Quick Kunkel Stats

Lots of opinions and discussions about how valuable Kunkel is, and whether his playing style and production will be worthy of significant minutes this year or not.

Without having done any analysis, my GUT says that we need Kunkel as a "shot getter" on a team with seemingly few guys that can create their own shot whenever they want. What I'm describing is a guy that can get a jumper off when he already has the ball in his hands. Sounds like a common skill, but it's not. Most guys can catch-and shoot. Scruggs could drive, or post and fadeaway, but not create space for an off the dribble jumper. Johnson couldnt do it. Haven't seen Jones do it. Tandy hasn't shown it. Big guys generally never do this, and we dont know anything about the Freshmen. Cant say I know much about Boum, but he gets to the line ALOT, so I'll assume he has an attacking style.

So, will Kunkel fill that need, and how good would he be if that's what we count on him for.

A few Stats:

Kunkle took .35 shots per minute last year, and .361 per minute the year prior. His average at XU of .353 would put him slightly ahead of Semaj for #6 most shots per minute out of 75 recent XU Players. Ahead of him? Crawford, Kanter, Lenny, Trevon, and.......TANDY.

So, yeah. He shoots ALOT.

But what REALLY matters is Points, right? He averages .380 Points per minute at XU. For this stat he would rank 37th among the 75 former players......YIKES.

So he takes the 6th most amount of shots and scores the 37th most amount of points. So how do you improve on that?

He could take less shots, right? Stick to the higher percentage shots which would lead to more success and a higher %. Thats the magic trick right. Its not just less OVERALL shots, its less of the tough ones. And ideally, and increase in the shooting % of the easy, open shots.

Is he even capable? in his sophomore year at Belmont he put up numbers that when compared to the 75 XU players would have ranked him #2 in Shot attempts per minute and #3 in points per minute. This is Jordan Crawford territory. So yeah, he can do it....against Belmont level competition at least.

he could be a deadly offensive threat, but as of now I'm viewing him as a net negative on offense. Unless we need a microwave off the bench in a comeback situation, I dont see him getting that many minutes with that offensive efficiency. And his relative size and strength add nothing on defense.

I'm convinced we need a "shot getter" on offense, but I'm not sure if Kunkel is the guy.

Good stats - and I think they back up what we see with our eyes. He's a shot hunter, and has the ability to make tough ones, but often shoots very low percentage and difficult shots. He needs to improve his shot selection. Doing so will lead to a better offensive efficiency.

The old adage - just because you CAN shoot that shot, doesn't mean you should.

As I've said, he could be a very valuable asset on this team - but not as what he's been.

COACHING.

I’d like to think that we will see a LOT of players doing things better than we’ve seen in recent years. I found it painful to watch at times. I hope we are done with most of that.

My prediction is that Kunkel will get 23-25 minutes per game. I do think he is a BE caliber player. There are a number of things that do not show up on stats in which I think that Kunkel provides. Such as ballhandling - last year IMO he was our best ballhandler. High IQ and court vision. He was also one of the few guys who actually played help defense last year and he draws fouls.

He may not be a great defender but he is an adequate defender.

Belmont plays within a system pretty much how most good teams do. I think we will see improvements in many players once they start playing within a system offense again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MADXSTER

My prediction is that Kunkel will get 23-25 minutes per game. I do think he is a BE caliber player. There are a number of things that do not show up on stats in which I think that Kunkel provides. Such as ballhandling - last year IMO he was our best ballhandler. High IQ and court vision. He was also one of the few guys who actually played help defense last year and he draws fouls.

He may not be a great defender but he is an adequate defender.

Belmont plays within a system pretty much how most good teams do. I think we will see improvements in many players once they start playing within a system offense again.

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What criteria does a BE caliber player need to be described as a BE caliber player?
Do BE players pass the ball well?
Shoot a lot?
Defennd ?
Make freethrows?
Is Kunkel above/below average compared to all BE shooting guards?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xukeith

What criteria does a BE caliber player need to be described as a BE caliber player?
Do BE players pass the ball well?
Shoot a lot?
Defennd ?
Make freethrows?
Is Kunkel above/below average compared to all BE shooting guards?

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To me, it's the combination of size and athleticism. If a player is overwhelmed on defense due to an opponents size and athleticism, then that would call into question whether they are "Big East Level". Same with offense. If their offensive skills are negated by opponents size and athleticism, then that also point to a player not being "Big East level"

Kunkel is a PERFECT example of this. As a sophomore at Belmont, he's putting a shot up almost every 35 seconds AND he's elite efficient. Yet 2 years later (and reportedly much stronger and bigger) and he's taking fewer shots and demonstrating average efficiency. What Changed? He's 2 years older and we all know how a player fills out from ages 19 to 21.

Keonte Kennedy, Kamal Richards, Elias Harden, Dontarius James, Makinde London, Larry Austin,Daniel Ramsey.

They you have guys like Carter, Miles and Stanley. They actually got PT (or were in line to) but you can SEE that they just arent playing at the right level.

