Conner Frankamp

[ShockTalk]

As far as CF getting the ball late/slowly, if Austin isn't in the lineup with him, chances are fair he'll get it late. If Kelly is also not on the floor, the % goes up on those chances. Generally, CF and Austin together on the floor swing the ball quickly.

[proshox]

I am not oblivious to basketball nuances. it isn't tough to know that when a guy gets defensive attention, it helps the other guys out immensely. Conner doesn't draw double teams, though, and doesn't drive very often, so the positive effect of him being guarded is not as significant as if he were to draw multiple defenders to him by driving. He also has the fewest FT attempts per minute played of anybody other than Zach Bush (I'm too lazy to check how many of his 22 total attempts were shooting technical foul shots), so the defender only has to guard against him shooting at or nearby the arc.

Conner is a good passer in that his passes are usually arrive in a good position for the receiver to do something with it (not behind the guy, or over his head where he has to reach for it, etc.), but IMHO way too many are simply around-the-horn passes rather than make-something-happen passes. I wish Conner would catch every pass with the intention of shooting the ball and then decide whether to shoot or dribble or pass; too often it seems he could have a very good shot but he's already decided to pass it to somebody else outside the arc.

I do not, however, concur that CF only gets the ball late (although I don't know whether you mean late in the shot clock or too long after he is open) or never gets it. I'm certain game replays will bear me out on this.

If AR were drawing as little attention as you seem to see, he would have put up a lot more shots. I just don't see him being wide open that much, but apparently you do.

He may be scaring other coaches, but I can tell by looking at games that Landry gets every bit as much attention as Conner. As he should.

A timely swing pass puts more pressure on the opposing defense than you realize. It is good basketball.

Lately CF has passed the ball and immediately started moving back on defense before the recipient catches the ball. Why? He knows what a good shot "is." LS has had a couple three point opportunities that were so easy to convert it might as well have been a lay-up. All of them have gone in BTW.

Finally, if you haven't noticed that CF receives the ball consistently late on passes from ZB, LS, and the bigs - I don't know what to say. This trait has been ALARMING. Good shooters know when they are catching the ball in rhythm and when they are not. That may cause him to pass more often than you would like.

[wusphlash]

There were two occasions Thursday nights where we overpassed. Any one of three guys could have shot the ball each time. We ended up with 0 points on those two occasions. Conner was wide open and could have taken a shot each time. He should have.

[wufan]

A timely swing pass puts more pressure on the opposing defense than you realize. It is good basketball.

Lately CF has passed the ball and immediately started moving back on defense before the recipient catches the ball. Why? He knows what a good shot "is." LS has had a couple three point opportunities that were so easy to convert it might as well have been a lay-up. All of them have gone in BTW.

Finally, if you haven't noticed that CF receives the ball consistently late on passes from ZB, LS, and the bigs - I don't know what to say. This trait has been ALARMING. Good shooters know when they are catching the ball in rhythm and when they are not. That may cause him to pass more often than you would like.

Brown doesn't pass well to anybody.

[Shockers5150]

"What's a pass?"-- Willis
:-)

[Aargh]

So, when Frankamp takes a shot and makes it, it's because he's a great shooter. When he either doesn't take a shot or misses, it's because the other guys on the team don't get the ball to him in time? Am I reading some of these comments right?

Did the same thing happen at KU when he didn't shoot well? The other guys on two teams have not gotten the ball to him in rhythm?

I'm proud of the games Frankamp is having now and proud to have him as a Shocker, but some of the excuses I see from some fans make that harder. If Frankamp isn't having the kind of year (or career) that some fans were expecting, I guess it's open season to throw the rest of the team under the bus because they just don't want to pass him the ball.

From reading some of the posts out here, you'd think Frankamp would be shooting 70% from 3 and scoring 40 points a game, but the rest of the team wants to see him fail.

