I’ve never had amnesia – at least not that I remember. But I imagine the strangest part of amnesia would be hearing stories about yourself or seeing images of yourself doing things that you don’t remember. Like if you see a picture from your trip to Paris and you’d say, “Whoa! I’ve been up the Eiffel Tower!” I have a feeling that might be what it’s like for Austin Freeman watching game tapes from last season.

Freeman is a great player and a very good three-point shooter, but something happened around the midway point of last season that cannot be explained. All shooters go through droughts. This was a famine of biblical proportions.

There were wide open looks which used to be like layups for him that missed by a mile, shots form the corner that hit the side of the backboard, and worst of all, extra passes made because he didn’t have the confidence to pull the trigger. In Freeman’s last five games of the season, he was 0-8 from beyond the arc, which underscores not only his poor shooting down the stretch, but also his lack of confidence, taking on average fewer than two three-pointers a game.

If or when Austin watches the tapes from a season ago, he must think, “Is that really me?” I think the answer is ‘No.’

Freeman is not really the player we saw at the end of last season – let’s call it a mid-college crisis. Everything went wrong for the Hoyas last season, including Austin’s jump shot.

The fresh start in 2009-10 will be just that for Freeman, and you will see the old version of the McDonald’s All-American. He still has the complete package: solid three-point ability, underrated scoring on strong cuts to the basket, and top-flight mid-range game (as good as any 2 or 3 man in the nation).

The trouble is there is no leeway for Freeman to have another swoon. You can give a player the benefit of the doubt sometimes, but if that player finishes a season poorly, they must start the next season better than ever. That is the only option for Austin Freeman. As a group, the Hoyas’ margin for error is very small; individually for Freeman it is even smaller.

I hope the next time a reporter asks him about last season Austin says, “I don’t remember anything from last year.”

Image via WashingtonPost.com