Guy on Leach this morning made a really good point about Grady's early season hesitancy. At Davidson, McKillop generally discouraged the 'early' shot, even when open, to run the offense & clock a bit -- just his old school style.
UNC game & benching him early seems to have finally registered that here it doesn't matter if it's 5 seconds in, or 25, if you're open or have even a pretty good (For you) look --> let it fly.
Calipari joked that he got in the gym and ironed out the kinks in Grady’s jumper, then confessed that his fix for the trigger-shy transfer was much simpler. He gave an order: Shoot it or sit down.
“Quite literally” that was the whole adjustment, Grady said. “That was all I really needed to hear. I guess I should’ve known that already. It’s great to have a coach that believes in you and wants you to shoot.”
Pretty huge development, imo. Figured it would come, but was honestly starting to worry. Would be a crime to have your best offensive weapon wasting away out there for a handful of no-brainer 3 pointers per game.
-Hard to fault TyTy's steady improvement, but wish he'd hunt a few more 3s as well. He's really good in the mid-range, but seems to rely on it a bit much for my tastes. That shot he nailed vs UNC would never have been taken if Cal didn't psycho scream at him for passing up the same look seconds earlier.
Still impressive how quietly he can put together a 16-20 point game.
-Oscar is just unreal. Dude gets his **** swatted 4-5 times in a row early, so just decides to get 28 GD rebounds, and sprinkle in a few easy baskets along the way. Sure, several of those late ones were junk...but dude had 21 with 10 minutes to play, and most of them with Sharp on the floor. Nothing affects his overall game, or effort -- what a luxury. Only thing that can truly stop him is fouls.
-Mintz has really been a mess since the illness. Still love him, and think he's gonna win us a game or two late in the year. Just pressing trying to "get back in" to the rotation.
-POPPIN TOPPIN! How dope were his wrap around entry passes? 6 assists? GD. Just absolutely dominated the middle of that zone. Plus, the dude dunks the ball if there's even the slightest window. Worship.
Feeling good today. There will be some bumps along the way, but really think we're going to be damn good come March, like so many other years.
