We’re a Good Team

Looking at our boxes through 3 games, our 3-point shooting is the glaring weak spot, but I don't think it's as weak as it looks. Will Richard is not making his but we all know he can shoot it. I don't know for sure and it's something for the staff to look at, but it appears to me that he's putting too much arc on his shots, and on very high shots there's a greater distance of travel for the ball and more likelihood for it to be off. So when (if) he starts hitting at the rate we know he can, our perimeter shooting will be not be a liability.
Fingers crossed, anyway.
This Friday against FSU will be a good time for him to light it up.

 

I'm not a big fan of calm when attacking the zone, and that was a constant source of irritation for me watching Mike White Gator teams. His guys would endlessly (and calmly) flip the ball around the perimeter in the hope that somehow that would break a zone, and we'd end up throwing desperation trash at the hoop before the shot clock expired.
I liked our urgency against the zone last night much more. Sure, there's perimeter passing but it's very quick, punctuated up by attacks in the paint. We have good free throw shooters; let's make the defenders challenge us. We're doing that and we're being rewarded by the foul trouble of our enemies.

 

Yeah, I haven't gone back to watch his earlier tape but it just seems way too high when I watch a Clayton shot in the same game. Walt seems to know his sweet spot.

 

I'm trying to see how we are all that much different from last years team, which was really good and could have possibly won the SEC tourney and gone far in the NCAA tourney if Micah hadn't gotten hurt. Chinny seems maybe a little better defensively than Micah, but not much. I would probably still take Samuel over Alexis but I like Alexis. At this point, Martin and Pullin look like a wash. Martin with better D, Pullin with better control of the offense. Will has improved on D, Condon has improved on O, and Clayton is still a stud. Both Denzel and Haugh are likely to keep getting better all around, so hopefully everyone stays healthy and keep improving and we make a deeper run than last year. My main concern is consistent 3pt shooting and being able to defend big guys in the post.

 

Yep, we're getting good, open looks from 3, just aren't making enough.

 

Martin and Richard making 3s consistently would make us elite. Thankfully both have other skills that will still make a very good team.

 

I mostly agree with this. I'd add that we seem to be a better defensive team on a whole - or at least we're showing that we can be a better defensive team. I worry that we're not dominiating the glass like last year's team - but hopefullly a better defensive effort will equalize a decrease in rebounding advantage.

Richard at 22% from deep has to improve. Hopefully Martin gets his 26.7% up into the mid 30s. Tommy and Sam are a combined 1 for 10, but I'm A-OK with them continuing to shoot for now. Team leader in 3pt%? ... Condo! 2 for 4.

 

Really hard for me to get a good read so far. First two games, defense and rebounding were not good, then we got that corrected. Shooting has been iffy. Competition has obviously not been at our level by any stretch. All that to say I just don't know what our ceiling is.

Here's what I can say at this point. Richard's performance so far defensively and on the glass, not to mention his conditioning, gives us three guards who can contribute in many ways. Condon is just terrific offensively and defensively. We have great depth and size in the post. Aberdeen is still sort of the x-factor for me: he can defend three positions, play on the ball or off it, create for himself and others, break the press, and get out in transition. When he is doing all of that without turning the ball over or taking bad shots, we have a balanced team on both ends of the court.

I just need to see us guard ball screens and the arc better and rebound both ends against good competition. I am resigned to the fact that this will be a streaky shooting team from the perimeter. But if we can get out in transition and execute early offense, get good ball action going to the rim, feed Condon in the high post, and let Clayton take over off high ball screens whe things aren't clicking, then we can still be very good offensively.

 

^ The other thing I've liked is how competitive certain guys are, especially Martin, Condon, and Haugh. Alpha might be a strong word for them, but they know how to dig down when things aren't going well.

 

Richard is taking it to the hoop stronger than he ever has before.

 

I'm leaning towards thinking Chins and Sam are a big key to this team's success. We are going to need them to help defend against some skilled and large bigs as we head into real competition.

 

Imagine if Condon and Haugh can start knocking down some threes...............watch out!