This Season - A Tale of Shooting (or Lack Thereof)

[catseye]

After watching the team struggle to hit the rim against Loyola, only getting into the upper 30's for FG% after a flurry at the end and creeping along st 26% from 3pt%, igot me wondering whether we're really shooting it worse. SPOILER: We are. And the lack of shooting coupled with soft cuts (or ignoring those open on good cuts) is gutting our offensive scheme..

On the year, our FG% is 43.6% and our 3P% is 32.7%. Skogman is the only player shooting well - 55.6%/47.1% (and he's shooting very well). Beyond Skogman, no one is shooting over 50% FG or 40% 3Pt. After a promising start, Durkin has fallen off to 36.4% from 3PT. Others we counted on for outside shooting have similarly struggled from 3PT -.Brizzi (22.2%), Adam (25%), Spadone (33.3%), Huffman (30.6%), Kochera (35.9%), Bailey (22.9%). The numbers for players off the bench are too small to give much of a sample, but as much as.I really like Jarvis (and think he really helps us in a lot of ways), he has to find his game stroke. He is currently shooting 11.1% from 3PT and 21.7% FG.

Shooting overall is down from prior years, though the 3 point shooting is most glaring (for the past 2 years, really).

2023-2034 - 43.6 FG, 32.7 3PT
2022-2023 - 44.3 FG, 32.5 3PT
2021-2022 - 48.1 FG, 38.7 3 PT
2020-2021 - 47.2 FG, 36.4 3 PT
2019-2020 - 45.3 FG, 36.8 3 PT
2018-2019 - 45.0 FG, 35.4 3 PT

It is also interesting to me that we are generating more attempts and that our rate of three point attempts is more like our historical averages.

2023-2024 - 57.1 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2022-2023 - 55.4 FGA/G, 20.8 3PTA/G
2021-2022 - 55.5 FGA/G, 22.9 3PTA/G
2020-2021 - 55.2 FGA/G, 27.0 3PTA/G
2019-2020 - 55.6 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2018-2019 - 55.7 FGA/G, 25.9 3PTA/G

The question is whether our team mean is higher and our shooting the rest of the year will push us to our historical averages or are we simply playing through a second straight year of subpar shooting.

[Jay Catsby]

Second year of subpar shooting. We’re used to having guys like Jones, Lee, Grady, JAG, Kalinoski, Sullivan, etc. We don’t have anyone on current roster than knocks down open threes like those guys did. So from that perspective, it’s a personnel issue.

I’d also make the argument that our coaching staff has had to focus practice time on other things like rebounding, defense, learning offensive schemes, etc. due to the amount of roster turnover in recent years. So less time to focus on shooting practice. This I’m afraid is not something that’s going away any time soon. But given our strengths and weaknesses, if it were up to me, our guys would spend 90% of practice time working on getting shots up in a variety of scenarios.

[ScootCat]

There’s nothing stopping the players from working on their shooting outside of practice. If they’re not, something is wrong.

[quickcat]

This is THE key for Davidson basketball. This is our 10th season in the A-10 and we've made the NCAA tourney 3 times:

2015: 3 pt shooting % 38.7, 25th in the nation
2018: 38.9, 28th
2022: 38.5, 4th (line got moved back between 18 and 22)

Given our athletic limitations noted in another thread, the Cats simply can't make the tourney in the A-10 without being lights out from 3.

I have hope for the future - Bailey, Adam, Brizzi have shot about 25% of our total 3s at a 22.9% clip. They all have good form, and with work on shooting in game situations and a big dose of confidence I don't see any reason they can't all shoot 35%+. Improvements like that, with decent to good shooting from Durkin, Skogman, and Kochera puts us right there with the best A-10 teams that are not Dayton.

Speaking of confidence, how's this: at Villanova and in 2023 Brizzi shot 40 FTs at a 77.5% clip. Since he started coming off the bench, he is 0 for 7. [In Stevelee fashion, I will leave the % calculation there as an exercise for the reader]. On the other hand, at Villanova and in 23, he shot 41 3's at a 17% clip. Since coming off the bench he's 4 for 10. So who knows?

[i77cat]

7-27 today. Driving our low percentage lower.

[Waitress]

2023-2024 - 57.1 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2022-2023 - 55.4 FGA/G, 20.8 3PTA/G
2021-2022 - 55.5 FGA/G, 22.9 3PTA/G
2020-2021 - 55.2 FGA/G, 27.0 3PTA/G
2019-2020 - 55.6 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2018-2019 - 55.7 FGA/G, 25.9 3PTA/G

Wow. FGA/G from previous 5 years so consistent it's spooky.

[catseye]

2023-2024 - 57.1 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2022-2023 - 55.4 FGA/G, 20.8 3PTA/G
2021-2022 - 55.5 FGA/G, 22.9 3PTA/G
2020-2021 - 55.2 FGA/G, 27.0 3PTA/G
2019-2020 - 55.6 FGA/G, 24.6 3PTA/G
2018-2019 - 55.7 FGA/G, 25.9 3PTA/G

Wow. FGA/G from previous 5 years so consistent it's spooky.

The way I read this is that this is that our offense is our offense. We can run it efficiently so that we convert a high percentage of our consistent number of attempts or we can convert on a lower than average percentage of these attempts and get average results.

I suppose the other alternative is to try to generate more attempts but history would seem to indicate that, however our offense and personnel changes over the years, the shot attempts remain the same.

[Dr. Bliss]

We missed so many good looks today. The offense is working as designed, we just don't put the ball through the hoop.

[DC69Wildcat]

We missed so many good looks today. The offense is working as designed, we just don't put the ball through the hoop.

Sums it up.

[Sir Walter Cat]

We missed so many good looks today. The offense is working as designed, we just don't put the ball through the hoop.

Sums it up.

This. All day long.

[i77cat]

Right. Because we can't shoot. If we could, we would.

[bagelcat]

Two take aways:

Durkin got a fantastic look at the top of the key on the first offensive possession of the game and missed.
Brizzi drove in the middle of the lane and threw a fantastic, Loyer like pass to a wide open Connor in the corner (2d half). Missed it.

As for our last possession, I still don't know what happened. I think I had a nightmare about it last night, right after the one about the math class I forgot to attend.

Many other clean looks, as Dr. Bliss said. We have to make those shots. Bailey shot above his very low average, but our two shooters did not.

Brizzi was billed as a good shooter but it hasn't happened. I still like him as a player going forward.

The overarching and somewhat unexpected positive this year was Skogman shooting the three. Oh, well.

[i77cat]

32.28%. Good for 256th. Without David Skogman, that percentage is likely to keep dropping.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-m ... eam/152/p6

[seamac77]

With the offense we have, we have no choice but to keep on chucking .

[i77cat]

La Salle has nothing. Dumpster fire. They were 4-19 on 3s tonight. Clownishly bad. We, on the other hand, were.......4-19.