I know it has been mentioned plenty, but to me the biggest surprise, on the positive side, of this year's team has been JMac's play on both sides of the court.
Some numbers for your reference (and actually the only reason I created this thread was to post this little statistical tidbit):
2015-2016 Jason McManamen as a Jr.: 33.9 mpg, 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
2014-2015 Josh Adams as a Jr.: 33.6 mpg, 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
Didn't see that coming before the season. Now, the numbers I posted are a little misleading. If you dig deeper you will see that Adams impacted the game in other ways as a junior (almost tripling JMac in terms of assists, steals, and blocks) and of course, it's hard to quantify the impact that Adams athleticism has on both ends of the court. The threat of him going to the basket opened things up for other players, the ability to create his own shot off the dribble late in the shot clock was huge, and his ability to snuff out opposing fast breaks with the threat of some poor soul getting their layup rejected LeBron style by a 6' guard was a nice psychological edge. Not to mention that Adams was productive on a MWC contending team that won 25 games vs JMac this year on a sub .500 teams.
Having said that, back to my main point which is that Jason McManamen has developed himself into an upper tier MWC player. If you watch video from last year you would have thought it was from 2-3 years ago because he has developed so much in that timeframe. He managed to dramatically improve the quickness of his release while also improving the accuracy which is very difficult.
More stats, this time in relation to perimeter shooting:
JMac (2015-2016): 6 3PA/gm, 43.5% 3PT
Grabau (2013-2014): 5 3PA/gm, 42% 3PT
Martinez (2012-2013): 7 3PA/gm, 42.2% 3PT (only played 12 games)
His perimeter shooting this year fits right alongside Grabau's junior year where he led the nation for a while and Luke's senior year where he was leading the way for a 12-0 start. Pretty impressive.
To top it off, he has developed a nice little nasty/chippy streak as well. I am hopeful that some of our young players can follow his lead both in developing their games and in developing the fire required to hold your own in the MWC.
Some numbers for your reference (and actually the only reason I created this thread was to post this little statistical tidbit):
2015-2016 Jason McManamen as a Jr.: 33.9 mpg, 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
2014-2015 Josh Adams as a Jr.: 33.6 mpg, 12.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg
Didn't see that coming before the season. Now, the numbers I posted are a little misleading. If you dig deeper you will see that Adams impacted the game in other ways as a junior (almost tripling JMac in terms of assists, steals, and blocks) and of course, it's hard to quantify the impact that Adams athleticism has on both ends of the court. The threat of him going to the basket opened things up for other players, the ability to create his own shot off the dribble late in the shot clock was huge, and his ability to snuff out opposing fast breaks with the threat of some poor soul getting their layup rejected LeBron style by a 6' guard was a nice psychological edge. Not to mention that Adams was productive on a MWC contending team that won 25 games vs JMac this year on a sub .500 teams.
Having said that, back to my main point which is that Jason McManamen has developed himself into an upper tier MWC player. If you watch video from last year you would have thought it was from 2-3 years ago because he has developed so much in that timeframe. He managed to dramatically improve the quickness of his release while also improving the accuracy which is very difficult.
More stats, this time in relation to perimeter shooting:
JMac (2015-2016): 6 3PA/gm, 43.5% 3PT
Grabau (2013-2014): 5 3PA/gm, 42% 3PT
Martinez (2012-2013): 7 3PA/gm, 42.2% 3PT (only played 12 games)
His perimeter shooting this year fits right alongside Grabau's junior year where he led the nation for a while and Luke's senior year where he was leading the way for a 12-0 start. Pretty impressive.
To top it off, he has developed a nice little nasty/chippy streak as well. I am hopeful that some of our young players can follow his lead both in developing their games and in developing the fire required to hold your own in the MWC.
