Some impressive shooting percentages...

[Jake]

Holy crap, he was hitting the side of the backboard and tossing up airballs in the carrier dome last year.

He's now shooting 50% in all games this year and we still have people marginalizing his improvement.

 

[JOC44]

I like what Rak brings in terms of athleticism in challenging shots underneath. But there's a reason that Keita has an INSANE plus-minus most games. Keita is so lucky that he always comes in right about when the other team is about to stop scoring.

 

[jordoo]

But if it was a weakness last year, and we don't have data that it is yet corrected, shouldn't we at least consider it a question mark?

I think his current year away from the dome % of 41 is good. But as alluded to earlier I think that figure is currently pretty soft, consisting of the forgiving rims at Maui and the less than hostile confines of MSG. I hope he can maintain the 41%.

And as I tried to explain to SUSScuse, if Cooney is able to maintain the away percentage, just having so many more away games in the mix will dilute his overall percentage. Instead of a third of the games away from the dome, at least half the remaining games will be away from the dome.

I am saying that shooting 8in general was a weakness for him last year everywhere. He is a different shooter this year and I expect he will be on the road just like he's been at home. My point was just lets get a bigger road sample than 0-2 or 0-3 whatever it was in hi9s one road game because none of his stats from last year are really viable IMO compared to this.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

"And so far this has not improved this year - he is 0% this year (0-3 at MSG)."

So one "official" away game is a trend to make a statement about this year? Hmm. If your point is about shooting competency in different venues, then you should be counting the Maui games - if your point is just to be negative or critical - then I get it.

The St John's game was on a Sunday our only one to date - maybe that's the actual critical factor- not that it was an official away game. I have to give credit where credit is due though -that had to be hard work to restrict your argument to his worst game and find a way to work the stats to choose Cooney to criticize for a lack of improvement over last year. Very inventive.

Actually it wasn't the one "official" away game that made the statement, there was all of last year included in the 19% figure. The one was that it has not been established that it has changed.

Although my real fear is away from the dome, I initially highlighted "away" games because I didn't want to include the loose rims of Maui. Even when those were put in there was still a significant difference.

Not every player has to be the best ever. Not every record has to be broken. And yet the team can still be very good.

 

[jordoo]

I like what Rak brings in terms of athleticism in challenging shots underneath. But there's a reason that Keita has an INSANE plus-minus most games. Keita is so lucky that he always comes in right about when the other team is about to stop scoring.

Its cause JB likes him and waits until he knows we are about to play shut down D then puts Baye in.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I am saying that shooting 8in general was a weakness for him last year everywhere. He is a different shooter this year and I expect he will be on the road just like he's been at home. My point was just lets get a bigger road sample than 0-2 or 0-3 whatever it was in hi9s one road game because none of his stats from last year are really viable IMO compared to this.

Okay, maybe I should rephrase it for SSUScuse. The reason Cooney may not sustain his current pace is that the remaining schedule of SU games will include a larger percentage of games away from the dome. And most shooters, shoot a higher percentage at home than away from home.

 

[rrlbees]

Okay, maybe I should rephrase it for SSUScuse. The reason Cooney may not sustain his current pace is that the remaining schedule of SU games will include a larger percentage of games away from the dome. And most shooters, shoot a higher percentage at home than away from home.

Guess what? Most people don't expect him to stay at 50%, I know I don't. And yes a lot of players shoot worse on the road...usually. But what you say here isn't close to what you said here originally with the same intent.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Guess what? Most people don't expect him to stay at 50%, I know I don't. And yes a lot of players shoot worse on the road...usually. But what you say here isn't close to what you said here originally with the same intent.

My response was to SSUScuse who did think he was going to keep the 50% pace. I don't expect it and I gave my reasoning.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Holy crap, he was hitting the side of the backboard and tossing up airballs in the carrier dome last year.

He's now shooting 50% in all games this year and we still have people marginalizing his improvement.

Only one that I see.

 

[SUSScuse]

I was going by the technical definition of away games.

His away from the dome numbers this year are 11/27 (41%), which includes the Maui rims but not the Canada games. He is 30/54 (56%)at home. Great numbers but a significant difference.

SUSScuse didn't see any reason Cooney wouldn't keep this pace because the competition would be similar to what he has seen so far. I was pointing out that the venue may play a big role.

