FRERERICKS SHOOTING PERCENTAGE IN HIGH SCHOOL

[lamontcranston]

Today's Billiken article in the newspaper stated that Tom led CUSA in shooting percenatge last year with 57.4% and I also picked an interesting tidbit in the Billiken press guide. In his senior season of high school he led the entire state of Kentucky in field goal percentage at 64.0%.What in the world has happened?--go figure???

[Billiken Law]

Easy answer to the HS question. What were the odds Tom has anyone remotely close to his size guarding him in HS?? In the conference I played there was one 6-10 player who dominated because the next tallest player in the entire conference was my buddy at 6-7 180. One of the reasons there's a larger learning curve for big men coming to college hoops is because they are now dealing with people their own size whereas on a nightly basis they were not in HS (unless they were in a big city conference, which I don't think Tom was).

It's still early, Tom will be fine.

[billiken_roy]

i've been preaching the billikens inside game was our heel for over a month and was slapped around like i was nuts and a traitor.

[brehms13]

Roy, I'm trippin..u're right, u were, but u make it sound soooo funny.

[Billikan]

Actually, you were bashing IO and Ian while you sang the praises of Tom. In fact, IO has played very well, and very big, while Tom has been a disaster on the offensive end. With Ian, we have seen just about what the rest of us expected--a young developing big man who is getting better. Bryce, also a player you have criticized, also played a very good game when he got the chance and he has real potential for the future.

In truth, the play of our guards has been very much below expectations and their bad shooting killed us in several of the early games. No one has demonstrated the ability to make a big play when the chips are down like Josh, Marquee, Justin Love, Larry, etc. The guards made a few shots on Sat. but they also missed wide open shots and layups when we had a chance to put that team away.

The bottom line is that these are "team" losses. If we do not have leaders who come to play on every possesion and make some big plays when the game is on the line we will continue to struggle. The next few weeks will provide us an indication of whether this team is mentally tough enough to finish with a decent record. I am hopeful but skeptical because I do not see a leader who is going to put this team on his back and make the big plays necessary to win close games.

[guest]

Tom played high school at Greenwood HS in Bowling Green, KY. Bowling Green and the immediate area has a population of approximately 100,000. I know that's not big by St. Louis standards, but there were some big guys he played against...although not on a nightly basis. As for his shooting, chill. You guys hailed Tom all last year and this off season for good reason. He'll get back to his game. It's called a slump, players do get out of them. Have a little faith, I know I do.

[billiken_roy]

originally after the first game of the virgin island mess, i questioned why frericks wasnt playing. after the exhibitions, i stated that you all were too high on ian's current ability. i also pointed out that izik was a riddle the past two seasons that showed little consistency. i felt that frericks play was a given considering his play last year and that was why i wondered about his lessened minutes and piled on ian's less than apparent stats.

even then, just from reading the box scores in the virgin island fiasco, it was very apparent that frericks and ian not converting was killing us.

as soon as they got back and played in front of us though, i indeed included frericks in my posts along with vouyoukas.

yes, our guards havent shot well. but making 20 footers is a far more challenging task than 5 footers. and while i am sure we all hope that our guards start making more, it should be expected that ian and frericks shoot at 50% or better considering the range of the shots they shoot.

[SLUBandTBone]

"yes, our guards havent shot well. but making 20 footers is a far more challenging task than 5 footers. and while i am sure we all hope that our guards start making more, it should be expected that ian and frericks shoot at 50% or better considering the range of the shots they shoot."

I'd love for eveyone on the team to shoot better but in Ian and Tom's defense it's not that easy to shoot from five feet. Most of the time guards and such get to shoot decently clear shots with one man on them. Or drive with the basket in their mind the whole time. Ian and Tom are having to take shots with guys bangin' all over them and only seeing the basket on the pivot or through a couple of guys. It'd be interesting to see how shooting percentages comare for good college bigs and their guard counterparts.

[billiken_roy]

if frericks wouldnt have led cusa in shooting last year you might have a point.

[SLUBandTBone]

Point taken.