Will Douglas
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 4:15 pm
This is one of the reasons I am a Will Douglas homer. Once his confidence gets up (should over the offseason) he is gonna be a baller. He has the skill-set and work ethic. The game is just too fast for him right now and he needs to get some confidence. Those things come with age and are sometimes hard for freshman.
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/colleg ... resses?f=r
Every morning at 7:45, like clockwork, William Douglas walks onto the SMU practice court.
The freshman starts out with a 15-minute dribbling and footwork drill. Then he spends 30-35 minutes putting up shots with assistant coach Jay Duncan. A shower promptly follows, then Douglas is off to his nine o'clock class before returning for practice five hours later.
"He's like Semi," says Duncan, in reference to current Boston Celtic Semi Ojeleye's renowned work ethic at SMU.
EXTRA:
Defense has been a notable area of growth for Landrum, who will return home to play at Tulsa for the first time as a Mustang on Thursday. He came to SMU as a score-first-and-second guard in high school. Now averaging 2.8 shots per game, he needed to find other ways to earn minutes.
Listed generously at six feet, Landrum was a liability on defense early in the season. As it's progressed, he's picked up his energy and done a better job of staying in front of his man and contesting shots.
It earned him some crunch time minutes in SMU's loss to Temple three weeks ago, after which Jankovich praised Landrum's play on defense.
"I felt like that was one thing that we really needed because we have a lot of scorers," Landrum explains. "It was hard at first but as I went on I was like, 'I'll do whatever I have to do to help the team win.'"
Likewise, Douglas hasn't gotten to show off the fruits of his early-morning offensive labors just yet, maxing out at eight points back in November against Northwestern State. He says the speed of the game and competitive level of the college game at first caught him off-guard.
But Douglas' confidence in his jumper and all-around game has grown as a freshman. He's seen a slight uptick in his minutes the last two games and is trying to replace some of the energy plays that Foster and Ray provided before their injuries.
"Just go out and try to get every rebound, bring a lot of energy to the court and try not to let my man score," Douglas says of his points of emphasis. "I just have to knock down open shots when I get them."
Both he and Douglas will see more of those opportunities as SMU hits the homestretch of the season. The combination of the injuries and Jankovich's increasing trust guarantees that.
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/colleg ... resses?f=r
Every morning at 7:45, like clockwork, William Douglas walks onto the SMU practice court.
The freshman starts out with a 15-minute dribbling and footwork drill. Then he spends 30-35 minutes putting up shots with assistant coach Jay Duncan. A shower promptly follows, then Douglas is off to his nine o'clock class before returning for practice five hours later.
"He's like Semi," says Duncan, in reference to current Boston Celtic Semi Ojeleye's renowned work ethic at SMU.
EXTRA:
Defense has been a notable area of growth for Landrum, who will return home to play at Tulsa for the first time as a Mustang on Thursday. He came to SMU as a score-first-and-second guard in high school. Now averaging 2.8 shots per game, he needed to find other ways to earn minutes.
Listed generously at six feet, Landrum was a liability on defense early in the season. As it's progressed, he's picked up his energy and done a better job of staying in front of his man and contesting shots.
It earned him some crunch time minutes in SMU's loss to Temple three weeks ago, after which Jankovich praised Landrum's play on defense.
"I felt like that was one thing that we really needed because we have a lot of scorers," Landrum explains. "It was hard at first but as I went on I was like, 'I'll do whatever I have to do to help the team win.'"
Likewise, Douglas hasn't gotten to show off the fruits of his early-morning offensive labors just yet, maxing out at eight points back in November against Northwestern State. He says the speed of the game and competitive level of the college game at first caught him off-guard.
But Douglas' confidence in his jumper and all-around game has grown as a freshman. He's seen a slight uptick in his minutes the last two games and is trying to replace some of the energy plays that Foster and Ray provided before their injuries.
"Just go out and try to get every rebound, bring a lot of energy to the court and try not to let my man score," Douglas says of his points of emphasis. "I just have to knock down open shots when I get them."
Both he and Douglas will see more of those opportunities as SMU hits the homestretch of the season. The combination of the injuries and Jankovich's increasing trust guarantees that.