Here is my take, but I am sure one of the ISU fans will have something to say, but the stats
I offer come right from the ISU official site.......so you cannot deny the stats....you decide...
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I agree that Boo Richardson would cut into the playing time of Ruffin, Franklin, and Tauai,
and simply wouldn't have been needed. He is very inconsistent and has had some really horrible,
turnover-prone games.
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Anthony Slack had some good games early, and looked like a lock for the All Newcomer team,
until suddenly he started playing in the conference and his production stalled. Now he doesn't even start
and has become a bench player.
Look at Slack's production in ALL GAMES vs. just CONFERENCE GAMES:
NON-Conference Gms....25.5mpg, 11.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 1.6bpg, 2.0spg, 63%FG, 63%FT
Conference Games only..20.3mpg, 7.6ppg, 5.4rpg, 0.3bpg, 0.7spg, 58%FG, 56%FT
BY CONTRAST..here are Matt Salley's stats for Conference games:
Salley in MVC games......24.3mpg, 8.7ppg, 4.6rpg, 0.9bpg, 0.4spg, 47%FG, 50%FG
I think Matt Salley is every bit as good and as valuable as Slack would have been.
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Lastly, Osiris Eldridge because of his size might even be playing behind Andrew Warren.
Even though he had shown he can score some, he doing so by launching a lot of shots.
His 3-pt shooting pct. is 35.1% and is essentially the same in league play as overall, so his really poor start
(only made one of his first 18 3-pt shots) didn't seem to be that much of an aberration.
Eldridge's overall shooting accuracy is 37.9% and FT's are 69%.
Here is a really telling stat..........
Since MVC play started seven games ago, NO PLAYER on ISU has shot as many FG attempts as Osiris Eldridge!
For a guy who is 6th overall in scoring on a very poor-scoring team, the guy is presently
LEADING the team in FG ATTEMPTS!!
So the entire reason he is scoring better is NOT better shots, better shot selection, or better shooting accuracy,
it is simply because of taking a whole lot more shots.
(Shot attempts per game in non-conference games was 63 shots in 11 games -5.6shots per game.
IN CONFERENCE PLAY, he is launching 77 shots in 7 games -- 11.0 shots per game!! --
MORE than twice as many shots of late, but not twice the scoring.)
I really don't know if we need a shoot first guard whose defense is not yet proven.
And Eldridge has a 0.7 assist to turnover ratio.
He will be a fine player in due time, but ISU is asking way too much of him right now, and
he is doing the best he can, but he isn't helping them win any games.