Thursday, April 25, 2019

Nikola Maric

Maric is as promising a freshman big man as this team has had in a long time, perhaps ever. His game has some rough spots, but then when is that ever not true with young centers? He was durable - played in all 31 games, starting 30, averaging 24.4 minutes. He shot 51.7% from the field. In limited (49) attempts from the arc, he led the team in 3PT% at 42.9%. He was second on the team to Tucker in FT attempts, and he 64.5%, which is not bad, but leaves room for improvement.

He led the team in turnovers with 99, and even though that is to be expected from the guy who is getting mugged down low on a regular basis, he can do better there. Maric does have some work to do on the boards. He certainly has the strength for it, but does not seem to have the quickness or the nose for the ball that he needs to have. That is something the coaches can work on; rebounders can improve a lot with hard work and good instruction.

The ceiling for this kid is very high. If he improves some each season, he could (should) be the best big man in the conference by his senior year.

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