The Miami Hurricanes point guard Angel Rodriguez needs more help if the Hurricanes want a successful season.
In Western music there are only a few sounds that spell out drama or sadness more than a minor key. One of the instruments that has the ability to play in minor keys is the four-stringed fiddled instrument known as a violin. The violin is the highest-pitched member of the violin family string instruments, and it’s impact in music is in its own class.
When a violin gets their minor keys played at a slow tempo, it often puts the listener into a depressed and sedated state. In essence the violin is often associated with sad times. For some people they even associate it with the ending of something, as the violin was associated with the end of the sinking ship, the RMS Titanic in April 15, 1912.
Unlike the RMS Titanic one of the teams in college basketball that is managing to stay afloat in college basketball is the Miami Hurricanes. Playing in a sport where having great guard play is key to success the Hurricanes arguably have the best collection of guards in the country, but still haven’t been able to figure out how to play consistently good together.
We don’t shy away from anything. We use everything as motivation and we know how competitive the league is and how great the fan base a lot of schools have….It’s not going to get any easier, but we’ve done it before.
If the Hurricanes have one of the best backcourt in the country, and have elite level guard play why are they not better?
Better yet, when are the Hurricanes going to help their star point guard Angel Rodriguez?
Rodriguez, a God Send.
The offense of the Miami Hurricanes isn’t good, in fact we might as well call their offense Angel Rodriguez. Offensively the Hurricanes are led by their 5’11 point guard, who hails locally from South Florida playing high school basketball at Dr. Michael Krop High School in Aventura.
Rodriguez plays with the type of passion, pride, and energy for the game of basketball that most players in college basketball lack. He’s the beating heart of the Hurricanes offense, the engine that makes them go, and the swagger behind their confidence.
However, Rodriguez needs to get easier shots if the Hurricanes want to have a successful season. Successful meaning making a significant 2015 NCAA Tournament run.
On the season Rodriguez is shooting 24.3 percent on his two point jump shots, and only 36 percent on his three-point jump shots. In spite of his low jump shooting numbers Rodriguez nearly attempts more than 67 percent of his shots from outside of the paint.
Granted, in every game the Hurricanes have lost, their star guard, Rodriguez hasn’t had a good shooting night. Rodriguez has had his fair share of bad shooting nights including going 2-for-15 vs. Green Bay, 0-for-6 vs. Eastern Kentucky, 7-for-22 vs. No. 3 Virginia, and 1-for-10 vs. No. 12 Notre Dame. We’re going to ignore the fact that he rarely has a game where he shoots at least 40 percent or better (he’s done that nine times on the season).
But on the nights that Rodriguez doesn’t look like his normal great self, his teammates have to step up.
The Supporting Cast
Whether it’s Manu Lecomte, Sheldon McClennan, DeAndre Burnett, or Ja’Quan Newton, each of these guards need to get held accountable for helping their brother, otherwise everything that they’ve managed to accomplish in the ACC is going to go to waste.
The Miami Hurricanes offense isn’t scoring enough points and they are only averaging 71.0 points per game which is good enough for 106th in college basketball. In addition they don’t dish out the rock a lot either. The Hurricanes are ranked No. 95 in assists averaging 14.1 assists per game.
Their offense woes don’t stop there. Outside of Angel Rodriguez the Hurricanes only have one player who is averaging double figures, Sheldon McClellan. On the year McClellan is playing well leading the Hurricanes in scoring averaging 15.4 points per game and shooting 52 percent from the floor.
However no successful college basketball team can only have two good scorers. The Hurricanes need more from each and every of their guards because the next highest scorer on their roster is Manu Lecomte and he averages 9.8 points per game.
Finish Line Rodriguez
We know that Rodriguez is a gamer, and is one of the most clutch players to play for the Hurricanes program (yes I’m declaring that already), if his teammates can get him to the end of games he can lead them the rest of the way, he’s that talented.
In an interview with Christina De Nicola of FOX Sports Florida, Hurricanes point guard Rodriguez said this about his team:
"That’s one of the best things about this team. We don’t shy away from anything. We use everything as motivation and we know how competitive the league is and how great the fan base a lot of schools have….It’s not going to get any easier, but we’ve done it before and it gives us tremendous confidence going into whatever environment we’re going to face.”"
Rodriguez has that confidence that if he can have a chance to win the game, that he’s going to show up clutch for his teammates. They only need to help him get to the finish line.
If the Hurricanes don’t get their act together we might start to hear the music of a slow playing violin and watching Rodriguez play in sadness, since he’s going to look like the only person competing on the floor.
Thankfully their head coach Jim Larranaga will have it all situated before the season is all said and done.
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