I believe that one of the most important things a team (and player) can do to help itself is have good shot selection and take good shots that have a high percentage of going in. Teaching shot selection is so important for a team and coach to be successful.
My example of this is Arizona State. Their shot selection against us was terrible, just terrible, especially as the game started to get away from them. Possession after possession, as the lead expanded, would end with a A-State player taking one dribble and with a Purdue player all over him try to shoot a tough fade-away15 or 17 footer. I watched that thinking they have no chance, none, to win this game taking shots like that, and their coach Bobby Hurley, all while announcer Jay Bilas continued to verbally kiss Hurley's ass, seemed to do nothing to stop it. When he was interviewed at the half or we listened in at the huddle, all he talked about was hustle and effort (which A-State also sucked at once the game got away), but still, why wasn't he screaming to his team to work a little offense and pass and pick away and get some movement, and maybe, must maybe, take some shots that had a 50% chance of going in. But from what I saw, he never dealt with shot selection to his team.
Now to Carsen, I, like all of you, love his potential, but the reality is that he takes a lot of shots when he's in the game, and I think a lot of them are just plain bad shots. I am also surprised that Painter allows him to continue to shoot so often. I love his defense, and I think he is a great offensive weapon, but a weapon that needs to be controlled. I think his "wired to score" mentality as Painter quoted and Bilas repeats over and over hurts Purdue, and I'm afraid it will hurt us in the future when game get tougher and possessions become more important.
Now let me try to deal with two arguments that people are about to throw back at me.
Some people will say to me, "Players with a scorer's mentality have to be allowed to take and miss shots.You don't want to hurt a player's, especially a gifted scorer's, ability to affect the game by putting restrictions on him." There is some truth to that and, to a point I agree. But in the two games we have lost this year, Carsen had terrible shooting games, and because of his misses and lost possessions, you could argue that is why we lost both games. Against Villanova, he was 1 for 8 in a three point loss, ouch. Obviously, that was a huge factor in that outcome. Against Louisville, he was 4 for 15, 15 shots from a freshman when we have so many weapons, in a 7-point loss that was closer than that. I want him playing in those games, but I don't want him taking that many shots and not so quickly without looking at other options first.
Now some people will say, "You have to let a talented freshman play and you have to let him play through his mistakes, even if that might cost you a few early games. It will pay off later." My argument to that is that early games count towards NCAA seedings, so we can't just throw those away and wait for Carsen to get better, The games now count and are important. I would argue that if Purdue had been seeded, just one seed, higher in each of the last two NCAA tournaments, it would have been playing that weekend instead of losing in the first round. Losing to teams like North Florida and whatever that other team was back then matter. We can't just throw games away waiting while we play through the mistakes of an over-aggressive scorer, when he needs is an little better understanding of shot selection.
I like Carsen; I want him playing a bunch, but Painter has to get across to him the importance and understanding of what is a good shot, and I think we can't afford to wait with the Crossroads Saturday and the Big Ten season coming.
My example of this is Arizona State. Their shot selection against us was terrible, just terrible, especially as the game started to get away from them. Possession after possession, as the lead expanded, would end with a A-State player taking one dribble and with a Purdue player all over him try to shoot a tough fade-away15 or 17 footer. I watched that thinking they have no chance, none, to win this game taking shots like that, and their coach Bobby Hurley, all while announcer Jay Bilas continued to verbally kiss Hurley's ass, seemed to do nothing to stop it. When he was interviewed at the half or we listened in at the huddle, all he talked about was hustle and effort (which A-State also sucked at once the game got away), but still, why wasn't he screaming to his team to work a little offense and pass and pick away and get some movement, and maybe, must maybe, take some shots that had a 50% chance of going in. But from what I saw, he never dealt with shot selection to his team.
Now to Carsen, I, like all of you, love his potential, but the reality is that he takes a lot of shots when he's in the game, and I think a lot of them are just plain bad shots. I am also surprised that Painter allows him to continue to shoot so often. I love his defense, and I think he is a great offensive weapon, but a weapon that needs to be controlled. I think his "wired to score" mentality as Painter quoted and Bilas repeats over and over hurts Purdue, and I'm afraid it will hurt us in the future when game get tougher and possessions become more important.
Now let me try to deal with two arguments that people are about to throw back at me.
Some people will say to me, "Players with a scorer's mentality have to be allowed to take and miss shots.You don't want to hurt a player's, especially a gifted scorer's, ability to affect the game by putting restrictions on him." There is some truth to that and, to a point I agree. But in the two games we have lost this year, Carsen had terrible shooting games, and because of his misses and lost possessions, you could argue that is why we lost both games. Against Villanova, he was 1 for 8 in a three point loss, ouch. Obviously, that was a huge factor in that outcome. Against Louisville, he was 4 for 15, 15 shots from a freshman when we have so many weapons, in a 7-point loss that was closer than that. I want him playing in those games, but I don't want him taking that many shots and not so quickly without looking at other options first.
Now some people will say, "You have to let a talented freshman play and you have to let him play through his mistakes, even if that might cost you a few early games. It will pay off later." My argument to that is that early games count towards NCAA seedings, so we can't just throw those away and wait for Carsen to get better, The games now count and are important. I would argue that if Purdue had been seeded, just one seed, higher in each of the last two NCAA tournaments, it would have been playing that weekend instead of losing in the first round. Losing to teams like North Florida and whatever that other team was back then matter. We can't just throw games away waiting while we play through the mistakes of an over-aggressive scorer, when he needs is an little better understanding of shot selection.
I like Carsen; I want him playing a bunch, but Painter has to get across to him the importance and understanding of what is a good shot, and I think we can't afford to wait with the Crossroads Saturday and the Big Ten season coming.
