People need to relax on Cooney

[OrangeDW]

I know we all realize how important he is to the team this year, and if he doesn't come through it will hurt. But going by some of the comments I've read, it seems like many of you think that it will never happen for him. I will use two recent examples of players who struggled in their first year or two, and then became 2 of SU's best outside shooters ever, Demetris Nichols and Andy Rautins. These are their 3 point shooting numbers by season...

Nichols shot 24% on 72 attempts, 25% on 60 attempts, 36% on 201 attempts, and then 42% on 240 attempts.

Rautins shot 33% on 46 attempts, 36% on 188 attempts, 37% on 279 attempts, 41% on 241 attempts.

And what the numbers don't show is that Rautins was shooting terribly for much of his sophomore year. He started shooting the ball well towards the end of that season. I will take responsibility for writing a terrible post probably midway through his sophomore year about how he wasn't an SU level player. I learned my lesson!

Cooney shot 27% on 105 attempts. I'm willing to bet he becomes a reliable 3 point shooter at some point in his career. Hopefully this year, obviously. But I think many are jumping the gun on writing off his career after one season. Relax!

 

[TerryM]

How dare you back up conjecture with real numbers!

 

[Dacuse2013]

To be honest I think the reason Cooney shots were falling short was because there 3 point line is further back that ours. He had to get his range in order.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

Conney will be fine when it is all said an done! It amazes me how much expectations are put on these really young players! If he was coming into his JR or Sr year shooting that poorly, I could understand some concern but when a guy is coming in as a soph, people have to give him time and let him start getting his legs!

 

[jordoo]

Shooting is so strange. Gerry probably had giant brass balls and ice water in his veins playing nerf hoops when he was 6. It took Andy over 3 seasons to really come into his own as a shooter.

The Coon-Dog cometh its just a matter of time . . . . . .we must hope that time is during this season.

 

[gilardino]

well 70% of our fan base are much better players than cooney, cone on now

 

[jordoo]

well 70% of our fan base are much better players than cooney, cone on now

I beat him in darts but only once we we playing for drinks, he was cleaning my clock in practice.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Cooney doing anything in the preseason is a lose-lose proposition in the eyes of fans. If he has a bad game, the narrative is that he hasn't improved. If he has a good game, who cares? It's only the preseason. Not that it's wrong, but just something I thought needed to be pointed out.

For the record, I think he'll be fine. It's way, way too early to just throw up your hands and give up on him ever doing anything.

 

[Cusefan0307]

100 percent agree with this post...cannot make conclusions off of 9 missed shots in a game in the summer...he made his last 4 anyhow...way to small of a sample size...Let's see what the next 3 games bring.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Relax? I don't think so. Most of the people who are concerned about Cooney are concerned about him for this year. And he did nothing to alleviate those concerns with that stinker. The idea that we can hope for a sophomore Nichols or sophomore Rautins type is not what we're looking for in the '13-'14 otherwise loaded squad.

The article by Waters in April suggested that Cooney- play, play, play. But where was Cooney for the the KoK or the Estonia trip? I think the leash is going to get shorter and shorter with TC. Good player until the lights go on. Puts JB in a tough spot when you can't guage a player by how they practice.

I think I would rather roll with a frosh Moten, CJ, or MCW than a soph Nichols or Rautins.

 

[StopCoolio]

Those numbers aren’t wrong at all, but Trevor isn’t in a vacuum either. He has BJ(could play the 3 but look at the depth chart there, not easy) and Patterson below him and Gbinije is in the same class(and Tyler/Kaleb Joseph have/will have the point). By most accounts, we are trying to bring in a stud 2 guard(Malachi?) in 2015, which would be his senior year. We can’t sit here and act like we’re going to shuffle a half a dozen guards in and out when the bullets start flying, so someone is going to get squeezed out of PT.

I’m not saying that TC isn’t going to be good here or that because he airballed a three yesterday means that he is destined to not play, but:
-There’s only so many minutes to go around and he can’t play the point or the three.
-We are going to continue to recruit the most elite level players we can every year and probably will succeed more often than not(a luxury we didn’t always have pre Melo Center).
-IMO, his peers bring more to the table in the non-shooting departments.

There are also more parallels than just the success stories. Look at Mookie. Came in with James, was already behind Andy and Devo, I believe. Next year we recruit Triche. Year after that, Waiters. Then Cooney. The timeframe is only 4-5 years and sometimes guys just don’t get their chance.

I like Trevor and he’s an important piece of the puzzle this year and beyond. He could knock down seven threes tonight and this post will seem laughable. The staff is giving him every chance to prove himself, it sounds like he is a great practice player, which is a great sign, but the timeframe isn’t infinite either. The time for him to make his case for minutes is this season and the same goes for all the guards.

 

[jgeorge322]

im fairly certain cooney is the one who needs to relax.

 

[iommi]

im fairly certain cooney is the one who needs to relax.

I was going to type same thing, almost verbatim. Kid is more nervous in the pants than TerryM.

 

[newmexicuse]

Andy and DNic had great form on their shots from the beginning, and you knew success for them was inevitable.

I did not see the game last night, so my comment is from what I saw last season, and my comment is that Trevor has issues with his form, which needs to be corrected, before we even get to the point of worrying about confidence and the other nuances that make some body a good to great shooter.

