When Muss and his staff put the final touches on this roster, who do you think they thought were going to be their outside shooters? My first guess was Nick Smith. After that I don’t know what they saw or thought.
They must have known Pinon was going to have limitations to work around. So they could not have thought of him being one.
TB maybe, but I felt his 3 point shooting came as a very pleasant surprise.
The same for AB.
I see no one else. Seems like they recruited themselves into this situation.
Your thoughts please.
I believe Muss has expressed his desire for positionless basketball to be able to plug and play. He certainly has that in the length and height with this team. I’m curious as to when players are being evaluated does length/height and defense trump shooting in his opinion. I know its rare to find those 6-6 to 6-8 players that have good handles, good defense, and good shooting.
I’ve wondered with Muss trying to run this more like an NBA team if that can cause certain difficulties on this level. Its assumed that by the time you reach the NBA or the developmental league, you are a decent shooter or you’d not advanced out of college ranks.
Still I trust in Muss. There is not another coach at this time in the college ranks I’d trade him for… not one. The one thing I am sure about… 100% sure… is that as frustrated as we (the fans) are with how things are progressing that he is tens times more frustrated. Its just his nature in my opinion.
I know I am doubly frustrated this year because the class we brought in was simply amazing. I figured there would be bumps along the way as it gelled into a team, but also felt the sky was the limit. Sadly I no longer feel that way but I think we cannot remotely place a value on the loss of Brazille for the season and NSJ for the amount of time he was gone. When you build and shape something then have 2 very big chunks removed, its rarely possible to go on without missing a beat and your expectations most likely need to be tempered.
No doubt the coaching staff believed NSJ and Brazile were going to be the top perimeter threats this season, or at least two of the top three. I think the plan was to have them as very capable three-point shooters, but also be a team that applies great pressure on the rim first and foremost. In the backcourt, Nick, when fully healthy, can do that at a high level. Brazile, when he was healthy, kept defenses off balance with his mix of shooting and ability to put the ball on the floor. The offense was expected to be dynamic with those two guys as headliners and solid-to-great pieces around them who could create off the dribble, too.
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Nah. Coaching staff didn’t recruit themselves into this situation.
They lost 2 future NBA 1st round draft picks for the majority of the season.
Basically impossible to overcome that.
NSJ is back, but it will take some time for him to get comfortable on the court again.
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Listening to Muss it is not just the shooting of threes but equally more to his comments ,it is the inability to defend the threes. Just reading between the lines, seems he puts more emphasis on stopping the three and relying on defense to get easy turnover baskets. Makes sense as defense should travel and be there every day but it flies in face of all the three point shooting in college and pros now , including the # 5 guy being a three shooter now. Making three percentage is low already without having a team with strong defense and rebounding on other side as it reduces your scoring chances. Losing two key players hurts for sure but he seems frustrated that defense is still on and off depending on the night.
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Thanks Scottie.
I would like to see Muss relax a little bit and not press to winning games, but to get these individuals straightened out. I know the three home games are important, but I think Muss is stressing himself out and it is affecting his player rotation. It would help the team if he could get Smith up to speed and try and find a way to make Graham and Pinion useful.
I do not believe they thought Brazile was nearly the outside threat he proved to be in summer workouts. They were pleasantly surprised from what I was told. He had everything.
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We lost our shooter and scorer when Nick and TB went down. That really hurt. Disappointed no one really stepped up to take their places. AB, Walsh, the Twins, Pinion, and the others had an opportunity to step up and show leadership. There is no true leader on this team. This Off Season will be critical for Muss. By my count, he will have 4 to 5 spots open. He needs to get the portal right. Will need help on NIL deals. Everybody hits the portal hard now.
He wasn’t a shooter at Missouri either. Also Nick wasn’t a pure shooter in high school. Nick was a slasher/scorer. You can see every time Nick gets the ball, he wants to drive…
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Eric talked about Brazile as a threat from three-point range before Arkansas played Missouri last season. Eric knew there was potential in that realm for TB and that the staff could develop and sharpen that tool when he came here.
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Good info Scottie.
The practice I watched in November, afterwards most of the coaches told me Trevon was shooting a much higher percentage than they had expected. Keith, Gus and Ronnie all said that. I did not hear Eric specifically say it. But they said as a staff they were surprised.
Trevon was shooting with Ford at a basket in front of me for 30 minutes and it was a show. Ford did well, but not like Trevon. And the release was high and pure. His ability to release above a high hand was obvious. Terrific.
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Scottie, do you think Trevon will come back here next year?
I stand corrected. I just didn’t remember him lighting it up last year.
Brazile shot .333 from deep last season at Misery. Not Steph Curry, but someone you had to take into account. He was their second best deep shooter last year.
He didn’t light it up. But you could see there was something to work with there.
FitnessHog has my thoughts exactly. You can’t lose 2 first round draft picks and be close to the same in any area.
That’s a very good question because I asked this when I saw all these guys that were coming in and noticed that none of them outside of Pinion was considered a great three-point shooter. Brazile was considered a guy that had potential three-point accuracy.
Nick was good but certainly not a high percentage 3 PT shooter, all the rest this was not part of their game, so I’m not sure what he thought other than hoping the great defensive attributes of all of them would override this deficiency.
Ford looked like a player in the brief minutes he has played this year. Will he stay or will he go?
Sadly we and a lot of the teams in the SEC are looking more like Big 10 basketball. Slow, plodding, low scoring defensive battles. The days of 80 and 90 point games are getting rarer.I don’t like it. What is a fast break?
Team know how to beat Gene Iba style teams. Play physical and dare your opponents to hit an outside shot. With no consistent outside shooters in the rotation, we will see a lot of zone the rest of the year.