where did brackins go?

**jaretac** · 01-30-2010, 05:51 PM

Just watching a few minutes, most of the time Brackins is not doubled in that video, this year your never finding him alone. Some of that is on Brackins to try to break down the double, but still, people are defending Brackins a lot harder this year.

**vmbplayer** · 01-30-2010, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Final42b

He is still our leading scorer. 15.9pts and 7.8 rebs is not too bad of a line.

Agreed, he's still getting it done but he's not the only guy on the floor anymore. Gilstrap was the leading scorer until the OU game.

In addition to the scoring dropping though his assists and blocks are higher than they've ever been.

He's got 2.5 assists compared to 1.3 last year. I think it's a matter of him having someone to kick it out to who can convert and him getting used to kicking it out when the double comes.

His points are down 4.3 per game this year, relate that to the 1.2 increase in assists and the team score is pretty much the same. I assume for those 1.2 more in assists most of those are going to the guards to shoot the 3. If that's true he's added 3.6 pts by assists he didn't have last year and only lost 4.3 from personal scoring.

Take all that and add to it the increased level of talent that allows our points to be spread out across the team and into the bench more and I would say he hasn't lost a thing from what he gives to the team. He just isn't the guy making the explosive to the hole plays because he doesn't need to when there is someone to kick it out to.

My guess as we continue to deal with being short handed from injury and German Defections his points will go up again because the points aren't as spread around.

**cyclones500** · 01-30-2010, 06:44 PM

It's true he wasn't double-teamed nearly as much last year, so that's had an effect. Two things on that:
1. Coach needs to have a strategy for the offense if he's being taken out of his game by the double team, and the team has to do it.
2. He can't fall back on "I'm getting double-teamed and it's frustrating." If the opponent shuts him down he has to find an open player (and the players have to get open, too). A couple games like that and the double-teaming might be a risk, since teams would know, if they shut him down, other players would pick up the slack. Until that happens, opponents know if they shut him down, they'll probably win.

Another thing that may have hindered Brackins this season (1) sometimes I think he almost tries too hard -- not a matter of working too hard (and he does, and I don't think anyone can work too hard) but he seems to still think he has to carry the team, all the time, and also "live up" to lofty expectations. And the coach doesn't seem to have a problem with that. If the team overall was more effective, Brackins' numbers would be just as good as last season, and if he's worried about his draft status falling, it would be automatically boosted by playing on a team with a solid record. (Example: Fizer was a monster, but I bet if that team went 20-12 in 99-00, he wouldn't have landed in the top 5 of the draft, even with the same or better numbers)