IMO their best basketball will come when Nijel Pack finally starts to turn the corner. Maybe that finally happens after this last game against Cuse, he was probably the main catalyst for the comeback (along with Omier), but he's been pretty bad most of the season, and he was most certainly nowhere near bad at Kansas State.
Remember, this kid wasn't playing at Barry. Kansas State is in a great league, so it's not like he's jumped up in competition and can't handle it. But he hasn't been the same player yet that I saw last year. Maybe it's because he's playing on a more balanced team and isn't the clear alpha here, I'm not sure. But he's only averaging about 2.5 shots less this year than he was last year, and only 3 less minutes per game, but his numbers are way down.
He shot 46% from the field last year, including 44% on threes.
This year he's at 40% from the field, including 37% on threes. He's also not getting to the line nearly as often as he did at K-State, but again that could be by design because the offense is different here.
But to me, this kid is a top shelf college basketball player who can really shoot and score the ball, and I don't think Miami hits their ceiling without him playing the way he's capable of playing. Again, maybe the Cuse game will be the springboard. He did go 5-9 on threes and scored 15 points, but last year he had 3 games with 30+ points, and 20 games of 15+ points.
This year he has 0 games of 30+ points (high is 23 against St. Francis), and only 5 games so far with 15+ points.
If he can give us more consistent scoring, this team can make a run again. We know guards dominate in March. Wong has been spectacular. Omier is a monster. Miller is a really good player. Wooga, Joseph, and now Beverly is really starting to take off, those are some solid guards who can defend and handle the ball. That's a really good college rotation if Pack can play like he did last year.
