Freemantle

[XU-PA]

Zach is in for team 101
https://twitter.com/XavierGrit/status/1518675741235372035?t=7uAxFjk8QVQZChpsFAJ1nQ&s=19

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Glad to hear. Much relieved

[xu82]

Very good news. I’m eager to see what he can do with better coaching. He’s certainly got talent.

[IM4X]

Zach is in for team 101
https://twitter.com/XavierGrit/status/1518675741235372035?t=7uAxFjk8QVQZChpsFAJ1nQ&s=19

I was coming to the board to potentially start a new thread about Free and post the following link whith the picture of Zach shooting at practice. I assumed it was a pretty good sign he was sticking around. Seeing your thread when I got to the site confirming his return is even better. Thanks for posting.

Welcome back Zach!

https://mobile.twitter.com/XavierMBB/status/1517660108624388097?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcam p%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

[whopper]

i felt for him as if you are 95% of your capabilities in the Big East you are toast and he looked like 85%. If Miller would simplify his game (I could not believe the number of dribble drives he would take from the hep or corner that ended in turn overs) and work with him to draw offensive fouls (Zach seems too proud to "sell it") i think he could be as effective as Nunge (going into last year that would have been a ridiiculous statement, not now). 13 p, 7 reb in 25 miniutes would be a home run with decent defense(not Rodman style but smarter). Nice to hear and does he have 1 year left of a year PLUS covid

[bleedXblue]

He has really good potential. Miller has to find the right formula to motivate, mature and develop him. No more 3 PT's. Play closer to the basket and develop a more physical style of play.

[D-West & PO-Z]

He has really good potential. Miller has to find the right formula to motivate, mature and develop him. No more 3 PT's. Play closer to the basket and develop a more physical style of play.

I think you will be disappointed if your expectation for Miller is to have him have Freemantle shoot no 3 pointers next year.

Not that I disagree with you (I'd say less, not none) but I don't think that Freemantle will not be shooting outside next year.

[xuwillie]

I think you will be disappointed if your expectation for Miller is to have him have Freemantle shoot no 3 pointers next year.

Not that I disagree with you (I'd say less, not none) but I don't think that Freemantle will not be shooting outside next year.

Ok maybe one every so often but he should never be sitting out on the 3pt line asking for the ball.

[SemajParlor]

I'm happy to see Zach come back. Returning from injury clearly prevented him from reaching his best consistent ability last year and I'm excited to see him return to form.

For what it's worth in the last month of the season Freemantle went 7/15 on 3. The healthy 2 years prior he was roughly a 33 % shooter from 3.

With a new coach the roles of these guys and how they are used may be different. We're not married to the same rotations and positions on the court we've seen. But the best version of this Xavier team includes Freemantle contributing efficiently on offense.

[bleedXblue]

I think you will be disappointed if your expectation for Miller is to have him have Freemantle shoot no 3 pointers next year.

Not that I disagree with you (I'd say less, not none) but I don't think that Freemantle will not be shooting outside next year.

An occasional one is fine. 1-2 game. Now, if he wants to shoot them at a 40% clip, Im cool with more than that.

More hoping he sees his value to the team being closer to the basket and places a much bigger emphasis on rebounding.

[D-West & PO-Z]

An occasional one is fine. 1-2 game. Now, if he wants to shoot them at a 40% clip, Im cool with more than that.

More hoping he sees his value to the team being closer to the basket and places a much bigger emphasis on rebounding.

Agreed

[xuwin]

An occasional one is fine. 1-2 game. Now, if he wants to shoot them at a 40% clip, Im cool with more than that.

More hoping he sees his value to the team being closer to the basket and places a much bigger emphasis on rebounding.

He shot 46- 3 point shots in 30 games last year. He doesn't shoot nearly as many as you think he does. That's not a very big sample size to evaluate him.

[GoMuskies]

Freemantle is fine with his shooting/volume of threes. Hunter is the one who has to go on the zero threes plan (assuming he comes back).

[D-West & PO-Z]

Freemantle is fine with his shooting/volume of threes. Hunter is the one who has to go on the zero threes plan (assuming he comes back).

Yes!

[bleedXblue]

He shot 46- 3 point shots in 30 games last year. He doesn't shoot nearly as many as you think he does. That's not a very big sample size to evaluate him.

He really backed off on his attempts the last 8 games. No more than 2 in any of them. That's the Zac we need. Not the guy who attempts 4-5 a game.

[D-West & PO-Z]

He shot 46- 3 point shots in 30 games last year. He doesn't shoot nearly as many as you think he does. That's not a very big sample size to evaluate him.

Good info. Free only had 4 games where he attempted more than two 3's where he was:

1/4
2/5
0/5
3/5

5 is too many but 1-3 depending on the game is probably reasonable. Maybe he shoots them better next year too and things change. I trust Miller to get the most out of each player.

