Mintz

[K_TIME]

The casual fans built Mintz to be much better than he is due to some bright spots last year. Fact of the matter is he was a bench guy at Creighton for years for a reason. This team is really missing Fredrick. Fredrick was one of the top role players in the country for a top 5-10 team. I don’t get into all the analytics for the college game but remember seeing Fredrick was one of the most efficient offensive players in the sport. Mintz has/had three things going for him: transition 3s, being a good kid, and not being Devin Askew. He’s easy to root for personally but just isn’t that dude sadly.

Actually this is probably going to pan out to be a valid point in the end.

Last year Mintz scored 11 points, 39%FG and 38%3pt and nothing else stood out on his stat line on the worst team we've ever had a Ky. And these are about his career norms at Creighton before getting to UK. So hopefully he can get his 3pt shot to 38-40% and be a decent but not elite defender is what we have to hope for with Mintz. If his shooting dips...we're sort of hosed w/o Frederick.

 

[bnewt]

Mintz shoots as much as the ball hog in middle school. He reminds me of Jamal Murray in that he thinks he can shoot like Murray so he launches from anywhere at anytime.

His volume shooting and volume missing has killed us in our two losses. He does play hard, but we saw last year what happens when he is one of the main guys on the court for us. He is nowhere close to a winning UK caliber player.

if he could shoot like Murray, it would not matter, but he can not tie Murray's shoes

 

[K_TIME]

wrong, Mintz got beat off the dribble when ND's FRESHMAN hit the 12' shot to put them ahead at the end of the game, but then again, UK couldn't stop anyone from penetrating all nigh

You're correct that the Notre Dame kid hit a pullup over Mintz to win the game but I don't remember him getting lost on backdoor cuts twice like Wheeler did and he took some risks on steals that didn't materialize and led to easy transition buckets.

My eye test tells me Mintz is a bit better on ball defender than Wheeler. And for sure he'll be a better shooter than Wheeler after all is said and done. So it boils down to is Wheeler assists/playmaking vs. his TO issues compared to what you get with Mintz at the SG and TyTy at the PG. My still on going frustration is we'll see teams just sit Wheeler's man at the FT line and cause this team to struggle to score 75 to 80+ points that I think will need to happen to win.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

You're correct that the Notre Dame kid hit a pullup over Mintz to win the game but I don't remember him getting lost on backdoor cuts twice like Wheeler did and he took some risks on steals that didn't materialize and led to easy transition buckets.

My eye test tells me Mintz is a bit better on ball defender than Wheeler. And for sure he'll be a better shooter than Wheeler after all is said and done. So it boils down to is Wheeler assists/playmaking vs. his TO issues compared to what you get with Mintz at the SG and TyTy at the PG. My still on going frustration is we'll see teams just sit Wheeler's man at the FT line and cause this team to struggle to score 75 to 80+ points that I think will need to happen to win.

Wheeler vs Mintz will become a very interesting discussion if Wheeler doesn’t get his spark back. These last 3 games he just doesn’t seem to have the same burst and energy he has had up until that point. If he doesn’t display the quickness to create opportunities for others, he’s kinda useless and that’s why we saw Cal eventually pull him in the ND game.
I agree completely about the need to score higher point totals. With TyTy and Mintz playing point, I think we’ll cut down turnovers but do they create enough to help us score more? I know we all want shooters on the court in theory but someone has to beat their man and create something. That’s what Sahvir was doing but no longer is. At first I thought something was just off with him. But ND gave the blueprint. Play so far off him that his quickness and ability to create are negated. Sahvir didn’t have a response and really outside of pounding Oscar, neither did we.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Can't we just start TyTy at PG and then Sharpe and Grady and then Mintz and Wheeler are backup/mop up duty types? That is what I would do at this point if given the option.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

He, like the rest of our guards have forced horrible shots all year, we need to get a system in place to drive so we can get open looks I hope it changes but I doubt it.