Who's Our Shooter?

[Pistol]

I think most on this board agree that we'll be an improved team this year, a year older and wiser, and probably a faster-moving team. I know there's a ton of question marks, as always, but a big one I have is who is going to be this team's big shooter? The guy who can consistently knock down threes, who makes them in the clutch, and who is an asset to an offense that should play a little faster. Will it be one of the new guys, a guy that hasn't hit his potential yet, or one of our star players? Or will it be multiple guys? If someone doesn't step up into this role, or we just shoot like we did last year, it will be another year where we see games like St. Joe's, St. Joe's, and Dayton (away). I'd really like to hear what you all think on this one.

[cheeseman]

Kevin will be the shooter - the only problem is unless someone else can step up and hit a few now and then to take the pressure off of him then we may not be an improved team. What the other team will do is simply sag on Ian, and cover KL with a blanket. If Tommie can hit his mid range jumper it will really help both KL and Ian. Otherwise someone else simply has to step up and hit an occasional 3 to keep the other team's defense honest. Another thought might be that we can get legit play at the 4 spot then maybe we don't need another shooter - they can sag on Ian but if our 4 can deliver the mail then the other team will have problems. In other words another shooter would be nice but not necessary if Tommie can hit his mid range and our 4 can be a legit presence.

[billiken_roy]

my belief is that all (including lisch) will be better shooters. and i will be very surprised if danny brown, luke meyer and tommie liddell all dont raise their averages significantly. it is contagious.

[slu72]

I'd be surprised if any of our 4"s becomes an offensive threat this year. Think the most we can hope for there is he can rebound and defend. But who knows. I think KL showed he's the shooter, but it would help him tremendously if he had another threat out there.

[p diddy]

we have some possibilities on the team other than kevin, but they still come with question marks.

danny should be our next best shooter, but he's been so darn inconsistent. i think brad needs to do a better job with him. When danny is going well, he can really stroke it. when he slips up, he seems to disappear into brad's dog house for several games. hopefully, with two years of experience and maturity, we will see a more consistent danny because he can be an explosive scorer. brad just has to relax a little more with him and make him more confident and comfortable. in my book, danny should be double-figures scorer on most nights. He can also score on the break, on pull-ups and get to the free throw line as well.

dustin is obviously a shooter, but will he be ready to be thrown into the fire of high-level D-1 hoops, especially the non-conference schedule that we're playing.

Luke: I'm not looking for him to become a prolific 3-point shooter. He has to knock down those mid-range jumpers that are available to him when his man leaves to double-team Ian. He does a lot of intangible things to help the team win, but he will cancel those intangibles out if he cannot knock down open jumpers. by the way, i don't know if anybody has seen luke lately. he's about 220 pounds.

believe it or not, Obi is one of the best shooters on the team. he is really comfortable on the perimeter, knocking down long jumpers. the obvious question is whether he is ready to put those skills to use as a redshirt freshman after not playing for two years.

dwayne doesn't have to be a lights out shooter. he just needs to hit a few to keep everyone honest.

I'd like to seen Ian step out and shoot a few more 15 footers. he's tough in the paint, but he is a euro after all. that jumper is in his arsenal. remember that shot he hit at xavier from the corner. that's not an abberation.

bad boyz for life

[Billinikens]

I think this is really solid analysis here from p diddy. All in all, we simply we missed a bundle of wide open shots last year and most of those shots need to start going down. I'm not just talking about three's, and although those are nice, they aren't the most important. The 12-18 footers need to be knocked down at this level of competition most every time when you're wide open. We haven't done that the last few years but we need to start this year if we're to have the tourney run we're all hoping for. I'm confident this year that we have the guys to do it. Danny, Luke, Kevin, and Tommie will all be key contributors on those type of shots. If Dwyane and Dustin can make some of them as well, we'll really have something to talk about.

[Pistol]

Nice post, Diddy. I know that Kevin is probably the top shooter, but what I'm really curious about is who's going to take pressure off of him. I think your analysis of Danny was spot-on; he's definitely explosive and has a decent, smooth stroke, but you never know which Danny's going to show up.

Luke's struggles with the baseline J last year proved to be pretty frustrating. I know he has the ability to knock it down, and he knows it too. Hopefully that sophomore slump is over. By the way, is the fact he's 220 a good or bad thing? What kind of 220?

I can't really speak on any of the new guys' ability, but I hope Dustin is ready to contribute something and Obi is as good as you say he is.

Though I don't see it happening in a big way, it might be the most beneficial if Dwayne can find his shot and really stretch defenses out for the other guys to create. As of now, they can give him all the room he wants because no one sees him as a threat in that regard.

[SShoe]

the biggest difference from last year's team to this year's team will not be the improvement of TL, KL, or IV. It will be with the junior class. It's strange how one year makes such a difference, but lightning always seems to strike players between their sophomore and junior years. I expect good things from all three of those guys, but Danny especially.

Early bold prediction: Danny will be the 4th player to average double figures next year.

[Major Majerus]

Thanks to Nark for the use of the Billiken

nm

[slu72]

220 is PF size...hmmm wonder if he's the 4 again? Agreed, he's got to hit those 10-15 footers like he did in HS. Still think DP is the key to this shooting thing. If he demonstrates he can knock down jumpers be they 3's or 15's this makes us a different team, because of his quickness. Assume he and DB make the giant leap this year, I'd rather see DB off the bench, unless there are real matchup problems, and have DP out there setting a fast tempo for some easy hoops, ie TL jams, KL wide open 3's, his own 3's. Agree w/ Pdiddy too that it would be good to see IV step out and hit the 10-15's. Just think what problems that creates for defenses, especially if we get a legit 4 who can rebound coupled with TL's ability to pull down offensive boards. Face it this team's success is going to come down to how well the 3 and 4 perform this year. If we get the same old same old...we're probably only going to win a game or two more than last year. But an upgrade at those spots, we're looking at 4-5 more wins.

[cheeseman]

I know I said that I would withhold judgement on Luke until I saw him play at the 3 spot. But if he is going to play the 4 again then I am sorry that means one of two things: 1. we have nobody else and that is bad or 2. he does not have the shooting skills to be a 3 and that is bad for him. That being said, when you are 6'5" you can carry 220lbs if speed was not your forte. So, Luke at 220 does not necessarily mean he has to try to play the 4.

[Hardball]

What's kind of amazing is I watched both Polk and Meyer in high school and I would have called them above average shooters. Maybe even a strength feature in their game. Now they appear to not be able to throw it into the ocean. What happens to a player to have such a change in ability?

I too expect more of DB. My hope is that our HC allows him to play through some mistakes because in the long run I think he is our best option.

[brianstl]

Hardball, this is something you and I agree on. I think DP's abilty to hit his jumper might be the one of the biggest keys to the season. I believe his inability to hit at all from the outside cost us a NIT bid at the minimum last year.

A thing I think might have affected his shot is the speed of the game. It is so much faster at this level than high school. Dwayne was so use to playing the game at such higher speed than his peers in high school. Even though he is one of the faster players that I have ever seen at SLU, I think it took him out of his comfort zone. That along with the size at this level.

Some one pointed it out earlier, but it is a point that I think can't be repeated enough. The jump that players traditionally make in their playing level in their junoir season. I think this will really show in his game this year, with his familarity with the play on the d-1 level.