CleanHOUSE
Well-known member
I have seen a few posts talking about how we just need to be patient and the shooting will come, and bad shooting performances are bad luck and flukey. I don't agree, and I think poor shooing may be a necessary evil that comes with the players and style that allows us to be a bigksy force year after year.
1. Let me start by saying, We don't have good shooters, like we just don't, last year we didn't have good shooters, and the year before we didn't have good shooters. That just not the the style the Griz recruit, they go for high upside athletes who if they were better shoots would probably be going to bigger places than UM. Ogunie and Rorie developed into competent shooters, but you would never confuse them for guys who might go off for 6 or 7 3pt shots in a game because they didn't have the shooting talent to do that. Solid shooters can get hot but good shooters will kill you if you leave them wide open. We use our athleticism to create a high volume of high percentage shots close to the hoop, and if you remember the last few years the way to beat us was clog the lane and make us be shot makers.
2. SO the unlucky lid on the basket narrative...nah how many time is the lid going to be on the basket against Power 5 teams v. Mich 32% and 33% v. Penn St. 39% v. Zona 26% v. Stanford 29% and 44% v. Washington 40% v. Arkansas 32%. I sure I missed few games from last few years. Pitt was awful.
Griz often rank high in shooting percentage because they are built to move the ball and get easy looks going to the basket and they have guys that can convert at the rim. When you play against power 5 competition the bad shooting shows up because the volume of looks close to the basket goes way down. For example the Griz might generate 25 open mid range or 3pt looks against Weber State and make 8 of them against Mich they might generate 13 and make 3, same bad shooting but all of a sudden your scoring 52pts instead of 65pts.
3. LIKE who on the Griz scares you from wide open? Manuel maybe if he is feeling it but if he is cold he can clank a bunch of open 3s in a row. Sometimes it feels pointless to work open looks on the perimeter because if Griz were just playing on a empty court they'd still shoot 37% on perimeter jumps shots. Nobody from the last few years would scare you in a 3pt contest...
4. That's why TD builds his team on D because we aren't going to win consistently in shootouts, but we can hold you to 55pts and consistently score 65-70 by getting turnovers and driving the ball in for shots close to the rim. Its a reliable formula for BSC, but without size or fineness/shooting its just hard to beat Power 5 teams who are more athletic and have size and shooting, when your game is predicated on being the most athletic team on the floor.
5. The athletic defensive style makes the Griz consistently competitive and they win a lot of close games, BUT...it also put the Griz in a lot of close games that shouldn't be close games. There have been plenty of games were Griz are the better team, get a lot more open looks and overall opportunities BUT because they can't shoot/make you pay for leaving them open, it ends up being a 7pt game coming down the stretch then anything can happen. I doesn't matter how good your D is if a guy gets hot and hits a few crazy threes in a last few minutes they can steal the game. We have also seen shooting put the Griz in huge holes that they have to dig out of all game because when we our normally poor shooting goes cold things get REALLY bad.
6. ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY: I think we have to be real, Griz are not built around strong shooting or size and our struggles against power 5 teams are no lid on the basket fluke, were just NOT built to matchup with Power 5 competition or give them problems. We are built on speed, defense, athleticism relative to bigsky competition, getting a lot high percentage shots going to the basket, and the hope of developing a few shooters and a few bigs who can defend. Now it can be frustrating when we all dream of being a sweet 16 darling, but Im also SUPER grateful for sustained success in the bigsky and how fun this team is to root for and if we continue that maybe the shooters and skilled bigs will come...AND some proper promotion from university to help build a fan base and fill the arena >:-( would also Help!
7. Fnally, the Frosh look legit, super excited for this team! Hollinger looks like a Kareem Jamar in the making with more hops!, Vasquez looks like he has a lot of potential in his shooting stroke and seems super calm for a Frosh leading the offense, Owens looks like he has fun playing the game and will be super versatile, Egun uhh not sure what he brings yet, he hasn't 'flashed" as they say, either negatively or positively. Mac showed me if he plays aggressive he could be a real legit Big. I also have high expectations for Samualson, and of course Pridgett can get his. Which all is exciting because it looks like Reload rather than a Rebuild! And if you can Reload at our level you must have a strong and intelligent program model in place.
What do you think?
Is it a model we should continue?
Will it lead to greater success down the road?