I'm counting on the road games helping him this year but I understand the numbers could go down on the road.
Just one poor shooting game from him and the board will be back with the shakey potatoes comparisons.
I'd rather believe that he can have a bad game and come back and make five threes in the next game. I've come to expect it.

 

[Knicks411]

Players generally shoot worse on the road than at home, but if Trevor really is a true talent say 45% shooter from 3 in his home games, he's not going to be much worse than like 35% (which is probably on the low end) on the road.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Players generally shoot worse on the road than at home, but if Trevor really is a true talent say 45% shooter from 3 in his home games, he's not going to be much worse than like 35% (which is probably on the low end) on the road.

It would be interesting to know what the average difference is. And if there is a difference between neutral and away.

IMO, in order for Cooney to maintain the gaudy numbers he currently has, he would actually have to improve.

I also believe his biggest obstacle is not as much the level of competition but the challenge of the different venues and environments.

 

[sufandu]

But if it was a weakness last year, and we don't have data that it is yet corrected, shouldn't we at least consider it a question mark?
What was the breakdown of his home-vs-away numbers last year. He was so bad in both cases that we can use the improvement from one should lead us to believe similar improvement is likely for the other. As someone else said, no one shoots as well away from home so we shouldn't be surprised if it's a little worse, but will certainly show significant improvement.

I think his current year away from the dome % of 41 is good. But as alluded to earlier I think that figure is currently pretty soft, consisting of the forgiving rims at Maui and the less than hostile confines of MSG. I hope he can maintain the 41%.
I'm not buying the soft rims argument. Most made 3's don't bounce on the rim before going in. If you can give numbers for how many of his makes hit rim before going in, it might fly.

And as I tried to explain to SUSScuse, if Cooney is able to maintain the away percentage, just having so many more away games in the mix will dilute his overall percentage. Instead of a third of the games away from the dome, at least half the remaining games will be away from the dome.

An aside not directed specifically at you, why is Cooney the most criticized player on this team. He wasn't an elite ranked player. He doesn't shoot his mouth off and hype himself up. Is it because he's a white "shooter" and everyone expected the next GMac? If that's the case, that's not fair to him. GMac didn't have those expectations to live up to, why should he?

 

[Cusefan0307]

The guys got 38 points in the last two games on 11-15 shooting. Those numbers are ridiculous!!! We have never had anyone have a stretch of games this efficient. Not Andy, not Gmac, not devo, not Waitors. Someone said after St. Johns he wouldn't average 10 ppg for the rest of the season. Marginalize all you want. I know we won't here from some of you again until he goes 3-8 against Pitt.

 

[rrlbees]

An aside not directed specifically at you, why is Cooney the most criticized player on this team. He was an elite ranked player. He doesn't shoot his mouth off and hype himself up. Is it because he's a white "shooter" and everyone expected the next GMac? If that's the case, that's not fair to him. GMac didn't have those expectations to live up to, why should he?

Some people want him to fail because they predicted preseason he was not good enough to start or really contribute. They'd rather be right than him succeed and contribute to SU victories.

 

[Oakland]

Cooney is currently shooting 49% from the field, 51% from 3, and 89% from the line. If he maintains this pace, this would have to go down as the most efficient shooting season for any player in the Boeheim era that I am aware of.

The NBA has an exclusive "50-40-90" club with guys who had those averages over a season with a minimum number of attempts: they are Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash, Dirk and Durant. Obviously it's much harder to do over an 82 game season - I'm just saying its a very impressive statistical feat.

Also, Rak is very quietly shooting 75% from the field.

It seemed that TC was making more difficult shots in the Nova game than he normally does.

 

[br801]

But there is a reason - it's called away games. He is currently at 19% careerwise in away games.

And so far this has not improved this year - he is 0% this year (0-3 at MSG). And while not included in the numbers, he was nothing special up in Canada (around 30% I believe).

Cooney has shown tremendous improvement. The next needed step in his progression is to step up in away environments.

Your points about true road games are valid, but we're talking about small sample sizes this season and last.

It would be folly to expect Cooney to continue shooting at this clip over the course of an ACC schedule, but what he has done to date in terms of his Effective FG% (a ridiculous .671) tells me the kid is for real and will figure it out.

 

[pearl31]

Keita is so lucky that he always comes in right about when the other team is about to stop scoring.

Yup. It's pure coincidence and nothing else.