We are a better and more complete team when Otis doesn't feel the need to put everybody on his shoulders. Part of that is obviously due to needing him to score, and part of that is Otis feeling like he has to do too much (classic Catch 22). I counted at least three possessions yesterday when our entire offensive possession was Otis dribbling in and out of defenders at the top of the key and then taking some sort of fade-away or pull-up jumper. No other Mason player touched the ball.
I believe he did make one of those shots, but it makes us a much easier team to guard when the entire focus becomes about stopping one player (and we saw how that turned out against GW). The more we can move the ball on offense and get the other players involved, the harder we become to defend. If a team wants to focus on Otis like teams used to do against Curry at Davidson, then guys like Grayer, Kier, Mar, Boyd and Greene need to be aggressive and attack the basket.
It is unfair to put the burden on Otis — who has been sensational this season — but he needs to learn to trust his teammates more if we are going to improve this season and especially next year. Although we might not be a better scoring team when he is on the bench, it is pretty cool to see how efficient our ball rotation is and how much more engaged everybody is (as opposed to standing around and watching him dribble). More and more, I think Otis will realize how to turn teams game-planning against him into an advantage.
