Well, we have played three huge cupcakes, and have beat them soundly, which is good.
While it is still very early, there are some areas that should cause concern:
Three Point Shooting.Hayward is 1 for 10. Hopefully he will pick that up. Cuby is 3 for 12.
Free Throw Shooting. Cubillan and Acker, our two headed senior point guard are a combined 4 for 9. We need better from these guys. It looks like Otule will continue in our long line of big men who cannot shoot FT's, as he is 1 for 6. Burke was the most recent "center" that could not make FT's
way to focus on the negatives... any team could dig up some of these "areas of concern" type posts. good thing you overlooked:
3 point shooting:
Butler - 80%
DJO - 43%
Buycks - 50%
Acker - 38%
along with multiple games of more than 5 players hitting a 3.
i can make the same argument for free throw shooting as well. plus we are 3 games in and you are taking a sample size of 9 combined free throws. if we start big east play and acker/cubes are still a combined 44% from the line, then i'll worry
So far we have not hurt our NCAA chances, but we have not helped them either.
I didn't think the post was too negative.. However, as you point out gimp, the sample size on FTs is not enough to be concerned yet. Also, I'd love a big guy that could nail FTs, unfortunately, most of them can't, so it's not like Otule is a big disadvantage in that area compared to other teams.
As for 3's, it seems we have more players that are very capable at making 3s, as opposed to last year when it was basically Hayward and to a lesser extent, Acker at the end. So, I'm not as concerned this year, because nearly everyone seems to be able to hit it if left unguarded. That will help to stretch defenses more than last year. I think Hayward will get it together though, but if not, we can certainly use his help inside.
Anyhow, this is all against some pretty weak competition, but I'm encouraged that they "easily" handled the games, as opposed to cutting it close. I'm excited to see the team against better competition, but I think I need to be careful what I wish for :)
Rocky
Last year both Mathews and McNeal were solid 3 point shooters. Part of this is "fear of the unknown" as to who we can count on other than Hayward. We could have more diverse options but until they are proven its going to be a little scary.
As for Otule I'm just looking for progress from last year and it seems to be there. I'm looking for Chris more from the standpoint of defending the other team's center so we don't give up a ton of low post points. If he can do that (which has yet to be proven) anything on offense is a bonus.
Actually, my concern IS the amount of FTs we're shooting. We need to try to get to the line more. And if there is one aspect of Lazar's game that may drop off this year, it's the 3pt shooting. He's going to be in the post/FT extended more, and he's not going to get really great open looks like he did for the past 3 years.