There are times when whomever is playing in front of you, impacts how you are used or not used.
Gonzalez-Agee was a face up 4 man at San Jose State and was asked to play a back up 5 role in the B1G here. I love Ralph's energy and moxie but he was not a leaper and pigeon-holed into a role here that he didnt fit....although he worked hard and improved our culture. That is more of a problem of fit/style and not having a role on this year's roster.
Hyatt is a more of a true 4 man....he has some shooting range and clearly can rebound the ball and jump. But I never saw a SG or SF skill set, where he should be handling the ball.....he was used properly at LSU as a corner 3 shooter and undersized 5, when LSU went smaller.
With RHJ here and his versatility, Hyatt really never found his role where he can be used the right way. He has all of the tools, low post, mid range, floater and can shoot from 3 in the corners, despite what the numbers or this season show.....Once Mulcahy was moved back to a wing role, it was going to be tough for Hyatt, Mag and/or Jones to find consistent minutes.
There is also a drastic difference in how you play, when you absolutely know you are going to play a certain number of minutes either as a starter or off the bench. The rotation Pike showed in 2019-20 and 2020-21 off the bench, is something Pike went away from this past year. I think the defensive lapses by Hyatt and Jaden Jones earlier in the season, broke down the trust in the staff and Hyatt started to press a bit....you then think you have to do more in less time, instead of letting the game flow to him.
I also don't really want to underestimate, the amount of dedication, time and effort into studying our opponents, turned into better defense for Caleb, Geo and RHJ with Paul, despite none of the 4 players owning elite footspeed, quickness or leaping abilities. Caleb literally just out hustled, out studied and outworked things in film study, tendencies and feel for the game. Hyatt has to embrace that aspect, so he can then let his abilities, take him to the next level.
Hyatt has ability and if he works harder this spring and summer on studying our opponents and taking a more than needed leadership role, Hyatt will be fine. I don't think it's fair to ask him to be RHJ 2.0, Ron had a guard skill set in a PF type frame.
Would I roll the dice completely on Hyatt and expect 28 to 29 minutes a game?? If not him, then who??
If you gather anything via the portal, the trend I have picked up on, is it taking more time to acclimate to how we play. We may likely see Year 2 in the system for Hyatt, become more 2nd-nature than Year 1.