Wesley and Threes

**isucyfan** · 02-17-2007, 07:49 PM

Haven't checked the stats to back me up, but does it seem that maybe Wesley's scoring and rebounding have been down the last few games, AND that decrease has coincided with him taking a lot of threes? Seems to me he has fallen in love with the three ball, which puts him in poor position for offensive rebs and putbacks.

Is he going to get the Jiri treatment from Mac? I would like to see the occasional three from him, but he needs to be around the basket, IMO.

**ajk4st8** · 02-17-2007, 07:55 PM

Wesley is decent handling the ball. One of maybe 2 or 3 guys on the team who can. So I think for that reason hes out on the perimeter.

**ISUFan22** · 02-17-2007, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by isucyfan

Haven't checked the stats to back me up, but does it seem that maybe Wesley's scoring and rebounding have been down the last few games, AND that decrease has coincided with him taking a lot of threes? Seems to me he has fallen in love with the three ball, which puts him in poor position for offensive rebs and putbacks.

Is he going to get the Jiri treatment from Mac? I would like to see the occasional three from him, but he needs to be around the basket, IMO.

I mentioned this a while back and it didn't seem to be a concern as he was scoring points. Now Wes isn't scoring many points and he's not grabbing as many balls either (well, it's good he's not grabbing balls like a certain former Hawkeye - but you get what I'm talking about here).

I wonder if the season is catching up to him physically.

**CycloneDaddy** · 02-17-2007, 09:19 PM

I just think the season is catching up to him. He has put in a ton of minutes this year and not playing last year is probably hurting him at this point in the season.

**cyowa** · 02-17-2007, 09:29 PM

Yes, absolutely. I think we need to cut the guy some slack. I see a resurgence on his part, at least by Big 12 tournament time.

**ColoradoClone** · 02-17-2007, 09:36 PM

Personally, I thought his stat decrease was correlated to Jiri's increase.

**clone33** · 02-17-2007, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by ColoradoClone

Personally, I thought his stat decrease was correlated to Jiri's increase.

It could be a little bit of both, but I like this excuse

**JVAR** · 02-17-2007, 11:32 PM

I think it is that freshman wall. Mac was quoted after the Oklahoma game as saying "It is about time" in response to the interviewer asking if he thought he had hit the freshman wall. He has had one of the best freshman seasons ever at ISU. This guy will be a stud. I agree that not playing last year has probably hurt him at this point, but Wesley maintained his stats longer than most guys would. I don't think we need to worry.

**Wesley** · 02-18-2007, 09:53 PM

I think the opponents are getting rough with his 190 lb frame. We need 3 scorers to survive.

**Clones85'** · 02-18-2007, 11:56 PM

I'm getting a little tired of the "I don't like to see Wesley shoot the 3's" talk. He has shown that he is one of our better 3 point shooter. In conference play he had a 3 game stretch where he went 10-18. Now he has missed some in a row and people want him to be more inside.

Now I think he needs to be crashes boards and getting put backs as much as the next guy, but Wes will never be an inside player. He isn't that type of player. Which is good for us and him. A 6'7 SF who has a 41 inch vertical is a tough guy to defend. I think with some added strength and some smoothing of edges, he will be one of the toughest to defend in the conference next year

**darts180** · 02-19-2007, 02:24 AM

One. He is a freshman in his first year of basketball at this level. Plus he didn't really play last year, because his prep school closed.

Two. He is 195 pounds, and gives up 30 plus pounds to all of the guys that he goes up against.

He has had an amazing year under the circumstances. It is a long season, and you have ups and downs. He is going through a tough stretch, and he will have other tough times while he is at Iowa State, but he has a tremendous future.

**Cyclonepride** · 02-19-2007, 05:59 AM

It seems like Wesley is rushing his 3's a little more than he had been, and isn't quite squaring up on them. Overall, it seems to me that they are trying to clear the middle for Juri and using Wesley to draw some of the defense out of the lane, which would hurt his offensive rebounds and put backs.

**cycloneworld** · 02-19-2007, 11:14 AM

I, too, think he is just getting physically worn down. I think you can see it a little in Mike Taylor as well. These 2 guys along with Jiri have carried this team offensively all almost all year long.

Has someone other than Mike Taylor, Jiri, or WJ led us in scoring ONCE this season?