If you’re reading this site for the first time, I wrote about 7,000 words on Tennessee’s infatuation with mid-range jumpers last Tuesday and was quite pleased with how it came out. Please read that first before reading this.
I got a lot of great, informational feedback on my mid-range article last Tuesday, and I’d like to thank everyone who responded or shared the piece in whatever way they saw fit. I’ve found myself inwardly cringing every time I see any mid-range jumpshot as of late, which is not a good way to live. In the right hands, the mid-range jumper is a tool that can free up space all over the court for an offense in need of it. If you have multiple excellent mid-range shooters, you’re probably going to have a pretty solid offense on the whole.
The issue, as Tennessee fans have seen this season, is that Tennessee doesn’t really have any. This is not 2018-19, when Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, and Jordan Bone were knocking shots down. It’s been a parade of bad shot selection, frustrating misses, and what looks like a team-wide case of being locked in a mental pretzel. As a fan, it isn’t fun; as a writer trying to make the team sound interesting, it is very annoying.
Anyway, I got several good follow-up questions, and I thought it might be best to devote an article to answering them. No GIFs in this piece, just words; do prepare yourselves for that.
If you’d like to skip ahead to a question, click below. They’re across the next two pages.
- Can you clarify some of the data sources?
- Are there any other teams that take more or as many mid-range jumpers as Tennessee?
- Has *anyone* been great offensively over the last few years taking this many mid-range jumpers?
- Has Tennessee been better/worse efficiency-wise in games where they’ve taken a lot/very few mid-range jumpers?
- Can we see shooting splits over first 11 games versus the last 12?
- Is it just Tennessee’s stars that do this, or is it the entire team?
NEXT PAGE: Questions 1-3
Stats by Will 