I also had the thought "well in games we lost we probably shot worse as a team as a whole"
As a team
In wins: 35.9% on 30.2 attempts per game
In Losses: 23.3% on 29.9 attempts per game
In close losses: 23.5% on 30.5 attempts per game.
Groundbreaking discovery - when we shot worse we lost!
However to go back to my first post on the subject, Ben shot ~4% worse in close losses compared to the rest of them, and that "rest of them" samples includes him going 0-fer at home against Michigan St. and the Duke game.
I think it comes down to him being the scapegoat in some of those games like @ Northwestern and @ Nebraska, both overtime losses where he shot a combined 1-16 from 3, and just in general being noticeably bad in some of those other close games. If we could have converted those to L's to wins it would have put us tied for 2nd in the B1G on record.
Yeah, I think you nailed part of it—Ben became the scapegoat for a season that had real potential, but ultimately came up short. And to be fair, that shortcoming wasn’t all on him. There were a bunch of factors at play—youth, some questionable in-game decisions, bad luck, and just the grind of the B1G.
Personally, I really believe Brad Underwood
wanted Ben to be the guy. Not because of blind faith, but because he saw it every day in practice. Plenty of people with access have said he was lights out in those settings. I think Brad let him keep shooting because he thought that if Ben could just break through whatever mental block he was dealing with, it could unlock the ceiling for the whole team.
But it became clearer as the season went on that it wasn’t going to happen—and that’s when we saw the shift. Ben started coming off the bench more, and Morez’s minutes picked up. If Morez doesn’t get hurt after that Superman block, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had overtaken Ben in minutes by the end.
I love Morez’s game and the toughness he brought, and sure, part of me wonders what could’ve been if we had gone all-in on him earlier. But even then, it’s not a guaranteed upgrade. Ben, even when he wasn’t hitting, still spaced the floor and drew defenders. Morez didn’t offer that threat from outside. And that two-big lineup with Morez and Tomi had its moments, but it wasn’t a fit against every team.
In the end, it feels like we tried to strike a balance between hope and adjustments. Maybe we held onto that hope for a little too long, but I get why.