Should Morris Start Over Thomas?
- Thread starter isucy86
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I think Fred is grooming Morris to run his team for years to come but feels better not asking him to start and assume that role with fulltime starter minutes for now. Bringing Morris of the bench allows him to watch the flow of the game then come in and fill the roll he was meant to do. Minutes will change game to game for our young guards, I think Long, Morris, Thomas, and perhaps at some point SDW all understand that. In the end it's really not about who starts but who finishes.
Thomas, Morris, and Long all do a little bit different things -they should play roughly equal minutes (depending on matchups and if someone's "hot") and I'm not sure it matters who starts. I'm just happy to have Long for another two years, and MM and MT for three more. They will make ISU a very solid team for the next few seasons.
I personally like the rotation, but if anybody starts over Matt it should be Long, IMO. I think Thomas will come around as the season goes on. He's got a lot of learning to do on the defensive end.
In saying that Monte has been really solid, IMO. He'll be a heck of a point guard for us in years to come.
In saying that Monte has been really solid, IMO. He'll be a heck of a point guard for us in years to come.
Thomas is averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and only .6 turnovers while playing 27.9 minutes per game and people want a change? All Thomas needs to do to be even better is shoot it without hesitating. For whatever reason he doesn't seem confident yet and he's still averaging almost 10 points per game. Thomas should and will continue to start.
There is a reason that Fred has MT starting. It's not just because of his ability to spread the floor. It's between his ears. He's not the best man to man defender but his team defense awareness is outstanding.
He makes good decisions with the ball. During the Iowa game he missed a couple three's and I think his confidence was down after that. But he'll bounce back and I would highly doubt that he'll come out of the starting lineup bc Fred likes Naz and Monte off the bench and SDW is behind him on the mental part of the game.
He makes good decisions with the ball. During the Iowa game he missed a couple three's and I think his confidence was down after that. But he'll bounce back and I would highly doubt that he'll come out of the starting lineup bc Fred likes Naz and Monte off the bench and SDW is behind him on the mental part of the game.
I like that too, and Iowa did create some tough match-ups for us. Both true freshmen had some struggles on d as I think it was Monte that Gessel drove past to get to the hoop at the end of the game. As it turned out, fortunately Monte ( I think) fouled him and Hilton magic did it's job on the 80% free throw shooter with the game on the line.
Both UNI and Iowa attempted to smother Thomas beyond the 3 pt arc. You can see that it was the gameplan. Matt doesn't have the experience yet to overcome this, and aggressively get his shot. I think that you will see him become adept at getting his shots in the next year or two. For now, though - we should appreciate that he's not jacking up overly-contested shots.
This. Thomas is a one trick pony right now vs any type of defensive pressure, but he is very good at what he does.
I don't think Thomas is better than Long RIGHT NOW, but I think giving him this playing time will allow Thomas to improve quickly.
Thomas can't get his own shot and can't get open running off screens yet, and Long is very good at that. My biggest issue with Thomas right now is passing up open 3s. If he is going to do that, there is no point of him being on the floor. That's his job.
I'm not worried about him though. I think he'll come around.
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I hope not. Hopefully he is a three year starter with a break next year because of Vaughn.
Even if we dont get Vaughn, might be hard for 3sus to start next year.
My early non-Vaughn starting lineup for next year looks like this: Morris, Thomas, Hogue, Nader, and Niang.
That even leaves Mckay out of the starting lineup! Maybe Mckay starts over Nader. Hard to envision not starting the man-beast Hogue.
Good problem to have i guess!
No! I hope he is a four year starter because he is so good he'll start over Vaughn! :smile:
## SUMMARY GP-GS Min FG% 3PT% FT% R/G A/G STL BLK PTS/G
21 Thomas, Matt........ 8-8 27.9 .419 .357 .615 3.1 1.3 5 0 9.4
11 Morris, Monté....... 8-0 22.6 .385 .389 .818 3.1 3.6 8 0 6.9
Statwise, Monte is better three point shooter and free throw shooter and Matt is the best shooter overall.
When you consider production per minutes, Monte has the upper hand.
I think Thomas should start. I don't want the possibility that both Morris and Cane get into early foul trouble.