2011-2012 Player Profile: Will Sheehey

  • 10/13/2011 2:08 pm in

It’s time for Inside the Hall’s player-by-player breakdown of the 2011-2012 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Will Sheehey.

Victor Oladipo showed his flash early and often in 2010-11, and became an instant fan favorite.

But as the season progressed, Indiana fans found his freshman counterpart, Will Sheehey, had some serious, spring-y swag as well.

Witness:

But like most freshman, Sheehey has plenty of room to improve his game. He shot only 64.9 percent from the line (24-37) and 30.4 percent (7-23) from three. (Though it should be noted both marks are of a relatively small sample size; Sheehey only played 34.4 percent of available minutes last season.) And he was also a part of the problem on defense last season at times, but that could be written to describe just about every player on the roster.

However, Sheehey did excel inside the arc, as he hit 52.4 percent (55-105) of his two-point field goals. Part of this was predicated on his game around the rim, as he was a solid offensive rebounder (8.6 percent OR%, fourth-best on team among regulars), which led to some nice put-back opportunities.

Derek Elston praised Sheehey’s improved jumper on Aug. 11, and Sheehey told assembled media on Sept. 22 he’s been working on his outside shooting as well as ballhandling in the offseason — so the sophomore may be able to flash a more versatile inside-outside game in 2011-12.

Best-case: Sheehey’s work this offseason and experience from a freshman Big Ten campaign puts him on the advancement-in-his-basketball-skills path and he plays an important role in the Hoosiers’ return to relevancy.

Worst-case: Sheehey fails to improve, and is just a facsimile of his freshman self  — an athletic player with untapped potential.

Quotable: “When guys talk about being a guard or a forward, they talk about guarding somebody. If I can guard a big or a guard, then it doesn’t matter. I had to guard some bigger guys last year and didn’t do that great of a job, but with a little bit of experience I think will be better this year.” — Sheehey on Sept. 22.

All stats in this piece from KenPom and StatSheet.

Previously: Jordan Hulls

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