The curious case of Oto Osenieks

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Stan

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When we signed Oto he was billed as this great three-point threat. We thought we were getting a prototypical Euro kid that would bomb three-pointers and be a player that Northwestern and Wisconsin would kick themselves for not signing. After Blake left Oto said his goal was to break all of Blake's three point records. I did some digging and even Trevor is quoted in the link below saying Oto needs to be the new Blake because he's our best three-point shooter on the team.

Oto once said ''I want to break his 3-point records,'' Osenieks said. ''He was a great shooter.'' http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebas...to-snap-back-from-last-seasons-slump-75299143

Before last season Trevor said “We’re going to expect a lot from him,” Trevor Mbakwe said before the season, at Big Ten media day. “Oto has to be our new Blake. He’s definitely our best shooter.” http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/134203543.html

If you look at stats, over the past 1.5 years Oto is in fact our WORST 3-point shooter based on percentages. He is 13 for 62 in his career including a team worst (percentage) 2/21 this year.

If Oto wants to break Blake's all-time three point record he better get going. Blake finished with 279 threes. Oto has 13, so he needs 266 in the 10 or so remaining games this year and the 64 or so over the next two years. That is an average of about 3.5 3s every game for the rest of his career.

So a few questions. Was Trevor fooled in practice that Oto was our best shooter? Has Oto's mechanics changed? Is it just a confidence issue?
 

Oto couldn't hit water falling out of a boat. I just think he simply isn't that good and was over hyped. Seems like a nice kid, just not a big ten caliber player.
 

One thing about Trevor. He doesn't make statements that can't be backed up. Run the table, give back his scholarship. LOL His quotes mean nothing. Oto can't play much less shoot.
 

Oto was a spring signing with very few (none?) other offers.

No surprise there.
 

Stan said:
When we signed Oto he was billed as this great three-point threat. We thought we were getting a prototypical Euro kid that would bomb three-pointers and be a player that Northwestern and Wisconsin would kick themselves for not signing. After Blake left Oto said his goal was to break all of Blake's three point records. I did some digging and even Trevor is quoted in the link below saying Oto needs to be the new Blake because he's our best three-point shooter on the team.

Oto once said ''I want to break his 3-point records,'' Osenieks said. ''He was a great shooter.'' http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebas...to-snap-back-from-last-seasons-slump-75299143

Before last season Trevor said “We’re going to expect a lot from him,” Trevor Mbakwe said before the season, at Big Ten media day. “Oto has to be our new Blake. He’s definitely our best shooter.” http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/134203543.html

If you look at stats, over the past 1.5 years Oto is in fact our WORST 3-point shooter based on percentages. He is 13 for 62 in his career including a team worst (percentage) 2/21 this year.

If Oto wants to break Blake's all-time three point record he better get going. Blake finished with 279 threes. Oto has 13, so he needs 266 in the 10 or so remaining games this year and the 64 or so over the next two years. That is an average of about 3.5 3s every game for the rest of his career.

So a few questions. Was Trevor fooled in practice that Oto was our best shooter? Has Oto's mechanics changed? Is it just a confidence issue?
Click to expand...

We have had a lot of curious cases these past several years. The curious case of Devron Bostick, the curious case of Julian Welch, the curious case of Colton Iverson, the curious case of Ralph Sampson. These are guys who came in showing promise for various reasons and never seemed to max out in a Gopher uniform. All of them plus Oto appeared to have lost confidence as time went on. Was it the relationship to the coach? The offense? The complicated defense that players seem to have such a hard time learning? The idea for some of them of playing most of their time with all subs? The mixed messages that the coach sends? Or was it just them not being that good or not improving? It appears to me that there is something that goes on here that drains the confidence of players. Confidence affects shooting big time.
 



Did I read somewhere that Oto had re-engineered his shooting mechanics? Does that play into it? You start to wonder whether it's similar to the Jedd Fisch / Adam Weber situation.
 

I picked Oto to be my break-out player this year. I also picked Bostick to lead the team in scoring his Jr year. I'm starting to think the problem might be me.
 

Oto is what you get when you send Saul on recruiting trips to Eastern Europe.
 



He sucks. No mystery. The mystery is which of our top flight asst. coaches thought he could play.
 

Moses87 said:
Oto is what you get when you send Saul on recruiting trips to Eastern Europe.
Click to expand...

Not sure why he would have been in Eastern Europe considering Oto played at a prep school in Illinois.
 

Sometimes I think Oto is expected to do too much.

I am curious how effective he would be if he was just in the game to space the floor, in other words, stand in the corner and hit a shot. I'm not sure he's a good enough shooter to do that, but he seems to be all over the place. I don't know, he doesn't seem like a very good basketball player.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Sometimes I think Oto is expected to do too much.

I am curious how effective he would be if he was just in the game to space the floor, in other words, stand in the corner and hit a shot. I'm not sure he's a good enough shooter to do that, but he seems to be all over the place. I don't know, he doesn't seem like a very good basketball player.
Click to expand...

I don't think he's horrid. I think he has no confidence because of how he is used. You put him out there with Mav and company and you can figure that things are going to be tough. I think you can trace the poor performance of the subs to the idea that they have been playing all together and flopping as a group for a month and a half now. That has to be pretty humbling and it probably causes them each to hesitate before hoisting a shot.
 



bga1 said:
I don't think he's horrid. I think he has no confidence because of how he is used. You put him out there with Mav and company and you can figure that things are going to be tough. I think you can trace the poor performance of the subs to the idea that they have been playing all together and flopping as a group for a month and a half now. That has to be pretty humbling and it probably causes them each to hesitate before hoisting a shot.
Click to expand...

Bingo. Hit the nail on the head there.

