Again, I didn't see the game last night, so this next comment is based on past performance. One of the things that I don't understand about our offense, and maybe
Coach Orange can explain it a little better, is why we set up Cooney for such tough shots. Many times when he receives the ball, he is coming screaming off of a pic from underneath, and his momentum can only take him away from the hoop/three point line, etc. Need to find better ways to get him stepping into the shot and not away from it.
Shooters can get shots in several ways. Some work better for some players, others work better for others. Some shooters, like Reggie Miller or Rip Hamilton, work better off of baseline (sometimes called "Power") screens. Dirk Nowitzki is an example of a player that finds shots by popping off of setting ball screens. Still, others work best off of fade screens, spotting up in transition or on post-ups, or dribbling off of ball screens when their defender goes under the screen.
That said, Boeheim's half-court offense, which is series of set plays in the mold of NBA offenses, has featured baseline screens as a way of getting the ball into his best players' hands for several years now. This is a common way to begin offense--many teams initiate half court sets with wings popping off of screens to the free-throw-line-extended. Boeheim often uses the "single-double version" of this. In this play, one player is designated as the cutter. This player starts on the baseline and then has the choice--depending on how his defender plays him--to come off the single-post screen on one side or the double screen on the other. The double is often the opposite wing and the other post player.
For example, if Cooney is the cutter (which would be our "2" play), he would run choose whether to come off the single (possibly set by Christmas or BMK) on one block or the double (Grant and Fair) on the other block.
Cooney gets some good looks in the offense off of that play. It is important to note that Cooney also gets some solid shots in transition (when we get transition opportunities), and he spots up on post ups and dribble drives, which occasionally get him solid shots.
Unfortunately, he has missed several of these opportunities in conference play outside of the Notre Dame game. In addition, he forces shots at times that aren't really "good" in terms of the flow of the offense. My guess is that, when he has been told that he is the first option on a play, he feels like he has to shoot it. This is probably compounded by knowing he is the only "shooter" the team has.
Furthermore, earlier in the year, the team ran a play that got him several looks at the top of the key. It was a screen-the-screener action where Cooney set a screen for one of the bigs, and the other big set a screen right away for him. He made a good number of shots off of the action in this set. For some reason, that play has disappeared from the offense. Pulling it back out might help get him some good looks.
There are other ways to get him more clean looks within the offense, but that is a different post.
