On a team that too often struggles to score and goes through far too many scoring droughts during key moments in games, Taz Sherman, the 6’4 junior shooting guard, is the obvious answer to fix the West Virginia Mountaineers’ deficiencies on the offensive end.
Sherman, who averaged 25.9 points per game last season with Collin College in McKinney, Texas, is an absolute stone-cold scoring assassin and needs to be given the freedom to take on the bulk of the scoring production for the Mountaineers.
Only averaging 12.1 minutes per game, Sherman’s lack of playing time has led him to play hurried and he often forces bad shots. If given more time to get comfortable in the offense, Sherman would be precisely the scoring threat that opposing teams would have to key on.
Currently, the Mountaineers do not have a perimeter scoring threat in the starting lineup and opposing teams are able to “pack it in” in the interior, which makes scoring more challenging for Oscar Tshiebwe, Derek Culver, as well as Emmitt Matthews, Jr. and Jermaine Haley as they attempt to penetrate on drives.
For West Virginia to be successful in March, Sherman, as well as Sean McNeil, who is only averaging 13.2 minutes per game, will need to be more of a focus and priority for the Mountaineers. A true perimeter scoring threat will open up everything on the offensive end for West Virginia and these unbearable scoring droughts that the Mountaineers have gone through this season will immediately become a thing of the past.
Sliding Jermaine Haley to point guard – his natural position – and starting Sherman at the two guard would immediately improve the team offensively and provide a major upgrade on the defensive side of the ball as well. Sherman is a big, tough guard who can defend anyone at that position. In addition, the Mountaineers have struggled at the foul line and Sherman is perhaps the best free throw shooter on the team, shooting 81.8% this season and 87.5% last season from the foul line.
The West Virginia Mountaineers have the talent, the size and the depth to beat anyone in the nation this season, but they need a true perimeter scoring threat and Taz Sherman is just the player to immediately fix the scoring weaknesses of the team.
