Blake definitely had an impact as a freshman, including a game winner in the BTT. There's no argument there, his three point shooting was incredibly valuable. But yeah, he struggled in Year 2 and wasn't much of a factor, when compared to his first year.
I'm wondering, with Rodney, how he practices. Like, it was mentioned before, the whole height on his jump shot when practicing vs. during games. Cause when you watch him shoot in games, seems like he's almost over firing, hitting backboard, or back of the rim a lot. But if my memory serves, it's typically on line. He needs to find consistency in his takeoff, whether he learns to shoot without as much height at all (ala Blake), or at least consistently getting proper height. Confidence is a major issue right now because he can't find it, which makes his entire offensive game suffer.
As far as impact though, you can't argue there's a few games this year where he's come up with some big plays to help us win games, like against UNC, IU, Purdue, when we needed a spark or a big defensive play, he's stepped up. Some of you act like he's done nothing at all this year. Yes, he has not progressed (offensively) like we might have hoped, but he's definitely been a factor out there. It's not easy to find guys who have the ability to check guys with an ability to score on the wing, and Rodney can do that. He's probably the only one. Unfortunately, we've been forced into more zone with our limited roster, so with that you may wonder if his value has diminished some. But we need him out there, as his length is still valuable in the zone as well.
