Posted by ScooterDevil on January 06, 20 at 13:46:03:
I am not sure if Hurley is just coy with the media or really sees the game so differently than I do. He always says in the post game presser "We just need to shoot better". I, on the other hand, am not at all surprised by our shooting when I witness the number of terrible shots we put up and the lack of passing in an effort to get better shots.
I have coached for 15+ years but only at the middle and high school level. I recognize the lack of effective offense to get open looks. Romello White mentioned it twice. Yet Hurley says "I thought we had a lot of good looks we just need to shoot better". If he really thinks that then I have no other conclusion to come to other than he doesn't see the game very well.
People have this perspective that they watch ASU miss some open shots and conclude that shooting is the problem. ALL TEAMS MISS OPEN SHOTS! The difference is that they get more of those open shots than ASU. I would be willing to bet that if you broke down the games, ASU's shooting percent on wide open shots is relatively similar to their opponents. The difference is shot selection. And when you take more terrible, contested shots, it puts more pressure on you to make the other ones. It becomes a vicious cycle. But the fix is not to shoot better, the fix is to get a higher volume of really good looks.