5 Guys and Whys: What’s Happened to Vincent Edwards?

In this second installment of this not yet but waiting to be sponsored segment, we sit down and try to figure out what has happened to Vincent Edwards to start the season. It seems a bit of a strange question to ask about someone who is averaging 12 ppg, 6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. He’s mostly scored more, rebounded more, played more, and assisted more than any of his two previous seasons, but the feeling is that he’s struggled after a strong first game of the season.

The main culprit, his turnovers per game has nearly doubled from previous years. He’s averaging 3 turnovers a game, including in some pivotal moments of the Villanova game. Despite the similar numbers, he doesn’t seem to be passing the eye test. So I asked the guys:

What’s happened to Vincent Edwards?

Andrew Ledman(Jumboheroes):

What has happened to Vincent Edwards is the great question of our time. Perhaps it's the ent that is really throwing him off. Vince Edwards never played like this (okay maybe the Little Rock game). My original thought is that he's just playing too many minutes but then I look at the minutes so far this season and, sure, he played 38 minutes versus Villanova which is a bit much but in the other two games he played 27 and 28, respectively. I don't think that's too much to ask of your star player. Whatever is going on his legs don't seem to be there on his shots, especially from deep, and he is making a lot of bad passes. I'm sure we are all overreacting. As the saying goes to whom much is given, much is expected. Vincent will be just fine this year. We've just got to give him time.

Drew Schneider(thelegendofshawnmccarthy):

Vincent Edwards is a slow starter and lets bad plays snowball. He did this last year. He needs to chill out, have fun, and play basketball and his talent will take over. Right now, he's pressing and he does not play well when he's pressing.

Travis Miller(overlord):

"Vincent" is Vince's evil twin that sucks at basketball. He is currently holding Vince hostage somewhere in the basement of Lilly Hall of Life Sciences.

Kyle Holderfield:

I think V.E. is trying to find his way with a new team. Granted, we returned mostly everyone, He is just playing 3rd fiddle right now. Haas and Biggie are so important that Vince isn't himself on offense quite yet, but we will need him come conference time.

Casey Bartley(cryan26):

Honestly, I think Vincent has been fine, it’s just that he travels almost every single time he catches the ball. He always has, and now that this is an ‘emphasis’ it’s kinda become a problem. It’s probably in his head a little and messing with his rhythm, but for the most part his numbers are all better. As mentioned, everyone’s kinda stepping into new roles, and that’s more of an adjustment for him than anyone else. He’s now third dog and left to pick up the scraps on offense. Defensively is what I find interesting. The talk during the summer is he would have to pick up Ray-D’s slack, but then Jacquil Taylor got hurt, and our bigs keep getting into foul trouble. Vincent can’t be our defensive stud because we can’t afford him to get into foul trouble. His fouls called per 40 minutes has cut in half this year compared to his first two, smartly, because he knows this team can’t afford to have him in foul trouble, too. It’s hard to play good defense when you’re scared of fouling.

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