.
 

Winnipegopher said:
Oto was a spring signing with very few (none?) other offers.

No surprise there.
Click to expand...

Oto had offers from Iowa State, Providence, and Green Bay. Rivals also said he had an offer from Florida (a 3PT heavy team). I'm guessing his Florida offer was pulled.
 



I can't quite put my finger on it honestly. I mean, by almost all accounts this guy could shoot coming into the program. SOMETHING happened, you don't just suddenly lose ability to even be a threat. And some of his attempts are just ugly, oozing a lack of confidence. Not sure what to put it on though.
 


Oto is an All Big 10 shooter in warmups. His jumper looks good. Good release and rotation. When the lights come on it is a different story.
 

Moses87 said:
Oto is what you get when you send Saul on recruiting trips to Eastern Europe.
Click to expand...

Not being mean, but just a couple nights ago didn't you say you were done with Gopherhole until Minnesota has a new coach? That fit was short lived I see.
 

In the words of Dickie V, it's about being a PTP'er.

It's a harsh thing to say but some people just aren't Prime Time Performers. I hate saying that about anybody but I doubt his shooting woes has anything to do with his mechanics or his shooting eye. Maybe it's being worried about being pulled if he misses one, who knows. That kind of mentality usually puts a choke hold on most players.
 


Stan said:
When we signed Oto he was billed as this great three-point threat. We thought we were getting a prototypical Euro kid that would bomb three-pointers and be a player that Northwestern and Wisconsin would kick themselves for not signing. After Blake left Oto said his goal was to break all of Blake's three point records. I did some digging and even Trevor is quoted in the link below saying Oto needs to be the new Blake because he's our best three-point shooter on the team.

Oto once said ''I want to break his 3-point records,'' Osenieks said. ''He was a great shooter.'' http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebas...to-snap-back-from-last-seasons-slump-75299143

Before last season Trevor said “We’re going to expect a lot from him,” Trevor Mbakwe said before the season, at Big Ten media day. “Oto has to be our new Blake. He’s definitely our best shooter.” http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/134203543.html

If you look at stats, over the past 1.5 years Oto is in fact our WORST 3-point shooter based on percentages. He is 13 for 62 in his career including a team worst (percentage) 2/21 this year.

If Oto wants to break Blake's all-time three point record he better get going. Blake finished with 279 threes. Oto has 13, so he needs 266 in the 10 or so remaining games this year and the 64 or so over the next two years. That is an average of about 3.5 3s every game for the rest of his career.

So a few questions. Was Trevor fooled in practice that Oto was our best shooter? Has Oto's mechanics changed? Is it just a confidence issue?
Click to expand...


Unless Trevor recruited Oto, he wasn't the only one that was fooled.
 

Monty519 said:
I can't quite put my finger on it honestly. I mean, by almost all accounts this guy could shoot coming into the program. SOMETHING happened, you don't just suddenly lose ability to even be a threat. And some of his attempts are just ugly, oozing a lack of confidence. Not sure what to put it on though.
Click to expand...

For the most part I would agree with this, but I seem to recall Austin Hollins being hailed as a great shooter when he came into the program, and he only shot something like 26% from 3 in his freshman year. Obviously he improved in his next two years and his 3 point percentage is up in the mid to high 30's. I think Oto actually shot slightly better as a freshman than Austin did as a freshman from 3, only by about one percentage point though. I figured it might have just been the same case as with Austin, just adjusting to the college game, freshman nerves or something like that, and that Oto's percentage would go up into about the mid-30's this season, but that hasn't happened unfortunately. I'd really love to see the guy shoot like we thought he'd be able to when he came in, I wanna see him succeed.
 

Roland Brooks said:
Oto is an All Big 10 shooter in warmups. His jumper looks good. Good release and rotation. When the lights come on it is a different story.
Click to expand...

Same as Bostick. Bostick would hit everything in pre-game and during Howard Pulley games. I'd make assumptions, but I have no idea what does on during practice, so I won't.
 

bga1 said:
I don't think he's horrid. I think he has no confidence because of how he is used. You put him out there with Mav and company and you can figure that things are going to be tough. I think you can trace the poor performance of the subs to the idea that they have been playing all together and flopping as a group for a month and a half now. That has to be pretty humbling and it probably causes them each to hesitate before hoisting a shot.
Click to expand...

Yep. Most college reserves do not have the ability to consistently create a good shot (for themselves or others). So when you play all reserves, you quite predictably tend to get a lot of bad (and missed) shots and a lot of turnovers waiting for that good shot that isn't coming. Then you see a drop in confidence, further drop in performance, further drop in confidence, etc. etc.
 

I think the importance of confidence is often overstated when it comes to not shooting well, especially when you're dealing with players who have never really proven themselves. Regardless of confidence, some players just aren't talented scorers. That seems like a more logical explanation in the case of Oto. I would attribute the poor performance of the subs to a lack of talent as well--not a lack of confidence.
 

underground629 said:
I think the importance of confidence is often overstated when it comes to not shooting well, especially when you're dealing with players who have never really proven themselves. Regardless of confidence, some players just aren't talented scorers. That seems like a more logical explanation in the case of Oto. I would attribute the poor performance of the subs to a lack of talent as well--not a lack of confidence.
Click to expand...

Well we will just have to disagree. Strongly disagree.
 

underground629 said:
I think the importance of confidence is often overstated when it comes to not shooting well, especially when you're dealing with players who have never really proven themselves. Regardless of confidence, some players just aren't talented scorers. That seems like a more logical explanation in the case of Oto. I would attribute the poor performance of the subs to a lack of talent as well--not a lack of confidence.
Click to expand...

Underground- You must not play golf. :)
 

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