Sid Wilson is a dynamic player and a great athlete. His presence on this roster has made the team deeper, more dangerous and just plain better.
See how we lead with the good stuff?
Watching another, uh, challenging offensive performance by UConn over the weekend, I found myself thinking a lot about Wilson and what the future holds for him. He was 1-6 from the floor in a 64-60 loss to Cincinnati. Two of the bricks were threes, dragging his long-range numbers down to a frigid 24 percent. But fine. Wilson’s shown enough ability to get to open space on the floor, explode in transition and work the glass that even if he never develops a dependable three-point shot, he is still capable of providing immense offensive value.
It’s the two-pointers that are the bigger concern. In 20 games this season, Wilson is shooting just under 40 percent on twos — 46.5 percent at the rim and 25.8 percent on two-point jumpers, via Hoop-Math. It’s puzzling because his natural instincts are good. His shot selection, while not perfect, is actually not too bad for a freshman. And his pedigree as a highly touted high school recruit suggests the scoring ability is in there somewhere.
Since 1993, only four UConn players have had a lower two-point percentage than Wilson (min. 100 field goal attempts). Dion Carson (29.5 percent!!!) who inexplicably took 115 shots on a bad (but eventually really good!) 1997 team, Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson in 2007 (Jerome Dyson’s 2007 season is just slightly better than Wilson’s), and Ricky Moore (also in 1997). One thing this tells us is that it’s really hard to win games when guys who can’t really shoot are taking a ton of shots. But there’s also evidence that — obviously — there’s no need to panic over Wilson’s cold shooting. Austrie and Robinson (and Dyson) would make the Final Four together two yeas later and Ricky Moore was a starting guard on arguably the best UConn team of all time in 1999.
Wilson has the ability to be a starter-caliber player on a contending team as well. So what’s the deal this year?
Well, for starters, he’s still getting his feet wet at the college level. It’s easy to overlook the effect a year without game action can have on a player. After his “transfer” from “St. John’s,” Wilson’s first year at UConn was spent sitting on the sidelines and practicing with, and against, his teammates on a historically bad team. It’s reasonable to expect the transition to real opponents to be rocky.
And he’s in the same boat as his teammates: learning a new system with a new coach who is experimenting with the rotation and trying to figure out who fits into the long-term plan.
That likely makes life harder for Wilson right now, but should benefit him next year. Despite the poor shooting, Wilson has proven that he can compete at this level and be a valuable member of Dan Hurley’s teams. It’s now up to both Wilson and Hurley to figure out how to use the offseason wisely to get Wilson’s jump shot and finishing ability where they need to be, and to design an offense that will allow him to succeed.
Unlike in recent years, the prospect of offseason improvement is reason enough to be optimistic about Wilson’s future. His surprising shot-blocking ability, bouncy athleticism and recruiting ranking are others.