I would think that if Marshall thought other players were either refusing to pass Frankamp the ball or were passing it to him when he didn't have a chance to make a shot, that those players would be sharing the sidelines with 3G.

[ShockTalk]

"What's a pass?"-- Willis
:-)

Willis has the lowest assists per 40 minutes of the "main 10". Currently, he at 1.42 assist per 40. Nurger is second lowest at 1.84, Morris at 2.04, Kelly 2.17, and McDuffie 2.33. % wise, Willis is about 70% of Nurger, Morris, and Kelly.

And to add to this, Willis leads this group of 10 in turnovers per 40 at 3.75. That's 2.33 more TOs than assists per 40 minutes. Second in TOs per 40 is Smith at 2.92, but Smith leads the team in assists per 40 at 5.75 so he can be excused a little. It is not unusual for big men to have more TOs than assists, however, Morris is the next worst at only 0.59 more TOs than assists per 40 minutes.

[shocksrbest]

I'm sorry you object to facts or to the way I present them. I was stimulated to look up the stats because of the statement in this thread (and at other times in many other threads during the season) that Conner is our very best shooter. He may well be, but he hadn't shown it until this last streak of 26-49. Didn't show it at Kansas; at WSU last year or up until this current streak this year.

We are blessed to have Conner, Austin, Landry and 13 other Shockers. All of them. They each contribute in their own way. But since the readily accepted method of measuring shooting is FG% and there are so many that have higher percentages than Conner, it is silly to continually insist that he is, now, our very best shooter. He may become that or maybe already is, but hasn't shown it. It is a slight to others who have shown better results.

Conner has done much better since moving out of the point position, which isn't his natural spot. He's playing better defense and his assists are producing more inside results than previously. I cannot ask for more in the progress department. For the team's sake, I hope his shooting continues at the current rate and that he continues to improve. I also hope that Brown's shooting improves and that he continues to play outstanding defense. I hope Markis gets his shooting touch back, but what a job he is doing of letting the game come to him and not forcing things.

I am so glad we have the shooters that we do. All three put so much pressure on a defense with an accuracy from beyond the arc we have not seen in a long time. We are gelling at the right time and I can't wait for the best time of year--March and April.

[ShockTalk]

So, when Frankamp takes a shot and makes it, it's because he's a great shooter. When he either doesn't take a shot or misses, it's because the other guys on the team don't get the ball to him in time? Am I reading some of these comments right?

Did the same thing happen at KU when he didn't shoot well? The other guys on two teams have not gotten the ball to him in rhythm?

I'm proud of the games Frankamp is having now and proud to have him as a Shocker, but some of the excuses I see from some fans make that harder. If Frankamp isn't having the kind of year (or career) that some fans were expecting, I guess it's open season to throw the rest of the team under the bus because they just don't want to pass him the ball.

From reading some of the posts out here, you'd think Frankamp would be shooting 70% from 3 and scoring 40 points a game, but the rest of the team wants to see him fail.

I would think that if Marshall thought other players were either refusing to pass Frankamp the ball or were passing it to him when he didn't have a chance to make a shot, that those players would be sharing the sidelines with 3G.

A little bit of over-reaction and/or missing some of the point. Not passing/swinging the ball crisply affects everyone. Many times, it's not the first pass that gets to an open man, but the second. It only takes one player in the first two to slow the passing down. I believe Reaves doesn't take as many shots as we'd like to see because he won't take that closely guarded shot and passes the ball on.

Shaq doesn't get a lot of assists, but when he does, it seems to come from a snap pass to someone. By the way, certain players who may not be the as good of passers as we'd like have other very valuable assets that help the team. No one is trying to have a teammate fail.

[Kel Varnsen]

So, when Frankamp takes a shot and makes it, it's because he's a great shooter. When he either doesn't take a shot or misses, it's because the other guys on the team don't get the ball to him in time? Am I reading some of these comments right?

Did the same thing happen at KU when he didn't shoot well? The other guys on two teams have not gotten the ball to him in rhythm?

