As Sad said earlier, largely, the story of the season was that when they shot well from the perimeter they won. When they didn't they lost. They shot .37 from three for the year. In their "good" wins, they shot: aTm, 17-28, .60; Zags, 17-36, .47; Auburn, 13-28, .46; home UK, 10-24, .40; Cincy, 6-15, .40. They shot .40 against Duke and .41 against Clemson, close losses to good teams.
There were some exceptions. They won at UK and at Bama with defense, shooting terrible both games, but generally, their best results depended on them shooting well, as you would expect from a team playing 4 guards and an undersized or underskilled big.
In their bad losses, the shot: FSU, 6-25, .24; Loyola, 2-19, .10; Ole Miss, 10-29, .34; USC, 6-23; 'Bama, 5-24, .21; TTech, 6-22, .27.
Again, some exceptions. They shot the ball from 3 well against Vandy and at home vs. Georgia, but I thought both of those second halfs were more about Vandy and UGA making shots.
People have made a big deal about White sitting on the ball, but he was 17-5 this year leading at halftime. I think it's a fair criticism that White's offense got stagnant in the halfcourt too often. Chiozza, Allen, Stone and Hudson can all drive it, and I thought they got caught too often just whipping the ball around the perimeter, or dumping down for no-hope post ups by Egor, Hayes or Chiozza (!). Also, that's a tough deal for White when Allen plays like he did this year. I suppose you can put some of that on the coach for not figuring out how to get him going. He put the ball in his hands a lot, but he really struggled as a primary ballhandler. He is a lot better coming off screens and cuts, but that was Hudson's game too, so I guess that was an odd fit.
They were also inconsistent on defense. They won some games with defensive effort and lost some games with lack of it. Their lack of size definitely hurt them, but Hayes was their only big late last year, and they defended the perimeter so well, that nobody could get to him. Nowhere near that effort this year.
I thought White got about what he should have out of this roster. Nobody on this team is going to sniff the NBA. I think in-game, White has shown pretty well and will get better. He needs to recruit better. Getting this class in would be a good start.