Does it lack upside?
Should we build to be able to pull a upset against the big guys?
Should we recruit more shooters?
GO GRIZ!
1. Let me start by saying, We don't have good shooters, like we just don't, last year we didn't have good shooters, and the year before we didn't have good shooters. That just not the the style the Griz recruit, they go for high upside athletes who if they were better shoots would probably be going to bigger places than UM. Ogunie and Rorie developed into competent shooters, but you would never confuse them for guys who might go off for 6 or 7 3pt shots in a game because they didn't have the shooting talent to do that. Solid shooters can get hot but good shooters will kill you if you leave them wide open. We use our athleticism to create a high volume of high percentage shots close to the hoop, and if you remember the last few years the way to beat us was clog the lane and make us be shot makers.
2. SO the unlucky lid on the basket narrative...nah how many time is the lid going to be on the basket against Power 5 teams v. Mich 32% and 33% v. Penn St. 39% v. Zona 26% v. Stanford 29% and 44% v. Washington 40% v. Arkansas 32%. I sure I missed few games from last few years. Pitt was awful.
Griz often rank high in shooting percentage because they are built to move the ball and get easy looks going to the basket and they have guys that can convert at the rim. When you play against power 5 competition the bad shooting shows up because the volume of looks close to the basket goes way down. For example the Griz might generate 25 open mid range or 3pt looks against Weber State and make 8 of them against Mich they might generate 13 and make 3, same bad shooting but all of a sudden your scoring 52pts instead of 65pts.
3. LIKE who on the Griz scares you from wide open? Manuel maybe if he is feeling it but if he is cold he can clank a bunch of open 3s in a row. Sometimes it feels pointless to work open looks on the perimeter because if Griz were just playing on a empty court they'd still shoot 37% on perimeter jumps shots. Nobody from the last few years would scare you in a 3pt contest...
4. That's why TD builds his team on D because we aren't going to win consistently in shootouts, but we can hold you to 55pts and consistently score 65-70 by getting turnovers and driving the ball in for shots close to the rim. Its a reliable formula for BSC, but without size or fineness/shooting its just hard to beat Power 5 teams who are more athletic and have size and shooting, when your game is predicated on being the most athletic team on the floor.
5. The athletic defensive style makes the Griz consistently competitive and they win a lot of close games, BUT...it also put the Griz in a lot of close games that shouldn't be close games. There have been plenty of games were Griz are the better team, get a lot more open looks and overall opportunities BUT because they can't shoot/make you pay for leaving them open, it ends up being a 7pt game coming down the stretch then anything can happen. I doesn't matter how good your D is if a guy gets hot and hits a few crazy threes in a last few minutes they can steal the game. We have also seen shooting put the Griz in huge holes that they have to dig out of all game because when we our normally poor shooting goes cold things get REALLY bad.
6. ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY: I think we have to be real, Griz are not built around strong shooting or size and our struggles against power 5 teams are no lid on the basket fluke, were just NOT built to matchup with Power 5 competition or give them problems. We are built on speed, defense, athleticism relative to bigsky competition, getting a lot high percentage shots going to the basket, and the hope of developing a few shooters and a few bigs who can defend. Now it can be frustrating when we all dream of being a sweet 16 darling, but Im also SUPER grateful for sustained success in the bigsky and how fun this team is to root for and if we continue that maybe the shooters and skilled bigs will come...AND some proper promotion from university to help build a fan base and fill the arena >:-( would also Help!
7. Fnally, the Frosh look legit, super excited for this team! Hollinger looks like a Kareem Jamar in the making with more hops!, Vasquez looks like he has a lot of potential in his shooting stroke and seems super calm for a Frosh leading the offense, Owens looks like he has fun playing the game and will be super versatile, Egun uhh not sure what he brings yet, he hasn't 'flashed" as they say, either negatively or positively. Mac showed me if he plays aggressive he could be a real legit Big. I also have high expectations for Samualson, and of course Pridgett can get his. Which all is exciting because it looks like Reload rather than a Rebuild! And if you can Reload at our level you must have a strong and intelligent program model in place.
What do you think?
Is it a model we should continue?
Will it lead to greater success down the road?
Does it lack upside?
Should we build to be able to pull a upset against the big guys?
Should we recruit more shooters?
GO GRIZ!