Trevon may be the outlier here. In spite of his 'tweener" size and limited athleticism, he was so skilled as a scorer he could overcome that. Nobody else on the list above really was dripping with any particular skill.

We will know in a few weeks where Kunkel stands. If he's not offensively efficient, then I don't know why he'd be out there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MHettel

To me, it's the combination of size and athleticism. If a player is overwhelmed on defense due to an opponents size and athleticism, then that would call into question whether they are "Big East Level". Same with offense. If their offensive skills are negated by opponents size and athleticism, then that also point to a player not being "Big East level"

Kunkel is a PERFECT example of this. As a sophomore at Belmont, he's putting a shot up almost every 35 seconds AND he's elite efficient. Yet 2 years later (and reportedly much stronger and bigger) and he's taking fewer shots and demonstrating average efficiency. What Changed? He's 2 years older and we all know how a player fills out from ages 19 to 21.

Keonte Kennedy, Kamal Richards, Elias Harden, Dontarius James, Makinde London, Larry Austin,Daniel Ramsey.

They you have guys like Carter, Miles and Stanley. They actually got PT (or were in line to) but you can SEE that they just arent playing at the right level.

Trevon may be the outlier here. In spite of his 'tweener" size and limited athleticism, he was so skilled as a scorer he could overcome that. Nobody else on the list above really was dripping with any particular skill.

We will know in a few weeks where Kunkel stands. If he's not offensively efficient, then I don't know why he'd be out there.

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This is absolutely the right answer. It's much harder to get open against Big East caliber competition. They are bigger, they are stronger, and they are more athletic. I'm not surprised his shooting percentage took a hit, as going from competition in the Ohio Valley to the Big East is a significant jump. His shots have become harder because it's not nearly as easy for him to get open/easy shots.

Let's hope that changes within an offense that works. He will make open/easier shots, but needs an efficient offense to allow it.

The thing with Kunkel is the "what if" factor.

The guy is the streakiest player I can remember. We have all witnessed times when he came off the bench and was the best player on the floor. We have also witnessed him going 0-7 and committing 2 turnovers in the span of minutes.

There is little in between with him.

Here are some interesting stats on his streakiness:
- Over his 2 years at Xavier Kunkel is shooting 72/230 (31%) from three over 50 games.
- There are 16 games where he shot a combined 0/40 from three
- Take those 16 games away and he's shooting 38% from three.
- He is 59/134 (44%) in games when he makes 2 or more threes (21 games)
- He is 13/96 (13.5%) in games when he makes 1 or fewer threes (29 games)

I couldn't find this stat, but I would imagine his shooting percentage is much higher in games when he makes his first three. The problem is you need to put him on the floor to find out which version you're going to get.

All this said, if we needed a three at the end of a game and I was setting the lineup, no doubt I would put Adam on the floor. He has the "what if" factor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MADXSTER

My prediction is that Kunkel will get 23-25 minutes per game. I do think he is a BE caliber player. There are a number of things that do not show up on stats in which I think that Kunkel provides. Such as ballhandling - last year IMO he was our best ballhandler. High IQ and court vision. He was also one of the few guys who actually played help defense last year and he draws fouls.

He may not be a great defender but he is an adequate defender.

Belmont plays within a system pretty much how most good teams do. I think we will see improvements in many players once they start playing within a system offense again.

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Agree that Kunkel will play important minutes. And, he should. I can think of two B.E. games, the season prior to last year, that Kunkel's play was decisive. One of the opponents was Marquette, the other I cannot recall. In the first game, Kunkel drove the lane, saw the defender leaving Scruggs to come to him, passed to Scruggs in the corner who flipped it to Colby for the game winner. That play occurred because Kunkel showed initiative---he became the "shot getter" Hettle identified him as. The second time which I think was Marquette, he hit the game winner at the buzzer. Last year, Kunkel was a driving force in the NIT run. The guy makes things happen.

That's not to say that I don't recall him imitating Steph Curry's range, without Curry's accuracy or that he isn't streaky or that he should be a more accurate free throw shooter than he has, so far, been. Put a little more discipline into his game and he is an important cog this season. I am impressed with Claude and Craft but does anybody think these two freshmen are going to play better than proven veterans? I do not and that is no disrespect to either of them.

Absent Claude, Kraft and Boum, this year's team is essentially last year's team. Older, wiser and most importantly, led by a far, far superior coach. I think we will see that from the get-go.

My prediction............Kunkel plays a lot.

I'm on the opposite end from many, I don't think Kunkel and Sean are a good match for what Adam does (and doesn't do), and I don't think he plays a lot. In fact, I think his minutes go down as the season progresses, both because younger guys are finding their legs at this level, but equally because the things in Adam's game that I think will rub Sean the wrong way will just continue to bug him (Sean). The inability to keep his man from the basket, poor shot selection (including drifting and not getting set), more "rah rah" than effective, and not being able to box out wings on long shot attempts on the defensive end. I think he'll get plenty of chances / minutes early, but I think it will erode throughout the year.

I actually hope I'm wrong, I like the young man personally and I know how much he wants it, I just don't think it is a good match of player and coach in terms of skills / abilities and what the coach expects / demands.