I don't think that your assessment is too harsh.  I worry less about the misses and more about the shot selection.  The 5 feet behind the arc launches.  The shots with a fresh shot clock and the lead in the closing minutes.  And finally, the buzzer beater plays (or lack of) that end up with Cooper double teamed and launching up a prayer.  

71, shot selection is an issue, but I don't agree with your assessment of our schedule.  Both Louisville and Marshall are good.  Lamar is respected this year.  I'll grant you UT Martin isn't very good.  Morgan St. is definitely better than their record indicates.  

People, he only took 10 shots against Morgan State!  If he is taking 20 to 25 shots per game and shooting that percentage then you can be worried, but I don't care what shots he takes if he only takes 10 per game.  He can chuck it from half if he is only taking 10 shots for all i care.  he isn't taking shots away from people at that number.  he would be taking shots away from other if he was taking 20-25 at that percentage and that is when the worry would kick in.

As far as the best PG ever...please look at our single season and career records for Ohio Basketball.  He is all over the place!  Poor shot selection or not, the steals, assists and points don't lie.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/players/compare?3-dj-cooper=career&add=kendall-marshall&jordan-taylor=career&kendall-marshall=career&p1=3-dj-cooper&p2=jordan-taylor&p3=terrell-holloway&terrell-holloway=career

statsheet.com is a fun site. dj vs three of the best pg in basketball.

First of all, he is the best PG in Ohio history, at least since 1978.  I don't think it's even close.  Yes, he takes some ill advised shots both too far and too early in the shot clock. But the good so far outweighs the two or three bad shots a game that it's mind boggling that so many people harp on it.  

Let's get real here. Yes the 7 shots he misses a game are a potential 21 points we could have scored, IF WE SHOOT 1.000% FROM THREE POINT LAND.  45% is an average percentage from the field. 33% is a average percentage from 3.   He is a career 43% shooter from inside the arc.  But point guards are going to have lower percentages than most players because they are the player who has the ball in their hands as the shot clock is winding down so they will take a higher percentage of desperation shots.  Essentially you are complaining about one shot a game that he misses that other players might make.  When we bench DJ we might as well sit everybody's new fave Walter Offutt who is hitting 19% from three but I noticed he still keeps taking them but nobody says boo about it and rightfully so because Offutt does a lot of other things good that help the team win. Just like Cooper.

Yes, it would be great if he would stop taking the 25 footer early in the shot clock.  Yes, it would be great if Groce could knock that into his head.  Our team is 1,000 times better when DJ Cooper is on the floor than when he's not even with the occasional exasperating shot.

He made two of those against Louisville.

Cooper would have a much higher percentage if he had Cooper passing him the ball.

Taylor and Offutt pass the ball pretty well themselves.

The two most concerning things in looking at Cooper’s stats from his first two years and his start this year has been his rebounding and FG%. As a freshman he brought in 5.4 RPG, while last year he brought in 5 RPG. This year? Just 3.2.

 

As a freshman he shot 37.4% from the field, last year he shot 38.2% from the field and this year is at 29.9% from the field. He’s averaging just shy of 13 shots a game this year which is actually down from last year when he averaged 13.45. His assist:turnover ratio is at an almost identical 2.10 where last year he had a 2.13.

 

One possible assumption on the rebounding is the Offutt is cleaning up most of the boards as he is currently averaging 6.0 RPG while no other guard DJ has played with has come close to that his first two years. The shooting is atrocious though while possibly due to him shooting almost 1 extra 3 per game than his first two years (6.3 vs. 5.5 FR and SO years). 

Dude, we've been having this conversation for a year now.

It seems as though Groce is convinced DJ will come around in time. We're seeing signs of progress; he struck just about a perfect balance against Marshall but pressed against Morgan State. I still wonder if his confidence in teammates fluctuates.

It's frustrating, though. Instead of improving across the board like we all wish, he just seems to be becoming more extreme in what he does well and what he doesn't. I will say this: He's not fishing for fouls nearly as much as last year.

This says it all! He rebounds, dishes, creates easy buckets from defense, provides gutty grind it out performances because he plays so many damn minutes (hopefully reduced this year for his stamina) and even with "bad shot selection" is very comparable in FG pct.

Again, I didn't think you people would need anything more than the Ohio Record books, but this gives you something else.  Thanks, Jim G!

I have to disagree. Plus, not only is his FG% the worst of the four (especially behind the arc), but he also shoots more often than the other three. That is not a good combination. And if you make it just this year (albeit a small sample size), it's uglier. Did you put "bad shot selection" in quotes because you don't think he has poor shot selection?