Liam McNeeley Shooting | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Liam McNeeley Shooting

I will say, seeing him still projected as a backend lottery guy has heavily perplexed me.

If you buy the shooting is better than 33% long term, I can understand a late first round projection. But usually shooters need to hit shots to get that label going into a draft.

I’ll be curious to see what draft analysts like Vecenie say about his role in the NBA and where his draft range actually ends up. I don’t expect him to come back unless the consensus is there’s a chance he’ll fall out of the first round, but I’m not convinced it wouldn’t be the best move for his career at this point, since he could be a for sure lottery pick with better numbers next year.
 
upstater said:
Liam is fine.

You're making too much of it because right now he's driving and getting clipped a lot with no calls.

Let's get into the NCAA tourney. Those are high percentage shots. He's not taking bad shots. And he's one of the few UConn players who can actually drive to the basket
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upstater said:
Liam is fine.

You're making too much of it because right now he's driving and getting clipped a lot with no calls.

Let's get into the NCAA tourney. Those are high percentage shots. He's not taking bad shots. And he's one of the few UConn players who can actually drive to the basket.
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Love the guy and agree about his ability to get to the hoop but if you don’t think it’s a problem you’re not paying attention. In his last 3 games against the best teams in the BE (StJ, Marquette and Creighton) he was12/51 including 3/20 from 3. His shots against Creighton were not close to high %. The were mostly out of control runners against a 7 footer. Hopefully he gets more calls in the tourney but an occasional pull up or pass wouldn’t be out of order.
 
Boost'ED said:
Interesting topic.


Honestly never looked at Liam's stats until reading this thread but his percentages are pretty low.

His overall FG% is a tad under 40% and 3pt.% is right around 33%.

For somebody touted as a great shooter those values don't correspond.


However, on this team (way too often) Liam is tasked to be the shot creator, and frequently gets the ball with the shot clock dwindling.

His shot mechanics are spot on, it's just the shot selection and degree of difficulty in shots is weighing down his percentages.


On a better formulated team, Liam would be much more efficient.
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He has been missing open threes since his return Regularly.
 
He has had to go to the rim because no one else could when we have been covered at the 3 line. Who else is there to drive?
 
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Liam could work on his midrange shot like Luis has. It does not have to be 3 or drive into the crowd only. That should be his off season focus.
 
LM has the full pedigree. 5 star best shooter in high school, premier program.

If you took that all away and just evaluated him based on this year, he's a late first round pick or early 2nd round. No question he has the talent to be a lottery pick. But he hasn't earned that right on the court. He's earned that from his reputation.
 
With HD and SJ in, that leaves only 3 guys looking to shoot in the starting lineup. AK is best as catch and shoot (and passes ball out of his hands most often very quickly without putting his defender in danger) and SB's role is to hunt his 3's (which the other team is aware of). That leaves a pretty heavy load for LM as the biggest driving threat, volume 3 point shooter and guarding most athletic big wing.

Hurley wanted/needed AH in starting lineup to give a Cam/Tristen type offensive set up with LM but hasn't worked out. LM seems a bit stiffer and more awkward than earlier in season, tough season for him physically as freshman and think has impacted his offense and defense.

Team in total has not shot the ball as well as expected/needed but offensive is #14 on Kenpom (must be SJ and TR @ crazy shooting %'s).

Need LM to shoot per advertised to make some noise in a 6 game elimination tournament, can grit out Oklahoma but need all guns firing if get to Florida.

Don't know why I keep thinking AM is going to turn it up, keep seeing him as skilled like the point guards for Purdue and Creighton but so far that has only been in my mind and not on the court.
 
gsmooth said:
HuskyWarriar611 I thought put it perfectly. He stated that Liam is trying to play hero ball too much in the name of "wanting to win so badly" instead of making the right pass and involving his teammates which he was doing earlier in the season. I agree with those statements because I am seeing the same thing. If he has the hot hand, okay hero ball it is and make the proper pass off the defense reacting, but otherwise don't revert to hero ball too much.
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The hope is that someone could guide him to see this behavior and direct them to make proper decisions.

Maybe this is happening and he’s just not listening and which case the bench would be a good teacher.
 
His defense cost us the Creighton game as he got touched by Neil..
His defense has lagged due to poor offense (shooting) during slump, mind set..
Overall game needs rehab.. coaches and team mates?
 
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Huskyforlife said:
I will say, seeing him still projected as a backend lottery guy has heavily perplexed me.

If you buy the shooting is better than 33% long term, I can understand a late first round projection. But usually shooters need to hit shots to get that label going into a draft.

I’ll be curious to see what draft analysts like Vecenie say about his role in the NBA and where his draft range actually ends up. I don’t expect him to come back unless the consensus is there’s a chance he’ll fall out of the first round, but I’m not convinced it wouldn’t be the best move for his career at this point, since he could be a for sure lottery pick with better numbers next year.
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He's a stud college player next year collecting WTV the NIL is. All BEast and probably then some, IMHO.

IDK the math; but say #16 pick this year vs. NIL $ and upgrade (maybe) to lottery in '26? Not too dissimilar to J Hawk's Soph decision.

I can embrace the NIL from an empathetic point vis a vis the players. As a fan, not so much. Overlay NIL with portal and we've yet to see that mess come to fruition.
 
LM based on name and pedigree gets drafted 15+/-.

