Tyler Harris eligible!

[Statefan10]

Since we're in a thread talking basketball..

 

[gj524]

I think there have been a few instances in the past few years where Prohm had to continue playing troublemakers and/or guys taking stupid shots or shirking on defense for lack of a better... or any... options.

Having a guy behind you the coach can credibly threaten to insert into the game if a more talented player shows lapses in judgement, effort, or discipline should help to show talent that it, indeed, needs to work hard.

Nixon could get away with playing derpy last year because we lacked much for other options. Imagining Harris (not to pick on the young man, only as an example) taking a few indulgent shots next year... hopefully leads to Jackson III replacing him in the same role/niche and/or one of the freshman waiting for his opportunity.

Hopefully such a lesson is instructive to the offender more than any lecture during film later that week might be.

I think the above is way more valuable than being able to extend your bench. Competition in practice and a guy on your own team gunning for your spot with a good chance of seizing it if you screw up too much is a great way to improve a program and a team. Campbell and crew are building the football team around it.

I do not know if Prohm's rotations are uniquely short for college basketball. Seven men with consistent minutes seems pretty standard. Yes, they are out there playing hard, but the games are only 40 minutes long, they have tons of timeout breaks, dead balls, and halftime to catch their breath, and these are young athletes in the absolute best shape of their life. They should be able to play 30+ effectively, and some (e.g., Tyrese) could play 40.

Games and seasons are short, so you need to maximize your talent out there. I absolutely want the depth to foster competition in practice and instill discipline in your starters. I also think it is a good idea to give young players a chance in "real" games when you can. But the games and season are short enough that, well, you really need to maximize your talent at all times, which is why I think we end up with like six guys playing in the postseason.

I'm not worried about college games wrecking kids' knees or anything if they play 35+ minutes, but I think the guy who plays 10-15 less minutes in the game will have more in the tank down the stretch than his opponent who has been out there the entire time.

I'm with you on having more talented/quality bench players Fostering (pun intended) better play by everyone to compete for minutes. I have no idea if Prohm's rotations are significantly shorter than the rest of the league either, just from what I recall and occasionally check on after games in the box score. Most of the time our opponent has had the higher number of players with significant playing time (I tend to look for 10-15+ since garbage time is usually shorter than that)

I don't think Matt Thomas turns out to be the player he was as a junior and senior if he doesn't get the opportunity to play 15-20 mpg as a freshman/sophomore even though he only shot 37% from the field and struggled on defense at times.

I'm just hoping for the opportunities for guys to get out there and work through the growing pains. Hopefully the depth talent on this team will force it to happen

 

[pdxclone]

I used to think that, but now I am not so sure.

Here is the national infection curve --

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So I hope we are on the downswing now and will continue on that path going forward. Then again, part of me is worried that, as more and more activities open up and the winter flu season hits, then we might have another spike in the graph. I do not think we will be truly out of this until we find a functional vaccine, which might be much later.

Iowa is just weird. No idea what is going to happen there.

View attachment 74931

The recent spike is the 1500 antigen tests being dumped into the system.