I know Shabazz had more assists per min and they had the exact same assist to turnover ratio. But for some reason I really liked Boatright at the 1 tonight. The team seemed to play much better together overall with him and Shabazz switching back/forth at the point tonight, much like Shabazz and Kemba did last year.
His game reminds me a lot of Kemba's when Kemba was a frosh/soph. I wanted to punch the TV screen in the second half when WVU had just scored, we were down, and Boatright dribbled the ball all the way up the court, didn't pass to anyone, drove to the foul line and threw up a brick. If he had hit that shot, though, I would've been happy he answered back against the WVU basket so quickly though... much like Kemba did last year. Only Kemba was automatic and had the green light to take quick shots to "answer back" to a basket, or stop a run, by the other team.
Regardless, you can see that same type of attitude in Boatright... wanting to be the guy that ices the other team's run and hits the big shot. I know against Rutgers there were a number of times he was forcing it... and again I wanted to punch/throw my TV. But I definitely remember Kemba making the same type of freshman mistakes in his first (and even second) year.
Bottom line: I would definitely like to see Boatright and Shabazz switch off at running the point more this year, the way they did tonight. I think it'll be good for both of them... since they both like to score (I know, Shabazz had 0 points tonight... but that's not typical) and can also both run the point obviously. I feel like it'll likely make them both last longer in 30+ minute games too.
His game reminds me a lot of Kemba's when Kemba was a frosh/soph. I wanted to punch the TV screen in the second half when WVU had just scored, we were down, and Boatright dribbled the ball all the way up the court, didn't pass to anyone, drove to the foul line and threw up a brick. If he had hit that shot, though, I would've been happy he answered back against the WVU basket so quickly though... much like Kemba did last year. Only Kemba was automatic and had the green light to take quick shots to "answer back" to a basket, or stop a run, by the other team.
Regardless, you can see that same type of attitude in Boatright... wanting to be the guy that ices the other team's run and hits the big shot. I know against Rutgers there were a number of times he was forcing it... and again I wanted to punch/throw my TV. But I definitely remember Kemba making the same type of freshman mistakes in his first (and even second) year.
Bottom line: I would definitely like to see Boatright and Shabazz switch off at running the point more this year, the way they did tonight. I think it'll be good for both of them... since they both like to score (I know, Shabazz had 0 points tonight... but that's not typical) and can also both run the point obviously. I feel like it'll likely make them both last longer in 30+ minute games too.