If I could...

[manleyzoo]

I would literally beg Cooney to stop shooting. Literally beg. I swear, and I know this is sacrilege, but he's got McNamara disease, he thinks if he can get a peek at the hoop, no matter whether he's off balance or where he is on the court, he can make it. Guess what, he can't. He can't.

Boeheim hasn't done him any favors all year, defending his play no matter what, contending he's been guarded tough, blah, blah. Everyone is guarded tough. Cooney sometimes can shoot when no one is around him, he gets his feet set and he has time. Occasionally he breaks through to hit a shot when he's guarded. But that's not his norm. 4 - 14 is his top end. I find myself literally begging him to do a shot fake, step inside and shoot a 15-footer. But no, then I remember he's Cooney and he can't do it.

 

[Shawn91111]

He had some selfish shots today, and his running the fast break makes me shake my head a lot

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I would literally beg Cooney to stop shooting. Literally beg. I swear, and I know this is sacrilege, but he's got McNamara disease, he thinks if he can get a peek at the hoop, no matter whether he's off balance or where he is on the court, he can make it. Guess what, he can't. He can't.

Boeheim hasn't done him any favors all year, defending his play no matter what, contending he's been guarded tough, blah, blah. Everyone is guarded tough. Cooney sometimes can shoot when no one is around him, he gets his feet set and he has time. Occasionally he breaks through to hit a shot when he's guarded. But that's not his norm. 4 - 14 is his top end. I find myself literally begging him to do a shot fake, step inside and shoot a 15-footer. But no, then I remember he's Cooney and he can't do it.

He's been really tough to watch lately. Dribbles into 3 men on a fast break, shoots stupid shots. And his defense, while better today, is pretty bad. The only thing he does well on defense is steal passes. Great, but he gives up too many shots.

 

[iommi]

My beefs with Cooney are selection, shot preparation and a lack of fast break fundamentals. He never gets his feet under him when trying a layup; he just flails toward the basket and hopes for a call. He's also oddly selfish on three on twos and three on ones...never makes a pass that leads to the easy basket when we have an advantage in transition.

 

[supp]

He might be averaging 16/game in conference but he's shooting 35% and 32%. Not very efficient. And these numbers are against the dregs mostly. It likely won't get better going forward.

He's a good college player but not at this level. He'll go off on some teams, for sure, but in the same way that a T.J. Sorrentine went off on us (I know! Sacrilege!). He's a star at the mid-major level and a less than average player at this level. That's the reality of it.

 

[jdubs30]

Honestly I didn't have too many problem with his jumpshots today. He was horrible in transition. The thing with him is, he completely occupies at least 1 defender; if he goes 0/12 he'll still have 1 guy attached to him for 40 minutes. With how bad our O is, we need that. I'm ok with him shooting 12-14 tiems a game, even if some of them are awful. He might be the only player we have who won't have his defender leave him to double Rak. If he keeps the ball in his pocket the whole game and doesn't shoot, they'll be more likely stray.

 

[tbonezone]

11 points on 14 shots. once again he's under a buck a pop.

 

[jdubs30]

He might be averaging 16/game in conference but he's shooting 35% and 32%. Not very efficient. And these numbers are against the dregs mostly. It likely won't get better going forward.

He's a good college player but not at this level. He'll go off on some teams, for sure, but in the same way that a T.J. Sorrentine went off on us (I know! Sacrilege!). He's a star at the mid-major level and a less than average player at this level. That's the reality of it.

He's a good college player who's being asked to do more than he should. At most he's a 3pt specialist who can come off the bench and keep defenses honest. Because of how our team is right now, he's beign asked to do way more than he should. He's a high D1 player, but he's not a top 3 scoring option on a perenial top 25 team.

 

[Carolinasu]

He might be averaging 16/game in conference but he's shooting 35% and 32%. Not very efficient. And these numbers are against the dregs mostly. It likely won't get better going forward.

He's a good college player but not at this level. He'll go off on some teams, for sure, but in the same way that a T.J. Sorrentine went off on us (I know! Sacrilege!). He's a star at the mid-major level and a less than average player at this level. That's the reality of it.

LESS THAN AVERAGE??? If they had someone behind him so he could play maybe 32 minutes as opposed to 40 per night I think he would be much better off. Calling him below average is absurd.

 

[supp]

LESS THEM AVERAGE??? If they had someone behind him so he could play maybe 32 minutes as opposed to 40 per night I think he would be much better off. Calling him below average is absurd.

OVERRATED?! How dare I?

 

[Carolinasu]

OVERRATED?! How dare I?

They wouldn't win ten games without him. Not ten.

 

[Madbiker]

I cringe whenever he gets a transition situation unless he can dunk. He rarely finishes a layup.

 

[dasher]

He might be averaging 16/game in conference but he's shooting 35% and 32%. Not very efficient. And these numbers are against the dregs mostly. It likely won't get better going forward.

He's a good college player but not at this level. He'll go off on some teams, for sure, but in the same way that a T.J. Sorrentine went off on us (I know! Sacrilege!). He's a star at the mid-major level and a less than average player at this level. That's the reality of it.

God what a bad post. He plays 40 minutes a game on a team with very few options. Thank God he is here. We would have trouble scoring 40 pts a game without him.

