pure shooters are great, but can be liabilities unless they are athletic, also. Obviously, everybody wants great athletes who are tall and ALSO great shooters, but those players are hard to come by, and when they appear they are usually snatched up by the BCS major programs.
UNI gets away with their undersized, unathletic shooters because they have some real threats inside. As we saw when there were isolation plays, their bigs can create shots and finish most of the time. If the guard comes in to help, it leaves his man open for the 3.
If we want success with undersized guards, we need to further work our inside-outside game. Unfortunately, our personnel doesn't fit that style wonderfully, so we will have struggles. The counter to that is to play great defense and reduce the importance of the offensive end of the floor.
Warren being out has continued to hurt us for two reasons. obviously, he was our best scoring option. Him being on the floor commands respect, which leaves guys like Sam M, Norris, and Dodie more open looks. On the defensive end he is a long player, which allows him to help and gain that extra step on closing out the 3 point shooter.
I am confident that JL is running the best team he can with the personnel he has. Sometimes teams will make big shots, and ours won't fall. it sucks, but that's the game. Next year (allowing for good health) we will be much tougher, and will close out a lot of these games that are slipping away.