SEC: Michael Frazier The Key For Florida

For any basketball team there is only one certain premise, change will always occur. But when change does occur, it also allows room for growth. When it comes to growth especially in basketball, some players step up, while other players step down.

This season the Florida Gators will begin 2014-15 with the loss of the last year’s SEC Player of the Year, point guard Scottie Wilbekin, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year in center Patric Young, as well as small forward Casey Prather, and power forward Will Yeguete.

Defensively, that Gators team last year only allowed 57.8 points per game. Now that the centerpieces of that team are gone, it opens up the door for others to have the opportunity to showcase their talent, and help the Gators win. This Gators team is going to have a bit of a change in identity in their style of play.

Better yet, who is going to lead this team? Well, look no further because this season the Florida Gators are going to go as far as the shooting stroke of Michael Frazier II can take them. 

Here’s an illustration why.

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The NCAA record for 3-pointers made in a game belongs to Keith Veney of Marshall. Veney made 15 3-pointers against Morehead State on Dec. 14, 1996. Last season, Frazier nailed 11 3-pointers in a game against South Carolina on the road.

Frazier set a school record with his 11 3-pointers made, and was only four more makes away from tying the record that Veney set. Frazier finished the game against South Carolina with 37 points, three rebounds, one assist, and four steals.

In addition, Frazier set the Gators record for 3-pointers made in a single season with his 118.

Last season it was a little easier to gloss over Frazier’s shooting ability because there were so many excellent shooters in college basketball including Doug McDermott and Nik Stauskas.

However, though other players got celebrated more than Frazier, according to Synergy Sports Technology, Frazier’s 44 percent shooting accuracy in catch and shoot situations were the best mark for a shooter with as many attempts in all of college basketball.

This season is different because if the target wasn’t on Frazier’s back before, it’s there now. Opponents are going to create game plans around Frazier’s shooting ability to limit his production.

Performances like the South Carolina game are why Frazier’s shooting touch is so deadly, and can cause opponents to quickly lose games. These are the performances that also show why Frazier was the third leading scorer on his team at 12.4 points a game, behind Prather (13.8 points) and Wilbekin (13.1 points).

Now that those two names are gone from the roster next year because of graduation, Frazier is the team’s leading returning scorer. 

The fact that Frazier is such a good shooter is the reason he’s so deadly. Last season Frazier was literally the best shooter on the Gators roster. Frazier led the Gators in true shooting percentage at 65 percent, and in effective field goal percentage at 63.3 percent.

With Frazier, though, his points per game numbers can increase if he manages to tweak his game a bit. Because he needs to get better handles, Frazier often limits himself and normally only scores on catch and shoot attempts.

The next evolution in Frazier’s game is going to come when he puts the basketball on the floor, takes a few dribbles and creates his own shot. Last season he made 34.3 percent of his field goals off of the dribble. Once Frazier develops that part of his game, opponents will get left with no way of containing his game.

People such as myself get hyped because of the potential that Frazier possesses. Playing for coach Billy Donovan, Frazier is going to thrive. Donovan loves to shoot 3s and he loves to run. His team already has a prototypical Florida Gators starting point guard (a fast ball handling distributor) in Kasey Hill.

With Hill running the show, Frazier is going to get a lot of easy attempts not only from the three-point line, but also inside of the paint. 

Next season if he plays well enough, Frazier could turn himself into a NBA draft pick before his time in Gainesville is over.

I don’t know about you, but I cant wait to watch Frazier gun up some more 3s already. Something’s telling me he’s ready to have a big season.