People who've posted on the board awhile remember that back when I used to live in Syracuse, I used to attend practices regularly, and would often report on the observations here.
In the 2003 timeframe -- national championship team -- we had two walkons named Ronneil Herron and Andrew Kouwe, who were great shooters. Not good, great.
In practice, they were often mixed in with the scholarship players, and the result of set plays often would end with one or the other of those two getting a shot, which they invariably made more than they missed. Not exaggerating -- if you just watched a single practice with no other context on the players, you might come away with the impression that those players should somehow get PT. Meanwhile, they weren't good enough athletes, defenders, etc. to warrant that. But man, could they shoot.
I love the post above. I love when people share their first-hand observations from practice, because there's a lot that can be gleaned from it. But you also have to take things with a grain of salt.
Unlike Kouwe / Herron, Cuffe certainly has the requisite athletic ability -- and then some. Problem is, he's a 'tweener. He's too short to play the 2 [his natural position], but lacks the playmaking capabilities to adequately man the 1 -- which is the position his size is best suited for. And I think that contention is what hampers him in games. I'd expect that in practice, he's more comfortable and there's less pressure about making mistakes, so he cuts loose and performs better than in games.
Encouraging to hear that he's playing well in practice, because the ability is there -- it just hasn't translated over to games for the most part. Largely, because he's a 5-11 shooting guard.
