Obviously over the past six seasons I've followed Illinois basketball extremely close due to being a subscriber on Orange&BlueNews. Obviously the first five seasons I was not happy at all (and everyone knew), as Illinois was doing great things in practice, but underperformance, ladders, and SEAL training were abundant with the old regime. This year Illinois is finally showing what they can do on the court, however there are two things that I just don't get. First, why the hell is the RS Jr Finke not performing better? He could be one of the most efficient players in the country, probably one of the most productive players on the team, and he still has another year, yet he seems to be an after-thought at times. Second, there is this debate among many of you on who should be the team's best player, and many of you are putting Mark Smith. I just don't get it. Can someone explain it to me? A few stats:
- Finke has the lowest usage rate amongst rotation players at 15% despite being one of the most experienced players in the rotation.
- This new system was supposed to bring out the best in Finke, but he has resorted to being a one-dimensional three-point shooter: 51% of Finke's FGA are 3-pt jumpers.
- As a 6'10 5-position player, only 28% of Finke's shots are at the rim.
- Mark Smith was Illinois Mr. Basketball, lauded for his ability to dribble, pass, and shoot. But Smith is shooting 14.8% from three, and is averaging as many turnovers as assists.
- Mark Smith is 67th out of 77 qualified players in the Big Ten conference in 3p%
- Mark Smith has scored a total of 13 points in Illinois's last 4 games.
- Finke and Smith have the fewest steals of any Illinois rotation player with 3. Steals tell you exactly how good a player is defensively, so is this any surprise? The player with the most steals should be playing the most minutes, because that player is the best defensive player.
