Yeah he's wayyy off here. 6 and 6 from EO this year would be a MASSIVE disappointment. He will play more minutes and is again the most improved player according to Pike. A regression is unlikely. A step up is expected
We make the same mistakes of assuming a team looks the same every year....Eugene will not play the same role that he filled in his 1st 2 seasons.
He will have a lot fewer chances offensively on the glass because i think we will shoot better. And i don't measure impact on PPG.
Eugene has evolved his game to a point where teams sagged off him....so he's worked on his perimeter game....if that part of his game is somewhat reliable...(25 3 pointers would be a goal), then he goes from 7 to 10 or 11 PPG.
I don't see the offense running plays for Eugene....this is a guard oriented team. If Eugene is the 2nd leading scorer and he's not knocking down shots, that means we are missing FTs, missing shots in the paint and Eugene is cleaning up those misses.
I also factor in Shaq Carter, Shaq Doorson and others being more capable of scoring inside without offensive rebounds....OR all 3 of these players should be able to have an impact.
I have Eugene (unless jumpers or perimeter game is there) as the 5th leading scorer. That's my best case scenario for others like Harper, Thiam, Mathis and Kiss all joining Baker as perimeter oriented.
I will need to see whether there's a situation where the staff draws up a play designed to get Eugene the ball. I see ball movement and shot distribution being much better and the roster evolving.
For RU to grow as a program, we have to look past what's being said and focus on what makes sense. Eugene is a captain, takes charges, rebounds, defends the teams bigs, wings and guards....he's an critical piece to the toughness on the roster.
But that doesn't mean his value only happens by scoring. And i am very interested in seeing how far along he is offensively and can he play outstanding defense and be a 28 to 30% shooter from 10 to 19 feet....
