Duncan Robinson: Bigfoot Unicorn Chupacabra?

Submitted by FauxMo on

Duncan Robinson is shooting 59% from 3-point range for the season, not including tonight (which will only add to that). Is he the first practice player with an obscene amount of hype that may actually EXCEED expectations?

 

I can remember dozens of "practice field All-Americans" who failed to meet expectations (across football and basketball), but I honestly cannot recall a single player who got tons of hype (i.e. Robinson's "better shooter than Stauskas") who might actually exceed expectations. Can anyone remember one???

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RobM_24

December 15th, 2015 at 8:40 PM ^

He might be the only player that has shown steady improvement from game to game so far. His defense has gotten marginally better, and his offensive spacing has been improving. He's learning how to use screens away from the ball to slip free for quick, open looks.

Joined: 01/27/2014

MGoPoints: 63498

FauxMo

December 15th, 2015 at 8:48 PM ^

Well, to be 100% honest, it's more common in football, because of spring camp and media coverage. So I was thinking about all the "Player X will be HUGE this year!!!" that totally failed to live up to the hype in football. But Duncan had tons of hype, and he is going above and beyond what I expected...

Joined: 06/17/2010

MGoPoints: 137564

JamieH

December 15th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^

I remember telling people that D3 players shoot at the same size/height basket that D1 players did, and that if he could shoot the lights out from 3 in ANY competitive college division (at his height) that he could be an asset to us.  I remember being told that his shot was clearly too slow and that he would repeatedly get it blocked at the D1 level (despite the fact that guys his height rarely have issues with having their 3-point shots blocked)

 

Obviously we haven't seen him shoot against the rest of the Big Ten yet, but I'm going to bet that while he still may struggle with aspects of his game this year, having his shot repeatedly blocked isn't going to be one of them.

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

nerv

December 16th, 2015 at 6:15 AM ^

That would be Mark Donnal. He had a lot of practice hype from his redshirt season. We heard plenty of things about him out playing the current bigs in practice, knocking down all kinds of midrange shots.

That is the only recent basketball one I can think of.

Joined: 04/14/2009

MGoPoints: 14072

CorkyCole

December 15th, 2015 at 8:47 PM ^

I don't know man. Dakich just finished running laps around the whole N Kentucky team on the final possession and proceeded to help every N Kentucky player up off the bench as the clock struck zero. He may be from another world. Continues to exceed my expectations.

Joined: 06/13/2011

MGoPoints: 4498

JOHNNAVARREISMYHERO

December 15th, 2015 at 8:51 PM ^

Impressive performance by Robinson.  He had the one half courter there at the end that is a throw away, but he opened things up in the second half for the other guys.  

Joined: 02/06/2015

MGoPoints: 4079

Squeezebox

December 15th, 2015 at 9:28 PM ^

Since he is not good in creating his own shot, he will have a personal body guard from here on out.  The genie is out of the bottle.

I think this will be the blueprint once B1G play begins. 

Joined: 04/25/2014

MGoPoints: 1566

Brian Griese

December 15th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^

want to play tight on Duncan now, it should give the four other guys on the court plenty of opportunity. It certainly isn't a "bad" thing on a team level, though his numbers might take a hit.

Joined: 10/25/2014

MGoPoints: 30238

JamieH

December 15th, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^

he will have to develop the ability to blow by them and then create offense off the dribble.  Stauskas got lots of points from free throws while attacking the rim his sophomore year once teams started overplaying his 3-point shot.   Robinson is nowhere near as good as Stauskas with the handle, but it's something for him to work on now that he should have some confidence in his game at this level.  There is no reason a guy like him can't be a 90% free-throw type, so anytime he can draw a shooting foul it is free points. 

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

Muttley

December 16th, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^

that means they're devoting extra defensive attention to him that has to be taken away from somewhere.

I thought of him as third/fourth/fifth option in the normal flow that instantly becomes a first option when the other team loses him in the chaos.  A 3-5 from three, nine points (1.8 points per shot attempt) type guy.

Maybe he's More Than Just That™?

Joined: 07/07/2009

MGoPoints: -73245