the art of swinging your leg into the defender as you go up for the 3. You can't do that anymore.
His game was so raw and unrefined. Hitch in his shooting form and herky jerky in his movements. Just nothing smooth or fluid about his game. It’s a hard thing to clean up if you don’t have it by now.
I always thought a big reason KB got those 4 point plays was that he released the ball on the way Down./?
Bringing this thread back to life. I think Will is the X factor on this team. We are 9-1 when he scores 17 or more this year. The rest of the guys seem a bit more consistent, but when Will is on his game, we play at another level.
