Reply To: How High Is Up?

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball How High Is Up? Reply To: How High Is Up?

#7172

lehigh90
Participant

I’ll take a shot at this …

First off, I think an argument can be made that CJ’s finest season was his freshman campaign.  Although he averaged his lowest seasonal total (19.1 ppg), he shot a respectable 45.9 % from the field and a strong 42.1% from 3.  In his first year, he only had 13.4 attempts per game.  Of course, he was a bit unknown as a freshman, and teams did not key on him, like they did in his sophomore and junior seasons. 

I didn’t love what I saw in the sophomore season, where his attempts went up to 17.3 per game, but connected on under 40% of his attempts (39.9%).  That is Allen Iverson territory, and is not exactly efficient.  Plus, his percentage from 3, dropped to 31.5% as a soph.  What he really became as a sophomore was a better rebounder, raising his average from 5 as a frosh to 7.8 as a soph, which for a 6’3″ player is amazing.  9.1 rpg led the PL last season.

As a junior, I think he made real progress.  He actually had less attempts as a junior at 16.4 vs. the 17.3 as a soph, and he raised his shooting percentage up to 44.3%, not as high as his freshman season, but close.  Also, he added a few points to his 3 ball, up to 34.1%.  His rebounding numbers fell to 6.5 rpg, but he really added to his assist total, moving to the highest for his career at 3.5 apg per contest.

CJ, for his career, has lived on the foul line.  He has amaxing body control in the air, and is excellent at drawing fouls.  That is why he is a quiet scorer.  He slashes well to the hoop and with his body control can hang and draw contact.  And, he always shoots a high percentage from the line (over 80% all 3 seasons).  Good scorers need to be able to get to the line, and CJ is among the best in the country at this.  Also, being a superstar generally gets you a good whistle.  He is certainly going to draw more calls than anybody in the league.

All that being said, what does the senior season look like?  Well, he clearly is going to be doubled often when he touches the basketball.  I think about 16-17 attempts per game is right for him at this point, although 14-15 wouldn’t bother me.  But, he needs to connect at a higher rate.  I would like to see 46-48% from the field and 40% from 3.  So, if he raised his shooting figures, I think you could get to 24 a game, with 6 rebounds and 3-4 assists.  Since he is not a back to the basket player, he is going to have to work hard for all his points.  They are all going to come on jumpers and moves to the hoop. 

I think his role this season has to be like that of the NBA superstar.  Get your teammates involved early, then be a killer down the stretch.  Freeing up Gabe in the post, and the other perimeter players early in the game, will give him more room down the stretch.  I would hope he takes a big step forward this season.  His confidence should be at an all-time high, which at his level is huge.  He is not taking many shots he doesn’t think he can make.  I think he will have some big games this season of 30+.  My only fear with him is this.  He has played, I believe, in every game of his college career.  Never injured as far as I can remember, and he has a thin frame.  I am hoping he can stay healthy for another 35 games.