KAEO: Carl Pierre

[LS71]

Shooters are gonna shoot, no doubt about that.

Maybe this is a naïve notion from a fan, but when a player's shots aren't going in, shouldn't coaches encourage said shooter to focus on other aspects of his game and let the game come back to the player instead of letting the player continue to force shots that aren't falling?

[Roadtrip]

YES!

[69MG]

^^ I would think that a player in year 4 would know to do this. Not saying the coach shouldn't remind him, but let's put a little responsibility on a 4th year player to do what's necessary to help the team. If he doesn't, then the coach should yank him.

[capezona]

I'm not criticizing Carl because the guy works really hard and does what he thinks is best to help the team win. He's a bit of a streaky shooter and will come back to hit the shots that he needs too. He has a higher points/game, rebounds/game, and assists/game than anytime in his career. He's important to the team and will continue to help them win. There are a lot of other things going on with the team that is limiting their success right now.

[Juice Stand]

Folks that are suggesting that Carl should have stopped shooting aren't realizing that it's exactly what he did. He was ice cold in the first half while trying to find his shot, and many of those attempts came in one big spurt. I don't know the exact number, but I think he only took one or two shots in the second half. He took 7 total shots, which ties for his season low in attempts, the other being at Northeastern.

This falls 100% on McCall. I said it in the Davidson thread and I'll say it here, Carl was cold, TJ was not. McCall screwed up the substitutions. Carl certainly wasn't forcing his shots.

Edit: I just found it in the play-by-play. From 7:11 to 5:34 in the first half he missed 4 shots. He took and missed one more with 2:31 left. After halftime he only took 2 shots, one at 9:26 remaining, and then the garbage time three he made right at the end. Basically he had that one bad spurt over 2 minutes in the first half and then mostly stopped shooting. He did the right thing, but McCall needed to take him out and let TJ play.

[TheInsider]

I agree this has nothing to do with Carl. He always plays hard for the team. Its more about long stretches of TJ being on the bench. For that matter also Dibaji was on the bench when they went on their run (not sure if he hurt himself again?).

[Floyd]

Yeah, players are never trying to miss shots, some days they fall, other days they don't. Up to the coach to figure all that out and react/substitute accordingly

[DanaDingle3]

Agree! Carl's the man and very good for the program.

No knock on Carl. It's up to the coach to utilize him appropriately. He can't be something he's not.

[capezona]

Carl needs five 3's to pass Anthony Anderson and six to pass Ricky Harris for second place all time. He'll never catch Mack unless he comes back next year. He may end up with a PhD.

[Floyd]

Really pretty impressive when you match up names to Carl's accomplishments. Ricky Harris had a great career here and Carl should easily pass him on that 3's number. Really is impressive for a kid with 1 D1 offer. Nice job Carl

[69MG]

I hope he gets 1 against Fordham (hopefully we won't need a lot) and at least 4 against URI to pass AA.

[natwam2547]

I hope he gets 1 against Fordham (hopefully we won't need a lot) and at least 4 against URI to pass AA.

Great post, getting 5 and doing it against URI in a season sweep on the road is pretty darn special.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

Congrats on passing Ricky!

[Juice Stand]

This is excellent: https://twitter.com/UMassBasketball/sta ... 5754893312

Thank you to Carl for coming to UMass, sticking with UMass, and representing the University the way you have. By all accounts he's a tireless worker and a great person. A 4-year starter and he'll leave here with a Bachelors and a Master's degree. He finished this year as #2 all time in 3-pt field goals made, and his 38.3% 3-pt shooting is above Ricky Harris and Monty Mack.

This is what UMass basketball is all about for me. Watching these young men grow and compete and do the good things. We don't know yet if he'll take the extra year, but if he's not back, I'll just say that he's absolutely been my favorite player to watch these last 4 years. Good luck in the future Cap!

[m626t]

Who can play 4 years of D1 basketball all while earning a Bachelors and a Masters degree at a top tier research university? That is an impressive display of intellect and time management.