Ben Gold’s shot

[Viper]

If Gold can't hit 3's, has no ability to go by the defender, apparently has no game on the blocks, is not a menace on the boards, marginal at best on D, what's he offer? And Al Amadou can't take a few of Ben's minutes? (yes, I know 82, I'm not at practice everyday)

[Newsdreams]

If Gold can't hit 3's, has no ability to go by the defender, apparently has no game on the blocks, is not a menace on the boards, marginal at best on D, what's he offer? And Al Amadou can't take a few of Ben's minutes? (yes, I know 82, I'm not at practice everyday)

Gold suxs, hopeless.

[MU82]

If Gold can't hit 3's, has no ability to go by the defender, apparently has no game on the blocks, is not a menace on the boards, marginal at best on D, what's he offer? And Al Amadou can't take a few of Ben's minutes? (yes, I know 82, I'm not at practice everyday)

Thanks for answering your own question.

Seriously, don't you think if Shaka believed Amadou had more to offer than Gold, Shaka would give Amadou at least a few of Gold's minutes? Or (far less seriously) maybe you think Gold is blackmailing Shaka in some way?

Coaches want to win. They will do what they deem necessary to win.

Gold is a 3-point threat, he plays decent post defense, he's a pretty good defensive rebounder, he plays hard, he knows and accepts his role. If Shaka Smart believed Amadou offered more than that, Amadou would play. Sorry, but that's the only answer that matters.

[Viper]

Thanks for answering your own question.

Seriously, don't you think if Shaka believed Amadou had more to offer than Gold, Shaka would give Amadou at least a few of Gold's minutes? Or (far less seriously) maybe you think Gold is blackmailing Shaka in some way?

Coaches want to win. They will do what they deem necessary to win.

Gold is a 3-point threat, he plays decent post defense, he's a pretty good defensive rebounder, he plays hard, he knows and accepts his role. If Shaka Smart believed Amadou offered more than that, Amadou would play. Sorry, but that's the only answer that matters.

thx for enlightening me that that's the only answer that matters. Whew!
Gold a 3-ball threat? Please. I'll let him shoot that omelette of a set shot all day. Beat me if you can.

[GoFastAndWin]

thx for enlightening me that that's the only answer that matters. Whew!
Gold a 3-ball threat? Please. I'll let him shoot that omelette of a set shot all day. Beat me if you can.

I'm with MU '82 on this one. Ben is a serviceable, versatile player with assets/liabilities on both sides of the court. IOW, like most NCAA D1 hoopers. You've got me in the mood for an omelette now. Or should I just listen to the Scrambled Eggs podcast?

[mu_hilltopper]

Coaches want to win. They will do what they deem necessary to win.

Gold is a 3-point threat, he plays decent post defense, he's a pretty good defensive rebounder, he plays hard, he knows and accepts his role. If Shaka Smart believed Amadou offered more than that, Amadou would play. Sorry, but that's the only answer that matters.

All of that is true except for the "Gold is a 3-point threat" part. 

The mid-point of 3-point shooting for all 312 teams is 33.6%.  Gold is 4 points below that. 

He's more than one standard deviation away from being average. 

[MU82]

All of that is true except for the "Gold is a 3-point threat" part. 

The mid-point of 3-point shooting for all 312 teams is 33.6%.  Gold is 4 points below that. 

He's more than one standard deviation away from being average.

I didn't say he was a threat to make them!

[brewcity77]

All of that is true except for the "Gold is a 3-point threat" part. 

The mid-point of 3-point shooting for all 312 teams is 33.6%.  Gold is 4 points below that. 

He's more than one standard deviation away from being average.

He's in a funk, but the whole team is. In our past 5 games, MU is at 37/133 (27.8%). Ben is 0/12, so he's contributed to that, but the rest of the team is still just at 30.6%, so he's not alone in that regard.

Before that, he was at 16/42 on the season (38.1%). So which is accurate? The 13 game sample size or the 5 game sample size? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but the larger sample shows him to be significantly better than he's been of late.

He is still a three point threat because he's shown the ability to make those shots and teams will cover him at the arc. He hasn't been good of late, but the threat is still there.

[MU82]

He's in a funk, but the whole team is. In our past 5 games, MU is at 37/133 (27.8%). Ben is 0/12, so he's contributed to that, but the rest of the team is still just at 30.6%, so he's not alone in that regard.

Before that, he was at 16/42 on the season (38.1%). So which is accurate? The 13 game sample size or the 5 game sample size? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but the larger sample shows him to be significantly better than he's been of late.

He is still a three point threat because he's shown the ability to make those shots and teams will cover him at the arc. He hasn't been good of late, but the threat is still there.

Much better answer than mine ... but admit it - not as funny!

[Viper]

He's in a funk, but the whole team is. In our past 5 games, MU is at 37/133 (27.8%). Ben is 0/12, so he's contributed to that, but the rest of the team is still just at 30.6%, so he's not alone in that regard.

Before that, he was at 16/42 on the season (38.1%). So which is accurate? The 13 game sample size or the 5 game sample size? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but the larger sample shows him to be significantly better than he's been of late.

He is still a three point threat because he's shown the ability to make those shots and teams will cover him at the arc. He hasn't been good of late, but the threat is still there.

...at what point does funk, slump become just not a very good shooting team?

[Newsdreams]

...at what point does funk, slump become just not a very good shooting team?

Team suxs

[tower912]

...at what point does funk, slump become just not a very good shooting team?

Kind of depends on whether you are a glass half empty or a glass half full person.

[Coleman]

College shooters are inherently streaky. This is a bad slump for a lot of the team.

