A Couple Men's Basketball Notes...

So, there's a lot of stuff out there about Luke Kraus. I'm not here to change anybody's mind, just to make a couple of points.

First, I don't want to alarm anyone, but there is more to being a good basketball player than scoring. If you want to talk about a player who doesn't score, you should at least be prepared to discuss defense, which is largely not measured.

Second, there is no question he's in a horrible shooting slump. I don't believe that translates into "he can't shoot." Check out the chart below. He's actually been a very consistent shooter for his career. He's just not shooting this year. I don't think he forgot, I think he's just in a slump.

NCAA Basketball Stats

I wanted to give credit where credit is due for another player on the team. A'uston Calhoun has really improved his free throw shooting over the course of his BG career, and for a big guy who gets fouled as often as he does, it is a huge part of a complete game. Last night was a case in point, he shot poorly but was 12-12 from the line.

He's shooting 80% so far this year, which is well above average (#9 in the MAC)and a huge part of his ability to be productive. Until we see someone emerge as an outside threat, he's going to be man handled down low, and this is a way for the team to get points out of him even when good shots are tough to come by.  That improvement comes through a lot of practice and hard work, so congrats to him for improving his game.

NCAA Basketball Stats