Is Stauskas A Better Shooter Than Rice?

Submitted by maznbluwolverine on

  I grew up in Flint and followed Rice throughout his high school and college career, but this kid can shoot.  I didn't think I'd ever see a better college stroke than Glen.

TheGhostofYost

December 1st, 2012 at 7:56 PM ^

Because you are failing to follow the basic rules of sports commentary:

1.  Make as many premature evaluations as you can.  The smaller the sample size, the better.

2. If a narrative is compelling, use it.  Obvious lack of empirical support should be ignored.

3. Hyperbole must always trump objectivity, even if you represent a major sports network.

4. If a mediocre white college player displays good effort, he shall be compared to a professional white athlete with similar size but far superior skill and athleticism.

5. Being loud and obnoxious is good.  Being loud and obnoxious while talking about Tim Tebow is better.

Sources:  Skip Bayless, Drew Sharp, RCBM, Mike Valenti, Stephen A. Smith, Bucknuts, Colin Cowherd, and Jim Rome.

Shakey Jake

December 1st, 2012 at 6:34 PM ^

But Michigan looks to have one heck of a shooter that, I believe, is going to do some GREAT things. If Stauskas goes 85% beyond the arc and is the key to helping mich win the tourney this year then Ill agree with you that he's better than rice. :p

San Diego Mick

December 1st, 2012 at 6:33 PM ^

for sure, but Rice did it for 4 years and did amazing things in big moments.

Let's just enjoy Stauskas as a great player/shooter in his own right and not put pressure on him by comparing him to the most prolific single tourney scorer ever.

Michiganfootball13

December 1st, 2012 at 6:41 PM ^

He is one hell of a shooter but he has not really been tested in high stress environments like Rice was.  If he can hit clutch jumpers in late March/Early April then I'll think about it but right now lets just leave it at he is an outstanding shooter.

Raoul

December 1st, 2012 at 6:44 PM ^

This is definitely a premature question, but it'll be difficult to ever make a one-to-one comparison of their three-point shooting ability because the NCAA three-point line was at 19 feet, 9 inches when Rice played, and it's now at 20 feet, 9 inches.

jmblue

December 1st, 2012 at 6:55 PM ^

The other thing is that the 3-point shot was only added to the NCAA in Rice's sophomore season, so he didn't grow up shooting 3's like players now do.  In fact, he even played inside frequently when he was an underclassman (and was one of the league's best rebounders one year).  He made a remarkable transition to becoming a primarily perimeter player by the time he was a senior.

It's going to be apples and oranges.  If Stauskas can come even close to matching Rice's production he'll have one heck of a career.

 

Raoul

December 1st, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^

so he didn't grow up shooting 3's like players now do.

Yes—it's highly unlikely Rice took as many outside shots growing up as Stauskas claims he did:

“Shooting is what I do,” Stauskas said. “I’m comfortable with it. I’ve probably taken a million shots in my life. That’s pretty much all I did when I was a kid, just go outside and shoot.”

(from this Daily article)

jmblue

December 1st, 2012 at 7:13 PM ^

He's off to a fantastic start, but I've been burned from the Gavin Groninger experience never to  again hype up a shooter too much.

 

UMmFan1

December 1st, 2012 at 7:23 PM ^

I just don't care, still enjoying the mere fact of having a baltic named tall canadian as a SG. It's well known having one on your team is not just effective, it makes you cooler.