[IM4X]

i felt for him as if you are 95% of your capabilities in the Big East you are toast and he looked like 85%. If Miller would simplify his game (I could not believe the number of dribble drives he would take from the hep or corner that ended in turn overs) and work with him to draw offensive fouls (Zach seems too proud to "sell it") i think he could be as effective as Nunge (going into last year that would have been a ridiiculous statement, not now). 13 p, 7 reb in 25 miniutes would be a home run with decent defense(not Rodman style but smarter). Nice to hear and does he have 1 year left of a year PLUS covid

When Zach is at his best- doing the things he is meant to do- he is a scary- good player. I could see that Zach showing up much of the time next season with the guidance of Sean.

[noteggs]

When Zach is at his best- doing the things he is meant to do- he is a scary- good player. I could see that Zach showing up much of the time next season with the guidance of Sean.

Agree. With an injury free off season, hopefully he can keep moving in the right direction. He needs to realize the boos were not for him coming in, but for taking Cesare out. Can’t blame him, but he seemed to have some angry gestures towards the crowd. Still not sure they were out of joy or frustration. From my seat they looked like the latter.

[nuts4xu]

Sean Miller coached teams have historically shot 3's better than Travis Steele coached teams. The system and offense will lead to a bump on most everyone's shooting percentage, including Freemantle. Zach is most dangerous when opposing defenses have to guard him, and he is a threat to pop a 3 when he is behind the arc. Give him a healthy off season with Sean Miller as his head coach, and I am optimistic ZF is going to have a bounce back season.

[MHettel]

Sean Miller coached teams have historically shot 3's better than Travis Steele coached teams. The system and offense will lead to a bump on most everyone's shooting percentage, including Freemantle.

Not sure I agree entirely. We might be able to point to Miller teams 3 pt shooting percentages being higher than Steele's teams, but I think the reason WHY is a little different than what you suggest.

If I read this correctly, you are suggesting that any given player will just "shoot better" with Miller on the sidelines. And I cannot get behind that theory. I think Miller just runs a good system that results in 3 point attempts from the good shooters, while Steele's system seemed to result in 3 point attempts from the bad shooters. It's not the quality of the shot that the system generates, it's the quality of the shooter that is taking the quality shot.

We had way too many 3 point attempts from Goodin, Naji, Carter, Freemantle, and Hunter over the last 4 years. Those guys would not be any better as shooters if it were Miller on the sidelines.

Welage and Johnson were the only real "shooters" to get any minutes on the Steele led teams. We never got to see Wilcher, or ridder or Kennedy or Harden, or Bishop develop as players and each of these guys had at least some reputation as a shooter.

Scruggs was a capable shooter that took the right amount of shots.

We need shooters, first and foremost. THEN we need a system that creates open shots for the shooters. If you dont have the shooters, then having the system wont matter.

Freemantle took 1.5 3pt attempts per game last year and shot 26%. Down from 3.7 the year prior while he shot 32%. I'd like to see him stay in that 1.5 per game range, and get the % back up over 30%.

Also, as an aside, having you big man either taking 3's or otherwise hanging out on the perimeter really reduces your offensive rebounding chances.

[JTG]

Not sure I agree entirely. We might be able to point to Miller teams 3 pt shooting percentages being higher than Steele's teams, but I think the reason WHY is a little different than what you suggest.

If I read this correctly, you are suggesting that any given player will just "shoot better" with Miller on the sidelines. And I cannot get behind that theory. I think Miller just runs a good system that results in 3 point attempts from the good shooters, while Steele's system seemed to result in 3 point attempts from the bad shooters. It's not the quality of the shot that the system generates, it's the quality of the shooter that is taking the quality shot.

We had way too many 3 point attempts from Goodin, Naji, Carter, Freemantle, and Hunter over the last 4 years. Those guys would not be any better as shooters if it were Miller on the sidelines.

Welage and Johnson were the only real "shooters" to get any minutes on the Steele led teams. We never got to see Wilcher, or ridder or Kennedy or Harden, or Bishop develop as players and each of these guys had at least some reputation as a shooter.

Scruggs was a capable shooter that took the right amount of shots.

We need shooters, first and foremost. THEN we need a system that creates open shots for the shooters. If you dont have the shooters, then having the system wont matter.

Freemantle took 1.5 3pt attempts per game last year and shot 26%. Down from 3.7 the year prior while he shot 32%. I'd like to see him stay in that 1.5 per game range, and get the % back up over 30%.

Also, as an aside, having you big man either taking 3's or otherwise hanging out on the perimeter really reduces your offensive rebounding chances.

Having a capable point guard that gets the ball to a successful shooter is the part of Miller's system that will produce results. We had Goodin, Naji, and Skruggs as PG the last 4 years. No one in the bunch was a good point guard, hence the poor shot selections and resulting poor results.