Better now than March. Still feel good about this team if they can get in a groove at the right time.

[brewcity77]

...at what point does funk, slump become just not a very good shooting team?

It's a valid question. Prior to this, our shooters were pretty much all over 40% on open threes, which is why we work so hard for those looks. I truly believed that natural progression from our returning players and replacing O-Max's threes with Jop threes would lead to a better shooting team, not worse.

We are 45% of the way through the season averaging 25.9 threes per game and making 31.5% of them. To equal what we did last year, we would have to go roughly 219/570 (38.4%) in our final 22 games. Is that possible? Certainly. But the way things have gone of late it sure doesn't feel likely.

[Viper]

Shooting across high school college and pro ball is a lost art. Isn't it amazing the bad shooting form so many players have? Every now & then a guy will have an odd release, but it still works. That's quite rare, however.  Here's a question...would you rather have a shooter, or a scorer?

[tower912]

MU had players with perfect form on their jumpers who were great shooters.  Two left, one is a top 25 alltime scorer in the NCAA, and the guy who recruited them got fired.   Oh, and Rowsey.

[StillWarriors]

Shooting across high school college and pro ball is a lost art. Isn't it amazing the bad shooting form so many players have? Every now & then a guy will have an odd release, but it still works. That's quite rare, however.  Here's a question...would you rather have a shooter, or a scorer?

Just a theory, but I attribute some of that to the fact kids are chucking from distance very young because it is the cool thing to do. In order to get it there, they are chucking and getting well outside the shooter's pocket where one needs to be for consistent shooting. Muscle memory is hard to break. Steph Curry had a great interview or show where he talked about people now doing the process backwards. He learned from shooting close and developing great form. That enabled him to expand his range and become the greatest shooter of all time. When you start from 18-21 feet out as a young kid, the proper form is never developed.

[Uncle Rico]

Just a theory, but I attribute some of that to the fact kids are chucking from distance very young because it is the cool thing to do. In order to get it there, they are chucking and getting well outside the shooter's pocket where one needs to be for consistent shooting. Muscle memory is hard to break. Steph Curry had a great interview or show where he talked about people now doing the process backwards. He learned from shooting close and developing great form. That enabled him to expand his range and become the greatest shooter of all time. When you start from 18-21 feet out as a young kid, the proper form is never developed.

American basketball development is 💯 trash at lower levels. 

[BM1090]

If Gold can't hit 3's, has no ability to go by the defender, apparently has no game on the blocks, is not a menace on the boards, marginal at best on D, what's he offer? And Al Amadou can't take a few of Ben's minutes? (yes, I know 82, I'm not at practice everyday)

Gold has the best DR% on the team and second best OR%. He's doing well on the glass. He needs to find his stroke again and he'll offer plenty of value. If he hits 5 of his next 10 he'll be right back up to 33%. Just needs to find it for a few games.

[The Sultan]

Shooting across high school college and pro ball is a lost art. Isn't it amazing the bad shooting form so many players have? Every now & then a guy will have an odd release, but it still works. That's quite rare, however.  Here's a question...would you rather have a shooter, or a scorer? 

Eh...the NBA 3 point percentage is about the same as its always been despite the fact that teams shoot a lot more three pointers than they have previously.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-league-wide-three-point-percentage-by-decade

Part of the "form" issue is that there is a whole body of work that suggests that there really isn't an ideal form. Sure there are fundamentals, but the results can speak for themselves in that regard.

[MUDPT]

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but last season Joplin shot a higher percentage on guarded threes vs unguarded threes. I haven't looked at the numbers in awhile, but the same was true through the Wisconsin game this season. It's brain breaking

My theory is that when he's sped up and guarded, he goes into his more "natural" motion. Unguarded, have time to think and the mechanics get weird.

[Coleman]

Eh...the NBA 3 point percentage is about the same as its always been despite the fact that teams shoot a lot more three pointers than they have previously.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-league-wide-three-point-percentage-by-decade

Part of the "form" issue is that there is a whole body of work that suggests that there really isn't an ideal form. Sure there are fundamentals, but the results can speak for themselves in that regard.

And despite the fact that the NBA 3 point line is farther back than it has ever been.

I would actually say in the NBA, shooting is as good as it has ever been.

[Newsdreams]

Gold has the best DR% on the team and second best OR%. He's doing well on the glass. He needs to find his stroke again and he'll offer plenty of value. If he hits 5 of his next 10 he'll be right back up to 33%. Just needs to find it for a few games.

Why bring up data, not Scoop like.

[Scoop Snoop]

MU had players with perfect form on their jumpers who were great shooters.  Two left, one is a top 25 alltime scorer in the NCAA, and the guy who recruited them got fired.   Oh, and Rowsey.

Rowsey's threes and the "thing" were great, but I really miss his defense the most. 

I'm pretty sure that Ben is not a happy camper about his 3s and will work on getting it right.

[MU82]

It's a valid question. Prior to this, our shooters were pretty much all over 40% on open threes, which is why we work so hard for those looks. I truly believed that natural progression from our returning players and replacing O-Max's threes with Jop threes would lead to a better shooting team, not worse.

We are 45% of the way through the season averaging 25.9 threes per game and making 31.5% of them. To equal what we did last year, we would have to go roughly 219/570 (38.4%) in our final 22 games. Is that possible? Certainly. But the way things have gone of late it sure doesn't feel likely.

The beautiful thing (IMHO) is that we don't have to get this season's pct up to last season's percentage by hitting 38.4% the rest of the way. Last season's pct is immaterial now for this team.

If we hit 36% -- or probably even 33-35% -- the rest of the way, we'll be a formidable opponent for anybody in the nation.