Losing Chris Allen, Korie Lucious, Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and Raymar Morgan in the past year means that next year's team will rely more on our underclassmen than any year since the 2006-2007 season. That year, six of our seven leading scorers were Freshmen or Sophomores. The other was Junior Drew Neitzel, who lead the team in scoring. With the possibility of Appling and Payne moving into starting roles next year, I was interested to see how their freshmen campaigns stack up against some of the other notable Spartans of the past 10 years.
Below are the freshman stats, ordered by Mins Per Game, for some of our most important players from the past decade. I noted some of the impressive stats (and the worst FT offenders) in red.
My Takeaways:
- Perhaps the low number of minutes plays a large factor, but five of the top six in FG % are on this year's team.
- It would seem to be a good sign that Appling is Top Five in 3 pointers, but when you consider the other people in that category, it's SCARY! Summers and Hill had the two most disappointing Senior years of anyone!
- It's sad that three of the four worst FT shooters are on this year's team.
- It's concerning that Adreian Payne is the second worst in Assists to Turnover Ratio. However, seeing that Paul Davis was the worst provides some relief.
- Drew Neitzel ranked #2 in Assists despite playing the 13th highest number of minutes. It makes me have a greater appreciation for him as a floor general.
- The 01-02 Freshman class WAS the team - they accounted for over 62% of the team's scoring.
- Chris Allen and Durrell Summers really made an impact with their minutes! They were second best in Points Per Minute.
- How good do Paul Davis' and Goran Suton's free throw percentages look now?
- The player who I feel had a Freshman season closest to Appling was Kelvin Torbert or Maurice Ager. If he is going to take over the point next season, he has a lot of work to do in ball control compared to some of our other PGs.
- Adreian Payne's year wasn't that dissimilar to Derrick Nix's 2009/2010. If he gets a ton more minutes next year, he's going to have to take a big leap forward in improving his free throws and limiting his turnovers.
5 comments:
Man, next year will be interesting, won't it? I have no idea what to expect. Everybody that's returning is a question mark, as well as the four freshmen coming in.
What MUST happen over the summer:
1) Everyone stays or gets healthy.
2) Everyone plays together and develops the chemistry we need to hit the ground running.
3) Payne bulks up and learns to play defense.
4) Nix slims down.
5) EVERYONE WORKS ON THEIR FUCKING FREE THROWS.
6) Defense and rebounding become the team's calling card and major emphasis during pick-up games. Everything else is secondary.
By the way, are you hating Michigan as much as I am? Hearing that Morris shouted "Get the fuck off my court!" to Lucas after going in for that lay-up at the end of the game...grrrr I want to kick their ass so bad.
I forgot to point out - Appling had the BEST free throw percentage of anyone! Did anyone else expect that?
Wait, we lost Lucas and Summers? It's too early to focus on next season...we have a championship to win! (well, we have a few games in the B10 tourney to win to be sure to make the NCAA tourney, but after that...)
During the Michigan game, when we were on offense I was most comfortable when Appling had the ball. I've already seen a huge difference in him from the beginning of the season to now. If he keeps improving at this pace he's going to be a star for us.
Payne has been slower in his development, but he keeps showing flashes of greatness. (along with flashes of terribleness) He obviously has the physical skills, he just needs to know what to do with them. He needs to improve his basketball IQ.
They're solid players, but they have work to do if they're going to carry the load next season.
Fuck Michigan. Next time we play the Wolverines will be epic.
Appling coming in was considered an extremely strong free throw shooter.
And agree on Appling- There is definitely a level of comfort when he's in the game. Almost more than Lucas at times...which is weird. When Appling gets the ball I know he's going to run a set and try to make the best play. With Lucas I never know what he's going to do.
If Payne can just learn some defense!!! He's gotta learn switches, ball screens, etc. He's definitely a difference maker when he shows us his good side.
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