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Texas Tech's Toddrick Gotcher - Season in Review

Over the course of the next few weeks I'll be providing my thoughts on the individual seasons in review for key returners to the 2015 squad. I'm focusing on conference play ONLY specifically the first 9 games vs. the final 9. I personally feel stripping out all pre-conference numbers tells a better story for a players season. Ideally you see an improvement from the first 9 to the final 9 conference games.

Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

#20 Toddrick Gotcher  (RS Junior)  is a shooting guard from Garland (Lakeview Centennial) a suburb of Dallas, TX

Conference MPG FG% 3pt FG% FT% PPG APG RPG
1st 9 games 22 25% 26% 75% 5.8 1.1 2.4
Last 9 games 32 41% 41% 56% 9.6 2 2.8

Positives:

Gotcher is the veteran leader of the group.  A guy that seems to have been around campus forever that has overcome injuries, coaching changes and several bad seasons of team basketball.  He's battled all sorts of adversity and all indications are he is hungry to win and embraces being the old timer in the program.  In addition to the intangibles increased minutes led to increased production. His FG and 3pt FG% increased significantly from the first half of conference to the back.  He played with confidence and had a propensity for hitting big shots. I think his experience was evident as he seemed to be the lone player on the team who seemed in control at all times and didn't display any signs of being rattled in key situations.  He was also a lone bright spot on the team with the shot clock winding down.  Not only was he aware but if all else failed he knew to be aggressive and try to force a whistle driving the basketball.

Negatives:

The drop in free throw shooting % is an obvious concern.  Yes, his minutes were up and he had more attempts in clutch situations but a 19% drop is troubling for a guy who has been on campus for 4 years.  The only other knock on Gotcher is the overall lack of becoming more than just a solid role player.  Has he improved?  Yes.  Has he improved a great deal?  No.  Looking at the past couple seasons of backcourt mates he's really had every opportunity to assert himself as the go-to guy but just hasn't done so.

Former Red Raider Comparison:

Mikey Marshall.  Both players had their moments but neither ever became more than an average basketball player with inconsistent stat lines.  One game they might score but do little else.  The next it would be more of a defensive showing with solid rebounding numbers but bring nothing to the table on the offensive end of the court.

2015 Outlook:

Gotcher will continue to be Gotcher.  A guy that will go from a sixth man to starting back to sixth back to starting.  No All-Big 12 accolades but will definitely play a huge role in mentoring our youth and being a solid not spectacular contributor next season.