LM based on actual performance gets drafted 25+/-.

Guaranteed to play in the G league all year in 2026. Or take the NIL and be a top 10 pick.
 
UC0NN said:
LM based on name and pedigree gets drafted 15+/-.

LM based on actual performance gets drafted 25+/-.

Guaranteed to play in the G league all year in 2026. Or take the NIL and be a top 10 pick.
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Pedigree matters and if I had to guess Liam’s I’d say golden doodle
 
AllHusky said:
I wonder what Liam’s ankle status is. 100%, 50%? Seems unsteady at times.
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You may have a point. I recall his defense and rebounding was a lot better prior to the injury. But I could be wrong.
 
Oklahoma is a really good matchup for Liam and Tarris.

Tarris because they have no one to matchup with him and he should feast.

Liam they should be able to run that pick and roll on the high elbow they love to action with Samson and get two on ones where the lone defender has to decide whether to check Liam or the big. With Oklahoma's rim protection being non existent, Liam can do exactly this as he did v. Creighton except this time should have no resistance getting to and finishing at the rim.

If there was ever a game where I could see Liam getting 20-25 points and Tarris / Samson combining for 25-30 points, this game is it.

The question is will that be enough. It's not a great game for Solo matchup wise, but between Liam, Alex, Tarris, and Samson they should all feast.

If they put rim pressure on the entire game with simple pick and rolls and backcuts, that could open up the perimeter for Solo but I do not expect him to contribute much through little fault of his own.
 
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my2cents said:
Liam is a very good player for us. However , his poor shooting lately has made winning for us a bigger challenge than it needs to be.
Over the last 7 games, he is 27 for 85 from 2's (31%) and 9-37 from 3's (24%).
At the same time a player like Stewart barely gets any shots.
If Liam is hot, fine...get him lots of shots. But if stays as cold as he has been, you have to go somewhere else.
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He’ll get to the line a lot in the tournament, thanks to unbiased refs. He has been missing a few but so did Karaban for a while. I have Duke meeting UConn in the final in my pool at work. Watch out for Arkansas though.
 
The Creighton game was fools gold. I was shocked to see him play/shoot that well with that injury and that much time off, but he’s playing more like I expected since. The high ankle to a basketball player is like a shoulder to a pitcher or an abdominal strain to a hitter. It takes time to get the “feel” back with your mechanics. This is what usually happens.

A typical rolled ankle is different where the side of the foot swells and you tape it up. You push off your toes when you jump and you need those high ankle ligaments at the top of your foot in order to get your lift. When you don’t, you start over compensating and shooting with your arms more, and it quickly goes south. Getting your mechanics back is difficult - and then there’s the mental grind of slumping from the muscle memory not being there and missing shots that you think are going in. His ankle could be close to 100 percent healthy but there’s still just getting the feel and confidence back, which is probably where he’s at now. We can hope the light flickers back on with a couple makes in the NCAAs, but obviously we’re running out of time to see it in a UConn uniform.
 
gsmooth said:
HuskyWarriar611 I thought put it perfectly. He stated that Liam is trying to play hero ball too much in the name of "wanting to win so badly" instead of making the right pass and involving his teammates which he was doing earlier in the season. I agree with those statements because I am seeing the same thing. If he has the hot hand, okay hero ball it is and make the proper pass off the defense reacting, but otherwise don't revert to hero ball too much.
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Work smarter not harder.
 
The kid is a stud. If he declares, he will be a lottery pick. I think think he can use another year, but listen, I said the same thing about Castle, who clearly was really to succeed from day one. SO what do I know....
 
UconnU said:
We’re force feeding him. Last year we forced nothing.
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He's forcing things, maybe by design, but there were lots of late shots last year as well. We had some miracle long three's by TN as the clocks hit zero and lots of great moves and shots by CS late in the shot clock.
 
Scrutineer said:
He's forcing things, maybe by design, but there were lots of late shots last year as well. We had some miracle long three's by TN as the clocks hit zero and lots of great moves and shots by CS late in the shot clock.
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It feels like all the unsuccessful wildness going to the rim is streaming into facets of his game. He’s playing with no control or discipline at all, losing balance, needs to tone it down and pick and choose shots better. Take a pull up 8 footer square vs blindly going to rim with hair on fire.
 
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RuffRuff said:
It feels like all the unsuccessful wildness going to the rim is streaming into facets of his game. He’s playing with no control or discipline at all, losing balance, needs to tone it down and pick and choose shots better. Take a pull up 8 footer square vs blindly going to rim with hair on fire.
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I agree, And also stop trying to do it all. We need to the Liam setting screens and getting open and taking good shorts. Not out of control, no passes and to the rIm Liam.

I do think in his defense, others are not getting open and maybe he’s trying to put team on his shoulders.

He’s a good player and not a ball hog IMO - more trying to be a leader but if the shots aren’t falling you‘ve got to adjust game.

He and Alex will be difference makers - they can’t be clanking shots for us to advance in this tourney.
 
I seem to remember Kemba have numerous lines like 4 for 12, with 8 of 10 from the line for 18 points and such. Liam is also a volume shooter he just needs to get to the line more. Which I think he will in the NCAAs.
 
You can live with AK shooting 6-20. They will usually be good shots and he's your star junior. You live with it.

You don't want your freshman shooting 6-20 on bad shot selection to end the year. Its just uncalled for.
 
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