Wanamaker Making Strides
February 11th, 2008 | by The Prowler |A lot of criticism recently (and by recently, I mean all season) has been hurled in the direction of Pitt freshman guard Brad Wanamaker. I am not going to say it has been unfair criticism. Wanamaker has definitely struggled, especially offensively. Every time he is on the floor, I find myself reminiscing of the days of Carl Krauser, the most out of control player in Pitt history (at least in recent enough history that I can remember). The thing is, while Krauser played some of the most out of control basketball, and while Wanamaker reminds me a lot of that same style, I have to admit that I always liked Krauser. And I like Wanamaker.
I have not hidden my support for Wanamaker, even though I hold my breath every time he is on the floor. He has often looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to do, but he knows he has to do something. So he has made one bad decision after another. And yet, even as I am always worried when he is on the floor, I still like seeing him out there getting experience because I believe he has tremendous upside. I see him as being the kind of guy, maybe in a year or two, when he matures and gets some control over his game, that will want the ball in clutch situations. I see him being the guy who wants to throw up the shot with time winding down. Of course, Krauser was that kind of guy too. And that didn’t always end well for us. But it was great having a guy with enough confidence to want to take the shot. And I see Wanamaker having that kind of heart. He just needs to get the maturity, and more importantly the confidence.
He may have taken the first step towards that confidence in the WVU game this past Thursday. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a nice article about Wanamaker that is worth reading. The article quotes Wanamaker in regards to his first half 3 pointer that gave Pitt the lead, “When the first shot went in I was just, ‘Thanks. It’s about time.’ ” My wife and I had the same response. When he lined up and nailed that shot, my wife jumped up and cheered, and I remember feeling happy for him, thinking that he really needed a good game, a good play to get himself some confidence.
That game certainly seemed like a nice step for Wanamaker. He ended with only 7 points, but it was on 3 of 4 shooting. He also added 2 assists and 2 rebounds in 23 minutes. According to the article, Wanamaker hadn’t hit a 3 point shot in over a month, and he had only made 2 of 16 attempts on the season. One could imagine that his confidence would be down with those kind of numbers. While any starter in that kind of slump would just shoot their way out of it, for a true freshman coming off the bench and only averaging 12.4 minutes per game there really isn’t a chance to shoot your way out of it. Which also means there isn’t a good chance to get any confidence.
What else might help is the return of Levance Fields, because Fields’ return would likely mean less minutes are needed from Wanamaker. The less he is needed to contribute, the more he can relax when he is on the floor. As it stands, if he was contributing more, he would likely play more. But with another guard in the lineup, his responsibilities will be more about giving other guys a rest again, and less about having to come in and contribute. Hopefully that, combined with the nice game he had against WVU will be enough to calm him down and let him finally get comfortable out on the floor.
His athleticism and ability are without question. Maybe, just maybe his confidence and his maturity, the two biggest issues he has, have received a boost, and Brad Wanamaker can begin to find his niche on this Panther team.
One thing that should never be questioned is his heart.
