Tweet me!Welcome to "The Season Rewind" we are going to take a look at how each player did in this past season. We will also take a sneak peak into what each player needs to work on for next season. Up first is Cashmere Wright.
2009-2010 Season Rewind
After spending his first year in Cincinnati rehabbing a torn ACL, Cashmere Wright stepped right into the starting point guard role for the Cincinnati Bearcats to open the 2009-2010 season and showed why he was tabbed as a 4 star recruit in his debut scoring 12 points and grabbing 5 rebounds in a season opening win against Prairie View A&M. From there it was quite a roller coaster ride as the speedy floor leader learned to adjust his game at the college level.
Wright lived up to his billing as a player that could use his quickness and ball handling ability to get in the lane, but he struggled to finish with contact at the rim on the UC run to the finals of the Maui Invitational. It continued to be something that plagued him all season as he finished the year shooting only 35.6% from the floor, but there were flashes of things starting to come together as the team ran the gauntlet in Big East play. The main problem was consistency as only once did he score in double figures in back to back games putting up 12 in a loss at Louisville and 24 in a win at home against Providence. On the season he averaged 5.4 points in 34 games, and only scored in double figures 5 times.
Finishing at the rim wasn't the only tough spot for Wright as he also had trouble from the perimeter and at the charity stripe. Both areas were considered strengths when he got to UC, but much like the entire team, things started out sleow and once the confidence took a hit it never fully recovered. Wright shot over 80% from the charity stripe and around 40% from distance in his high school days in Savannah, Georgia but was only able to manage 59.4% from the FT line and 25.7% outside the arc. His shooting form is solid in both areas, but he couldn't find his stroke in game action on a consistent basis.
Wright averaged 18.4 minutes a game in his rookie campaign including 11 starts and 28 of 34 games saw him play at least 10 minutes a contest. With Deonta Vaughn and Lance Stephenson no longer on the roster the redshirt sophomore is going to have to take the experience he gained as a freshman and turn his play up a few notches for the Bearcats to have success in the 2010-2011 season.
Strengths For 2010-2011 Season
Wright has always been most comfortable in an up tempo system, and with Vaughn and Stephenson no longer around he should get the ball in his hands right away much more frequently. With a full off season devoted to training instead of also working through rehabbing his knee, he can focus on adding the strength needed to absorb contact when he gets to the paint, and that will help the field goal percentages rise.
While his shot selection from the perimeter will be in the needs work category below, the is no doubt the form and release on his shot is the most picture perfect on the team. With the gained experience of a full season under his belt, the confidence in his shot should rise, and as he moves from a secondary option in the offense to a player that is counted on for scoring production I expect a huge rise in his shooting percentages from the distance.
Adding high energy guys like Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Jackson to returning players like Ibrihima Thomas, JaQuon Parker and Dion Dixon should provide Wright with plenty of options to locate and dish to in the open court on the fast break. Sometimes just knowing that you are going to have guys on the wing and trailing when you get into the lane can not only boost assist totals, but also give the defense more to worry about and open scoring lanes when the tempo is pushed.
What Needs Work
The one aspect that jumps out first for Wright to elevate his game as a point guard is to opperate the team better in their half court sets. I think one thing most all UC fans could agree on last season is the desire to see a more efficient offense when the game slows down, and Wright is a big key to making that happen. Through a large chunk of Big East play last season Vaughn brought the ball up and initiated the set when both were in the game, and that duty is largely going to fall back on Cashmere going forward. If he can learn to use his speed and quickness off the pick and roll out top to attack the rim and create or finish things should really open up for the Cats.
As I talked about above, shooting form and touch are not an area of concern for Wright, but what he does need to improve on is his shot selection when firing it up from long range. It's imperative that he gets up above 33% from outside as it will make teams respect his jumper and not be able to play off him to cut out his ability to drive. It would be nice to see him utilize Vaughn's lethal step back jumper (from his sophomore and junior seasons) off of the pick and roll to combat a defender going underneath the screen.
Like most players going from their freshman to sophomore seasons, the biggest area of improvement lies in simply learning how to be consistent in every phase of the game. This goes from practice to the film room to the court on game day, and it is something Wright really has to embrace as he gets the keys to running the team pretty much full time from the point guard spot. That will allow turnover numbers to go down while the scoring and assist stat lines go up.
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