 

[iommi]

Andy and DNic had great form on their shots from the beginning, and you knew success for them was inevitable.

I did not see the game last night, so my comment is from what I saw last season, and my comment is that Trevor has issues with his form, which needs to be corrected, before we even get to the point of worrying about confidence and the other nuances that make some body a good to great shooter.

Scoop had really poor and unorthodox form on his jumper but somehow he made it work (especially by his senior year). That is atypical though.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Cooney doing anything in the preseason is a lose-lose proposition in the eyes of fans. If he has a bad game, the narrative is that he hasn't improved. If he has a good game, who cares? It's only the preseason. Not that it's wrong, but just something I thought needed to be pointed out.

For the record, I think he'll be fine. It's way, way too early to just throw up your hands and give up on him ever doing anything.

I disagree. If he went 9 for 9, this place would be gushing. People were hoping for a change, for hope. Even with this small sample people would have eaten it up and claimed major changes took place.

And it's not just the preseason, he was not starting sg material all of last year. Walk before you can run and he isn't walking yet. Are you trying to suggest it's okay if he gets a little tense in front of the 900 Canadians, that you're confident he'll put that behind him once he gets in front of 50k insane people at the Dome?

And why say forever? Who here is talking about '15-'16? Most people are focused on the '13-'14 squad at this point. Do you really think, it's okay if he stinks again this year because he may be Rautins-like in '15-'16?

 

[bevosu]

Form...anybody here remember Dick Barnett? Form can be overrated.

 

[rrlbees]

Fans every year seem to need a whipping boy.


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[M2MPrinciples]

I disagree. If he went 9 for 9, this place would be gushing. People were hoping for a change, for hope. Even with this small sample people would have eaten it up and claimed major changes took place.

And it's not just the preseason, he was not starting sg material all of last year. Walk before you can run and he isn't walking yet. Are you trying to suggest it's okay if he gets a little tense in front of the 900 Canadians, that you're confident he'll put that behind him once he gets in front of 50k insane people at the Dome?

And why say forever? Who here is talking about '15-'16? Most people are focused on the '13-'14 squad at this point. Do you really think, it's okay if he stinks again this year because he may be Rautins-like in '15-'16?

I'm saying that in the grand scheme of things, exhibitions aren't always predictive of what will happen in the regular season. Remember James Southerland's first two years? This is just me, but I can tell you right now that I won't be markedly more or less hopeful about Cooney by the end of the week, whether he goes 16-19 over the remaining games in Canada or if he goes 2-15. Sure, I'll be happy for him, but in the grand scheme it won't move the needle too much.

Don't get me wrong, I love that we get a chance to watch hoops in August, but it's important to not read too much into these games.

 

[MikeSU02]

The difference is how much we relied on those guys. Cooney is looking at being a starter in game 1 of his RS soph year.

I think it will click for him, I just don't know when. I'm not terribly nervous because this team is going as far as CJ, Tyler Ennis and Grant take us.

I'm not worried about Cooney. Either he will get it together and help us out or he'll be downgraded on the depth chart. We've come a long way from the days of the James Thues/Greg Davis recruiting classes.

 

[bevosu]

I'm saying that in the grand scheme of things, exhibitions aren't always predictive of what will happen in the regular season. Remember James Southerland's first two years? This is just me, but I can tell you right now that I won't be markedly more or less hopeful about Cooney by the end of the week, whether he goes 16-19 over the remaining games in Canada or if he goes 2-15. Sure, I'll be happy for him, but in the grand scheme it won't move the needle too much.

Don't get me wrong, I love that we get a chance to watch hoops in August, but it's important to not read too much into these games.

If Carleton beats us you'll probably to see a lot of foggy crystal ball season predictions. It'll be like that LeMoyne season never happened. Makes for interesting reading though.

I agree early season games and performances, especially exhibitions, really aren't great predictors of how a season plays out.

 

[GonzoInMD]

I'd like to see how he does in an air-conditioned arena without sweaty fingers and wet basketball before I pass any judgments.

 

[SoBeCuse]

I will wait to see how he finishes this pre-season. If continues to struggle then next man up. He may put it together and he may not. Nothing wrong with speculating.

 

[iommi]

Fans every year seem to need a whipping boy.


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I think that's true and there are some fans that relish guys not doing well so they can chirp about it. In Cooney's case, I think people genuinely want the kid to succeed. Most people (myself included) are frustrated because of the practice reports. It sounds like he's a phenomenal shooter in practice. When that doesn't translate to games, there is a warranted frustration there because it's obviously mental and not for a lack of effort or ability.

The kid needs to lose the mentality that his worth is tied to being the team's designated gunner. He already is an asset on defense. If he could work on bringing some diversity to his game, he'd be a lot better off. As tee said in another thread, go to the basket to get of the schnide (sp?) and THEN look for his three pointers.

 

[djcon57]

Conney will be fine when it is all said an done! It amazes me how much expectations are put on these really young players! If he was coming into his JR or Sr year shooting that poorly, I could understand some concern but when a guy is coming in as a soph, people have to give him time and let him start getting his legs!

Young players? Yikes.
He's a RS Soph.
In this era of college basketball, freshman and soph are usually the best players.