Wondering About Dennis

May 28, 2007

Everyone seems to have penciled in Collin Dennis as the starter this coming season. Looking at his USF stats, I'm beginning to wonder.

There are six returning scholarship players from last year;s team. If you factor in Dennis' stats from his last USF year, here s where he'd rank:

Field goal percentage 7th

Free throw percentage 2nd

Three point percentage 3rd (only four shot threes)

Points per minute played 5th (tie)

Rebounds per minute played 7th

Floor game 4th

Floor game is assists+steals+blocked shots-turnovers/minutes played

Now I realize that the caliber of competition that he played against could skew these numbers somewhat. His stats were lower than that of hios freshman year and he played about 200 minutes less as a soph. He would still be last in field goal percentage; he shot 30% as a freshman as opposed to 25% as a sophomore. The next lowest field goal percentage of returning players is Colin Mangrum at 33%. I would think that a shooting guard would need much better figures. Watson, Davis, and Young all were in the 40s last year.

Maybe I'm just alarmed over nothing and he will return to his high school form but I'm feeling better about JJ signing Adam McCoy, especially since we lost Sturns. I still feel good about this team but I'm just not 100% sure that Dennis is the starter.

Cooley · May 28, 2007

I've never seen Adam McCoy play basketball. I've seen Collin Dennis play since his freshman year in HS. If McCoy is a better player, we will have a damn good basketball team.

ADLER · May 28, 2007

The statistics look rough, but there may be a legitimate reason.

The competition is tough in the Big East, especially for an incoming freshman from a 4A Texas school.

Dennis was switched to point guard his sophomore year because of injuries to teammates. He started at point guard because he was the best ball handler on the team even though he had never previously played the point. He was thrown into an unfamiliar position and performed to the best of abilities against players of amazing ability. His statistics suffered because of the move.

I think he's going to do quite well with the move back to his natural position.

Buford_Julep · May 28, 2007

Below are some cut and pastes from the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times sports blogs. It looks like he had many injuries and could not get untracked after he was ready to play.

Nov 2, 2005---With Tuesday's dismissal of junior guard David Sills, Dennis will see more time at the point backing up freshman Chris Howard, and he fared well running the offense Wednesday, with seven assists against just one turnover, scoring 15 points as well. Dennis was slowed by an Achilles' tendon injury and has only been healthy for about a week, but looked sharp at both guard positions.

Nov 12, 2005---Sophomore Collin Dennis will be the point guard, and while he's still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury, he handled the position well, combining with guard James Holmes for eight assists and no turnovers.

Dec 23, 2005---Q:What’s the status of sophomore G Collin Dennis? Any word on how his injury is progressing and when he can be expected to be back in the line-up? - Greg Budzban, Carbondale, Ill.

A: Dennis told me last week he wouldn’t get his cast off until late December and the earliest he could return is mid-January. I don’t think he should return, though, unless he is - without a doubt - 100 percent healthy. If he’s only 99 percent healthy, USF should redshirt him and not burn a season - that with or without Dennis - will likely end the same way: with twice as many losses as wins and a last place finish in the Big East.

Jan 16, 2006---Collin Dennis made his first appearance in 13 games since playing five minutes at Florida International Nov. 29. Dennis was limited because he wasn’t in playing shape, but appeared to have no lingering effects from his Achilles and high ankle sprain injuries. McCullum said he wanted Dennis to play between 15-20 minutes with St. John’s and Dennis played 19.

Jan 18, 2006---Is it any coincidence that walk-on Chris Capko played a season-low 21 minutes and Collin Dennis, in his second game back from injury, played a season-high 28?

Jan 21, 2006---Collin Dennis made his first start at point guard since returning from an Achilles injury Jan. 14. Dennis replaced junior walk-on Chris Capko in the starting lineup, ending a streak of 16 consecutive starts for Capko. Since Dennis has returned, he’s 5-for-25 from the field, including 1-for-7 from 3-point range.

Jan 25, 2006---Since Collin Dennis returned from his Achilles injury, he’s 5-for-38 from the field, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range. Dennis was more aggressive on offense Tuesday, but missed all 13 shots from the field. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Buford_Julep · May 28, 2007

Collin Dennis certainly passed the high school eyeball test when I was fortunate enough to see him play four games in Denton and then lead Richland to an upset win over North Crowley and Michael Sturns at Wilkerson-Grimes. Denins is a very intelligent player with good court sense and a good shooting eye. He is sneaky fast and a master of the change-of-pace dribble. He keeps a very calm demeanor at all times. I don't think he even sweats during games. I will be surprised if Dennis does not lead the team in scoring next season.

May 28, 2007

Jan 21, 2006---Collin Dennis made his first start at point guard since returning from an Achilles injury Jan. 14. Dennis replaced junior walk-on Chris Capko in the starting lineup, ending a streak of 16 consecutive starts for Capko. Since Dennis has returned, he’s 5-for-25 from the field, including 1-for-7 from 3-point range.
Jan 25, 2006---Since Collin Dennis returned from his Achilles injury, he’s 5-for-38 from the field, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range. Dennis was more aggressive on offense Tuesday, but missed all 13 shots from the field. He was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Thanks, BJ, I do feel better about the situation but couldn't understand how his shooting percentage dropped so much when he was still sharp from the line.

I remembered that he was a very good high school player. I realize that it's much tougher to excel in the Big East but he had quite a few turnovers as a soph. I guess playing out of position will do that for you and probably the Achilles didn't help his mobility either. Maybe I just expected too much.

I don't know anything about Adam McCoy other than he ranked 14th in shooting threes at the JUCO level. I know that Oak Hill has a good basketball reputation but I don't know how that equates with the public schools. Anyway, IF Dennis has lost his touch with the 3-pointers, then I'm glad we have a pretty good quality backup.

ADLER · May 29, 2007

I will be surprised if Dennis does not lead the team in scoring next season.

I think either Williams, Wooden, or both are poised for monster years this upcoming season. Both have outstanding ability and their confidence was incredible at the end of this past season. I predict that our frontcourt players are going to be dominant this year.

May 29, 2007

I agree. Quincy leads the returning players in almost every category. He just needs to work on his free throws to easily be all-conference. Wooden started slow but picked up steam and they were equally smooth by season's end.

I'd pick Williams to lead the team in scoring except that the 2 and 3s seem to get the most scoring opportunities.