 

[manleyzoo]

Bad post? Really? This team has enough options and would have more if one guy would stop taking sooooo many lousy shots and actually do what he can and not try to do more than he's capable of doing. What a concept! Actually playing within your abilities...What this team needs to create more offensive options is a better judgement from a player in his fourth year in the program, whose huge limitations show up nearly every game. The excuses are there...He's tired, aw poor baby. He's guarded. Aw, poor baby. The 40 minutes argument is bunk, just as the he occupies the defense so other guys can score argument. It's old and its wrong. And it doesn't help the player at all. As for the 40 pts. argument...doesn't even deserve a response it's so wrong.

 

[Carolinasu]

Bad post? Really? This team has enough options and would have more if one guy would stop taking sooooo many lousy shots and actually do what he can and not try to do more than he's capable of doing. What a concept! Actually playing within your abilities...What this team needs to create more offensive options is a better judgement from a player in his fourth year in the program, whose huge limitations show up nearly every game. The excuses are there...He's tired, aw poor baby. He's guarded. Aw, poor baby. The 40 minutes argument is bunk, just as the he occupies the defense so other guys can score argument. It's old and its wrong. And it doesn't help the player at all. As for the 40 pts. argument...doesn't even deserve a response it's so wrong.

When was the last time you checked Patterson and Bj's stats? That is the other options. We are lucky to have Cooney and that 40 point prediction might not be as far fetched as you think.

 

[kuethstheman]

He doesn't shoot, we lose. He shoots a lot and misses, we lose. He shoots a lot and makes, we win.

Pretty simple, really.

 

[kjb120]

God what a bad post. He plays 40 minutes a game on a team with very few options. Thank God he is here. We would have trouble scoring 40 pts a game without him.

That's fine, but I don't think that should give him free reign to take horrible shots or be selfish on the break. And to be fair if Rak or G weren't on this team we would also have trouble scoring 40 points. I think we are giving Cooney a little too much credit, A team with an athletic wing can pretty much take Cooney out of the game and force him to take off balance threes. Cooney also does not create for teammates the way past high volume shooters like McNamara were able to do.

 

[PoppyHart]

This is a major reason why I think next year is going to be worse. He's a volume shooter but not a volume maker.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Bad post? Really? This team has enough options and would have more if one guy would stop taking sooooo many lousy shots and actually do what he can and not try to do more than he's capable of doing. What a concept! Actually playing within your abilities...What this team needs to create more offensive options is a better judgement from a player in his fourth year in the program, whose huge limitations show up nearly every game. The excuses are there...He's tired, aw poor baby. He's guarded. Aw, poor baby. The 40 minutes argument is bunk, just as the he occupies the defense so other guys can score argument. It's old and its wrong. And it doesn't help the player at all. As for the 40 pts. argument...doesn't even deserve a response it's so wrong.

So coach K, living legend, he of 1000+ wins, 2 Olympic golds, multiple nstional championships and final fours, decides to take his best defender and use him to face guard Cooney, with instructions to not help on defense, because Cooney stinks?
You really should learn more about basketball before posting again, because you obviously
really don't understand basketball.

 

[Quazzum69]

So coach K, living legend, he of 1000+ wins, 2 Olympic golds, multiple nstional championships and final fours, decides to take his best defender and use him to face guard Cooney, with instructions to not help on defense, because Cooney stinks?
You really should learn more about basketball before posting again, because you obviously
really don't understand basketball.

He knows that if Cooney is open he is deadly. You never want to leave a team's best shooter open (I'm not an Olympic champion, but even I know that).

Cooney with a good defender is just bad. Bad shots, can't drive, can't pass. If you shut down Cooney, that leaves 2 guys (Gbinije and Christmas) to score 50+ plus to beat you.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

He might be averaging 16/game in conference but he's shooting 35% and 32%. Not very efficient. And these numbers are against the dregs mostly. It likely won't get better going forward.

He's a good college player but not at this level. He'll go off on some teams, for sure, but in the same way that a T.J. Sorrentine went off on us (I know! Sacrilege!). He's a star at the mid-major level and a less than average player at this level. That's the reality of it.

Sorrentine went 5-20 that game, so your example is basically saying he should be a Cooney. Coach Brennan was on the radio a week or so ago and said he had been 1-11 or something like that from 3 before he hit the 30 footer.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=254000036

If you had used Germain, I likely would have let it slide.

 

[tbonezone]

This is a major reason why I think next year is going to be worse. He's a volume shooter but not a volume maker.

R-Freshman yr : 32 % fg , .91 pts per shot
Soph yr : 40 % fg , 1.24 pts per shot
Junior yr : 37 % fg 1.16 pts per shot

avg.: 36%, 1.09 pps

and just for comparison the much maligned and oft benched Kjoseph #'s
FR : 41 %fg , 1.1 pps

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

R-Freshman yr : 32 % fg , .91 pts per shot
Soph yr : 40 % fg , 1.24 pts per shot
Junior yr : 37 % fg 1.16 pts per shot

avg.: 36%, 1.09 pps

and just for comparison the much maligned and oft benched Kjoseph #'s
FR : 41 %fg , 1.1 pps

Well, if the other team would leave Cooney all alone to shot from 15 feet, I think he could manage that %.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The only real upside to Cooney's volume shooting is that it really helps boost Roberson's offensive rebound numbers.

 

[MikeSU02]

So coach K, living legend, he of 1000+ wins, 2 Olympic golds, multiple nstional championships and final fours, decides to take his best defender and use him to face guard Cooney, with instructions to not help on defense, because Cooney stinks?
You really should learn more about basketball before posting again, because you obviously
really don't understand basketball.

Duke was happy to switch all night long.

What you are saying isn't true. Duke plays tight m2m and was even extending on G and KJ.