BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 61,740
- Reaction score
- 17,652
- Points
- 113
per Depue:
Washington’s struggles—last night and all season—certainly aren’t due to timidity. He’s been a high-volume shooter all season. That approach would be questionable even if he was converting a decent percentage of his attempts, with the plethora of offensive weapons Minnesota possesses. It makes even less sense, though, given his current shooting percentage. Washington ranks last on the team in FG percentage at 36.4%, and in 3-point percentage, at 8.3%. On the season, he’s 2 for 24 from behind the arc.
Despite those numbers, he’s shooting more than anyone on the team, by a significant margin. I wrote last week about Washington’s volume shooting, and in the three games since that column, his attempts have increased. He took 17 shots against Miami, four more than the next highest Gopher, despite starting 1 for 10. On the season, he’s averaging 0.46 shots/minute, which also leads the team by a wide margin. Jordan Murphy is second at 0.40 shots/minute, while last year’s leading scorer, Nate Mason, is taking 0.38 shots/minute.
Surely Richard Pitino is aware of those numbers, and last night he had little choice but to stick with the freshman despite his shooting woes and turnovers — due to McBrayer’s absence. Pitino also likely doesn’t want to zap Washington’s confidence or take away his aggressiveness—late in the game he demonstrated his elite ability to penetrate and get buckets in transition. Still, with Murphy playing like an All-American and the skill sets of Mason and Coffey, the offense should go through them, and until that happens it won’t run as efficiently as it should. Coffey’s dad, for what it’s worth, seemed to feel similarly during last night’s game.
http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2017/12/depth-remains-issue-talented-gophers/
Go Gophers!!
Washington’s struggles—last night and all season—certainly aren’t due to timidity. He’s been a high-volume shooter all season. That approach would be questionable even if he was converting a decent percentage of his attempts, with the plethora of offensive weapons Minnesota possesses. It makes even less sense, though, given his current shooting percentage. Washington ranks last on the team in FG percentage at 36.4%, and in 3-point percentage, at 8.3%. On the season, he’s 2 for 24 from behind the arc.
Despite those numbers, he’s shooting more than anyone on the team, by a significant margin. I wrote last week about Washington’s volume shooting, and in the three games since that column, his attempts have increased. He took 17 shots against Miami, four more than the next highest Gopher, despite starting 1 for 10. On the season, he’s averaging 0.46 shots/minute, which also leads the team by a wide margin. Jordan Murphy is second at 0.40 shots/minute, while last year’s leading scorer, Nate Mason, is taking 0.38 shots/minute.
Surely Richard Pitino is aware of those numbers, and last night he had little choice but to stick with the freshman despite his shooting woes and turnovers — due to McBrayer’s absence. Pitino also likely doesn’t want to zap Washington’s confidence or take away his aggressiveness—late in the game he demonstrated his elite ability to penetrate and get buckets in transition. Still, with Murphy playing like an All-American and the skill sets of Mason and Coffey, the offense should go through them, and until that happens it won’t run as efficiently as it should. Coffey’s dad, for what it’s worth, seemed to feel similarly during last night’s game.
http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2017/12/depth-remains-issue-talented-gophers/
Go Gophers!!