What are Bradley's other 2022 recruiting needs?

[BUfan14]

Another guard who I believe will improve his shooting percentage in 2022-23 is Connor Hickman, He shot 37.4% from three, which is very good and quite impressive for a freshman, especially coming off a full year layoff and surgical repair on his shooting shoulder. But I am optimistic that a full year of D1 conditioning along with a better penetrating and better passing point guard in James Weathers, Connor will get more open looks and boost his efficiency.

I hope so on Ville, but I'm skeptical more because of his sophomore season than last season. Injuries won't help his foot speed either, and creating space to get a shot off is a big part of being a knockdown shooter, not to mention the defense. I really hope I'm wrong, because he seems like a great kid and it'd help the team a ton. He has proven he can be a piece for sure, I just don't know about the main shooting threat.

Hickman I completely agree on, if you take away a portion of the conference season where he understandably appeared to hit the wall a little, his shooting was great. The shot he nailed against, I believe it was SIU, to get us back in the game showed confidence and that he could hit one without being wide open or just in the corner. I think he's got a bright future ahead because he can also handle the ball a little and move well enough to get space. I still don't want to count 100% on Hickman being our main shooter, I obviously want another, but him and Zek both have potential to be nice shooters if they grow to have consistency. I'm hoping we get to see them both grow for four years. That is obviously far from guaranteed any more.

 

[bradleyfan124]

I agree. As I posted above, Ville's three point percentage improved to 38.6% in the MVC-only stats. That was the best 3-point percentage on the team in MVC games among the regular rotation players. That could suggest that his early-season shooting might have been affected by the foot injury.
Let's hope Ville stays healthy in 2022-23, and returns to being a deadly three point threat.

Another guard who I believe will improve his shooting percentage in 2022-23 is Connor Hickman, He shot 37.4% from three, which is very good and quite impressive for a freshman, especially coming off a full year layoff and surgical repair on his shooting shoulder. But I am optimistic that a full year of D1 conditioning along with a better penetrating and better passing point guard in James Weathers, Connor will get more open looks and boost his efficiency.

I agree with you about Connor Hickman. He was one of my favorites this year. I did not like seeing Terry go but they would have had to put me on suicide watch if Connor had transferred. His upside is tremendous. I think in another year he may be better than what Terry Roberts was this year. His court savvy, ability to drive, ballhandling, and shooting are out of this world for a Freshman

 

[Tommy]

I hope so on Ville, but I'm skeptical more because of his sophomore season than last season. Injuries won't help his foot speed either, and creating space to get a shot off is a big part of being a knockdown shooter, not to mention the defense. I really hope I'm wrong, because he seems like a great kid and it'd help the team a ton. He has proven he can be a piece for sure, I just don't know about the main shooting threat.

I hear ya, BUF14, though I don't have as much concern. Ville is probably the most vocal and energetic guys on the team, and he did struggle, but much of the time he draws the other teams best defender or a double, and we didn't exactly have a lot of scoring threats last year. Ville is such a streak shooter and I thought we did a poor job of hitting him over and over again once he'd made a 3. If he gets in a rhythm, he can really light it up, but if he is cold, he can REALLY be cold. As Coach said earlier, though, that foot injury most probably had an effect. I just really love this guy for his all out effort whenever he's in the game.