Player grades: Brendan Bailey

[Gato78]

What is his grade over the season?

[Nukem2]

Gave him a C. Really played quite well down the stretch other than his shot which seems more to be the case of getting his feet and body squared up as seems to shoot too quickly. Only 6 TOs in 461 minutes. Hope a summer with the training staff will help build up his body while working on his shot (which looks really good in the pre-game warmups).

[MUAlphaBangura]

C-, for factors mostly out of his control. This summer he will be completely in control of his future. Let's see what he does.

[Phantom Warrior]

No higher than a C minus.

He did not shoot well. He shot 34.5% overall from the field. Anything below 40% I view as poor. He shot 25.4% on treys. That is terrible, especially for someone who had a rep as a very good perimeter shooter.

He is not a good rebounder. In fact, for a guy 6'8" with decent athleticism, he is a very poor rebounder. He averaged 1 rebound per 8.0 minutes.

His assist stats are even worse. He had a grand total of 14 assists in 34 games; that comes to 0.4 apg. He averaged 1 assist per 34.2 minutes. That's ridiculous.

His shooting efficiency for the season was 0.973. No one else among our top seven players was under 1.137. His shooting efficiency was .42. That was also the lowest of the seven players who saw decent minutes the last third of the season. Even Jamal had higher figures: 1.042 for scoring efficiency and .50 for shooting efficiency, and Jamal was a much better rebounder ( 1 rebound per 4.0 minutes).

Brendan did a terrific job of not turning the ball over - only 7 turnovers for the year, and he was a decent defender, though he did get beaten off the dribble quite frequently.

Every once in awhile BB would show a flash of what we might hopefully see in the future - like a catch-and-shoot trey that looked smooth and natural or a hustle play.

He did play better the last 7 games of the season: 5.4 ppg in 19.6 mpg along with 46.4% from the field and 42.1% on treys. But he still was poor on the glass - only 1 rebound per 6.8 minutes. Plus he had a grand total of 2 assists in 137 minutes.

In all honesty, though, last summer I did not expect much from Brendan at all. I figured he'd be 10th or 11th in the rotation. The absence of Greg, of course was a factor in his getting some minutes at the 2 on defense, but I also expected Jamal to be ahead of him in the rotation at the 3.

I don't know what to expect from BB in the future. I wish he were a better rebounder, and I wish he'd have more assists. Maybe we'll see the shooter/scorer that someone with his rep coming in should display. We'll see.

Bottom line: a C minus for this season.

[MUfan12]

C. Was surprised at how well he did while matched up on guards (Morant excluded). Shot needs a total overhaul. Mechanics are terrible.

[Nukem2]

C. Was surprised at how well he did while matched up on guards (Morant excluded). Shot needs a total overhaul. Mechanics are terrible.

Needs to get his feet squared up. Shot looks very nice in pre-game warmups. In game, he is in too much of a hurry to get the shot off and his feet are all over the place.

[Goose85]

Confidence, and adjusting to the speed of the college game after being basically off for two years. I expect a huge jump between frosh and soph seasons for Bailey.