I'm proud of the games Frankamp is having now and proud to have him as a Shocker, but some of the excuses I see from some fans make that harder. If Frankamp isn't having the kind of year (or career) that some fans were expecting, I guess it's open season to throw the rest of the team under the bus because they just don't want to pass him the ball.

From reading some of the posts out here, you'd think Frankamp would be shooting 70% from 3 and scoring 40 points a game, but the rest of the team wants to see him fail.

I would think that if Marshall thought other players were either refusing to pass Frankamp the ball or were passing it to him when he didn't have a chance to make a shot, that those players would be sharing the sidelines with 3G.

Agreed. And any examples are purely anecdotal at best. There's no way to really prove one way or the other, seeing as how none of us have access to a library of film from the year.

[William]

The stats alone will not tell you much...have you played a lot of basketball? Some of this stuff may not make sense if you haven't:


Anybody other than CF benefits from him attracting a ton of attention and the fact he passes the ball to shooters in rythym more than any other shocker.

Conversely, CF rarely gets space and when he is open I have never seen a player get the ball as late as he does. If he gets the ball at all.

Finally, he is the one scaring other coaches.

I really like the shooting of LS and AR, but they are not getting near as much attention as CF.

I'm glad to see someone else on here that understands basketball proshox. This team is slowly but surely becoming more unselfish. I think early in the year guys were vying to replace our vacated stars and the process has been painful to watch at times. Making the extra pass is the secret sauce for this team, if they will commit to that they can be good.

[Aargh]

I'm not really buying the argument that the team is slow to make passes and doesn't move the ball quickly enough. Do you realize you are criticizing the ability to get the ball to a shooter on a team that's averaging over 80 points a game?

the Shox are averaging 17.2 assists per game.

The team A/TO ration is 1.5

Looks like a pretty good passing team to me. And yet we have fans criticizing the team for not passing the ball to Frankamp often enough or quickly enough. Is Frankamp the only player affected by this lack of effective passing?


Gee, if we only had guys who knew how to pass the ball, we could be averaging 100 or more and beat the '91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels.

[shockmonster]

This is kind of stupid. I also saw a couple of fans saying a Frankamp isn't a good passer. There are a lot of differing opinions. We do have a few Shockers who aren't good passers but Shaq, Rauno, Rashard, Markis, Landry, Conner, Austin and Daishon aren't them.

[ShockTalk]

I'm not really buying the argument that the team is slow to make passes and doesn't move the ball quickly enough. Do you realize you are criticizing the ability to get the ball to a shooter on a team that's averaging over 80 points a game?

the Shox are averaging 17.2 assists per game.

The team A/TO ration is 1.5

Looks like a pretty good passing team to me. And yet we have fans criticizing the team for not passing the ball to Frankamp often enough or quickly enough. Is Frankamp the only player affected by this lack of effective passing?


Gee, if we only had guys who knew how to pass the ball, we could be averaging 100 or more and beat the '91 UNLV Runnin' Rebels.

80 points against WHO! Our best OOC win was not OU (projected RPI around 150) by 3 points, but CSU projected around 100 RPI. We didn't score 80+ on Louisville (62-52), Michigan St (77-72), OSU (96-76), or Ill St with McIntosh (76-62).

We have blown out most everyone else, all with 150-300 RPIs except Tulsa 120 and CSU 100. Put up 116 ESMU and 100 on BU and you make up for all those loses where you averaged 65 a game and gave up an average of 78 a game.

Bad teams can make you look awfully good at times.

[ShockTalk]

This is kind of stupid. I also saw a couple of fans saying a Frankamp isn't a good passer. There are a lot of differing opinions. We do have a few Shockers who aren't good passers but Shaq, Rauno, Rashard, Markis, Landry, Conner, Austin and Daishon aren't them.

We have had 57 assists and 59 TOs in the 5 games against the projected top 100 RPI, not counting the IL St game without McIntosh.