Justice Winslow, Freshman Wall & Chris McCullough

[Henny & Coke]

ESPN article mentioned Justice Winslow hitting the "Freshman Wall" and how he's done since...made me curious to see how his season has gone. Think stats tell pretty interesting story...

Justice Winslow first 5 games: 28.0 mpg, 15.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.6 tpg
Duke record over this stretch: 5-0

Justice Winslow next 15 games: 26.7 mpg, 9.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.6 tpg
Duke record over this stretch: 12-3

Justice Winslow last 4 games: 32.8 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.0 tpg
Duke record over this stretch: 4-0

To me, it's interesting to see just how streaky even the top level Freshmen can be.

Now, compare this with what we saw from our own top level Freshman, Chris McCullough:

1st 8 games: 34.5 mpg, 14.4 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.4 asp, 1.9 spg, 2.4 bpg, 2.6 tpg

2nd 8 games: 21.8 mpg, 4.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.9 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.8 bpg, 1.8 tpg

Now, assuming that Chris did not suffer his injury, and assuming that his play the 2nd 8 games was more indicative of him hitting a "Freshman Wall" than anything else, which would allow for the possibility that he would have bounced back at some point this season, similar to Winslow...

What would our record / season look like right now if we had McCullough, playing more like he was in the 1st 8 games of this year?

I have a feeling it would make a pretty big impact, especially now since Mike G has taken his game to a new level (wasn't happening during McCullough's "good" stretch of games - thus, we were never really firing on all cylinders)...

 

[STEVEHOLT]

The wall is something that might be attributed to fatigue and the stresses of both game and practice energy expenditures at the college level. I think its more likely to do with scouting and teams figuring out what your tendencies are and what you like and dont like to do. Opposing coaches are pretty good at taking away things from talented opponents and forcing them into uncomfortable positions. I believe Chris was in that time period where he was working on answers to the strategies that were tailored to take him out of his game.

 

[Henny & Coke]

The wall is something that might be attributed to fatigue and the stresses of both game and practice energy expenditures at the college level. I think its more likely to do with scouting and teams figuring out what your tendencies are and what you like and dont like to do. Opposing coaches are pretty good at taking away things from talented opponents and forcing them into uncomfortable positions. I believe Chris was in that time period where he was working on answers to the strategies that were tailored to take him out of his game.

That's interesting & I tend to agree. Agree with fact that the wall occurs because opposing teams start to game plan for you & try to stop what you are doing successfully.

But what about when we see a "bounce-back" of sorts? Is that the player re-adjusting to the opposing teams defensive strategies against him & taking back control of the situation? Because in Winslow's last 4 games he's played pretty darn well...and seems to be "over the wall" now?

 

[two3zone]

Too small of a sample size for McCullough. Wasn't a wall as much as a slump. Nobody hits a wall after 8 games.