Yeah, when it comes down to it, we're going to probably have Tyrese playing near 40, Nixon and Bolton playing 35+. There just isn't much of a need for depth once you get into the real serious games.
RELEASE: Rasir Bolton will play for the Cyclones this season
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Yeah, when it comes down to it, we're going to probably have Tyrese playing near 40, Nixon and Bolton playing 35+. There just isn't much of a need for depth once you get into the real serious games.
Yes, there’s not much competition for the small 4.
We’ve got 6 guys, plus whatever guard steps up enough to be the guard off the bench. My guess is Jackson, but perhaps Lewis given our pg Haliburton is rarely going to be sitting. Probably another player each night gets a little PT too, likely dependent on the night.
It is hard to imagine somebody having less of a plan than Lindell Wigginton did when he drove it into the lane, especially as a freshman, but we might have a contender.
You are right there are many similarities, however, physically and statistically...
-- both springy athletes (though LW > RB, obviously, LW was a pogo stick)
-- both might be a SG trapped in a PG body and kind of refuse to accept that
-- both are probably overrated in their ability to go to the rim and create and underrated in their shooting in terms of the quality and impact they have on the offense
-- both probably were at their best when deferring to a real PG... glad we have one
I imagine Bolton is going to come with a lot of the triumphs and frustrations that LW did.
Bolton was really inefficient last year, though, and Nixon was not much better his last year playing at Colorado State. The Bart Torvik projections are sour on us for next year because we project playing each of those guys 30+ MPG and relying on them heavily for our guard rotation, but having two "bad chuckers" out there (instead of a good chucker like Marial Shayok) can really kill your offensive efficiency with clanks and turnovers and ruin your night.
Both of those guys are going to have to play in fundamentally different ways if we are going to have success next year. They both need to play within the offense, choose good shots and make them more often than they have in the past, realize they are SGs and not the PG with the offense and the ball mostly flowing through Tyrese, and be at least serviceable defenders to make up for our reduced firepower on offense. We do not have a guard who can score at will and efficiently this year, probably, like Marial and Naz could. We will have to play differently.
More offense from the big men is one obvious solution, too.
I don't put too much stock in Bolton's efficiency numbers. If you look at the guys that played on Penn State in 17-18 and 18-19 you can see they pretty much all took a hit on efficiency as Penn State struggled to make up for the loss of Tony Carr on offense. A lot depend on who you're playing with. Also, Bolton's top two freshman year statistical comps on Kenpom are Chasson Randle and Malik Newman, two studs. If you have a guy that can get points, the efficiency will come out as they get experience and play with better teammates and coaching sometimes. Efficiency is great, but I'm not convinced it's that predictive.
That’s the problem. For as great a rebounder he supposedly is, he didn’t take it to heart for quite a while. Putting up points early in the season against lesser competition made him think he was some offensive powerhouse.
Conditt looked better in uptempo games last year on offense and defense. He runs much better than I'd have guessed by looking at him. Lots of blocked shots and layups in transition.
Think he'll get decent minutes in those games with Solomon obviously being the man in physical matchups.
That’s a pretty weak way to disprove the contention that the expectation of having an 8-10 player rotation is too great.
8-9-10 rotations are in reference to season averages, not the last game of the year in which your season ends with a loss, with possible attrition to your rotation. Doubtful anyone calling for a 8+ player rotation in a year is implying evenly distributed talent, and thus minutes.
Any rotation over your best 5 is implicitly recognizing the need to save for future iterations, whether that be due to attrition, foul trouble, matchups, or rest. In the last game there are no future benefit.
Offseason lineup threads do typically overestimate how many Big 12 ready players we have, and also how coaches are creatures of habit and fearful of unknowns.
I agree with all of this.
I was just making some fun of -- and I do this too, but less nowadays than I used to -- rotation speculation posts that go way too deep or, as you say, nominate that we have so many guys who can compete at a Big 12 level and just cannot find minutes for themselves.
We are usually not nearly as deep as we imagine.
Yes, yes, coaches play the back of their bench early in the season to give everybody at least a chance, to experiment, and give younger players some seasoning against live ammunition, but come Big 12 time, it is 7, 6.5 in Kansas City, and 6 in the NCAA tournament.
Both not as deep as we imagine, but also easier to just play 7/8. In the end, it’s one guy trying to put the pieces together in the moment, not an algorithm with well defined bias. Offseason lineup threads inherently assume seasonal optimal player utilization. In a single game coaches are far more often just going to go with the safe bet (Why sub when building a lead and no foul trouble?)
Griffin is only a sophomore and dealt with knee surgery that set him back last year. He's got a lot of older proven talent in front of him but I'm optimistic he'll become a big piece down the road if he stays the course. Excited we'll have him, Bolton, and George for years to come.
Agree with you on the rotations. I still think Lewis can be proven to be a + bench type player. He started slow last year, but he actually had a pretty nice month long run starting against Illinois. He disappeared once Wigginton and Talley were healthy, but due to rotation sizes he wasn't really needed.
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Thought last year was largely post Wigginton.
Looking forward to seeing some of these guys gel, and better team play over hero ball.
Me too. Wish him luck for sure but I just have this feeling with THT, Lard and Wigginton gone, the me becomes more like we.
Both Wigs and THT could get hot and carry a team for a run, but both of those guys thought that 1 or 2 makes was good enough to warrant heat checks. Didn't value possessions enough.
That aspect might be true.
But we are undoubtedly much less talented and experienced this year nonetheless.
Shayok and NWB -- two fifth-year seniors -- were a lot of talent and experience to depart a program even before you talk about the more... controversial... three.
This year is almost a soft reset on the roster and program.
The Wigginton era, like a loss in the NCAA tournament? I just hope we’re lucky enough that a loss in the NCAA tournament is considered an upset this season.
We’re going to need to have an unselfish team this year that is more than the individual parts.