Obsession with the 6th, 7th, 8th man

[Xception]

No he can't. This is kind of post that gives every critic a bad rap. You assume and that's all you have. He was 1-5 from 3 last night against a far weaker team than ucla. You can't just say he's going to put up a bunch of points in a hurry when he has never come close, not even against weak competition.

Briscoe is a way better defender, he also averages more ppg than Mulder's career high over two seasons. It's a no brainer which player gives the team the highest chance of winning. I want to see Mulder play, I like his athleticism, his rebounding, and his demeanor. No make believe, no assumptions.

I didn't see this post just four minutes before mine but it echoed the same sentiment, which reinforces my belief that it is the correct response .

 

[bluelifer]

No he can't. This is kind of post that gives every critic a bad rap. You assume and that's all you have. He was 1-5 from 3 last night against a far weaker team than ucla. You can't just say he's going to put up a bunch of points in a hurry when he has never come close, not even against weak competition.

Briscoe is a way better defender, he also averages more ppg than Mulder's career high over two seasons. It's a no brainer which player gives the team the highest chance of winning. I want to see Mulder play, I like his athleticism, his rebounding, and his demeanor. No make believe, no assumptions.

You're kind of assuming too. He plays 12 mins a game and his scoring per 40min is second only to Monk. No one should be dumb enough to think he's a better player than Briscoe, but he can definitely put the ball in the basket. As far as this season goes, he's given me no reason to believe he can't be even more effective with an extra 3-5 mins/game. Give him 15 minutes and he's averaging double figures.

Gonna be hard for Cal to continue to have Gabriel, Briscoe, and Fox on the floor together if they don't start shooting the ball better. There are only a few more teams on our schedule that will try to run with us. The rest will pack it in on defense, and sell out to stop us in transition. Could make for some ugly basketball if we don't put some shooters on the floor.

 

[bucsrule8872]

They said last night that Cal wanted to play Briscoe and Mulder together because they like playing together. Maybe he needs to play two units:

G Fox
G Monk
F Gabriel
F Killeya-Jones
F Adebayo

G Briscoe
G Hawkins
G Mulder
F Willis
F Humphries

I know, it will never happen for a variety of reasons, but that would be cool. This team could absolutely run teams in the ground with platoons. I wouldn't play them equal minutes, but I would go with the first unit for the first 4-5 minutes then the second unit for 4-5 minutes, then bring in the first unit again for 4-5 minutes then go with a normal 7-man rotation to close out the half. Repeat in the second half. That would hopefully be enough to wear down the opponent and also give the 8th, 9th, and 10th men 8-10 minutes. The main 7 guys still get the lion's share of the minutes.

 

[bluelifer]

They said last night that Cal wanted to play Briscoe and Mulder together because they like playing together. Maybe he needs to play two units:

G Fox
G Monk
F Gabriel
F Killeya-Jones
F Adebayo

You'd only need one defender outside of 15 feet to guard this unit.

 

[docholiday51]

They said last night that Cal wanted to play Briscoe and Mulder together because they like playing together. Maybe he needs to play two units:

G Fox
G Monk
F Gabriel
F Killeya-Jones
F Adebayo

G Briscoe
G Hawkins
G Mulder
F Willis
F Humphries

I know, it will never happen for a variety of reasons, but that would be cool. This team could absolutely run teams in the ground with platoons. I wouldn't play them equal minutes, but I would go with the first unit for the first 4-5 minutes then the second unit for 4-5 minutes, then bring in the first unit again for 4-5 minutes then go with a normal 7-man rotation to close out the half. Repeat in the second half. That would hopefully be enough to wear down the opponent and also give the 8th, 9th, and 10th men 8-10 minutes. The main 7 guys still get the lion's share of the minutes.

You're right, Cal will never get close to anything that looks like a platoon sub situation again. It would be fun to see it for old times sake.Your first team has only one shooter,the second 5 is actually a pretty good line up but they would get torched in the paint

 

[bucsrule8872]

You'd only need one defender outside of 15 feet to guard this unit.

Both units I listed have flaws, but the point is to wear the other teams down.

My hope is that maybe Gabriel and Fox develop their shooting well enough to help Monk stretch the defense.

Might switch Willis and SKJ around. I had it that way at first and changed it.

 

[bluelifer]

Both units I listed have flaws, but the point is to wear the other teams down.

My hope is that maybe Gabriel and Fox develop their shooting well enough to help Monk stretch the defense.

Might switch Willis and SKJ around. I had it that way at first and changed it.

We're deep, but not deep enough to entertain platoons, IMO. The rotation is pretty good as it is now, I'd just prefer to see Willis starting and Mulder getting about 4-5 more min/game. Taking 2 minutes from Hawkins and 1 min each from the other 3 guards would do the trick.

Fox, Briscoe and Gabriel shooting 15, 20 and 23% from three is going to cause problems when they're all on the floor together.

 

[JPScott]

The best teams typically have a short, tight rotation. Maximizing minutes for the best players is sound strategy.

Couldn't disagree more. BTW, one reason why many basketball people act like a short rotation is the best to the point that it's treated as 'common knowledge' is because most schools simply don't have enough good players to have a deep bench, so they've never really had a opportunity to aim for anything else.

In Division I there's really only a few programs who can consistently pull off having ridiculously deep benches, and Kentucky happens to be one of those programs. Most schools can't do that so of course it's not going to see widespread practice.

I will agree that you can have a really good team with a short tight rotation, but the very best teams IMO are ones that are talented and deep. That's why I've always been in favor of UK recruiting deep and talented benches whenever possible. The reason being that with a short rotation there's just too many variables which can derail a season. With a short rotation, a key injury or a bad matchup or even a player getting in early foul trouble can end a team's season quickly.

A deep bench is kind of like an insurance policy against those things. Of course it's difficult to develop and manage a deep bench, and it can implode on you if not done well. But I think the rewards outweigh the risks.

 

[jc2010]

You're kind of assuming too. He plays 12 mins a game and his scoring per 40min is second only to Monk. No one should be dumb enough to think he's a better player than Briscoe, but he can definitely put the ball in the basket. As far as this season goes, he's given me no reason to believe he can't be even more effective with an extra 3-5 mins/game. Give him 15 minutes and he's averaging double figures.

Gonna be hard for Cal to continue to have Gabriel, Briscoe, and Fox on the floor together if they don't start shooting the ball better. There are only a few more teams on our schedule that will try to run with us. The rest will pack it in on defense, and sell out to stop us in transition. Could make for some ugly basketball if we don't put some shooters on the floor.

I guess some are allowed to assume and others aren't. Statistically Mulder is the best 3 pt shooter on the team and against UCLA Briscoe was throwing up bricks. Yeah,best to stick with the mason, the other guy will justgive up easy baskets, yeah that's not assuming

 

[Primedfor9]

No he can't. This is kind of post that gives every critic a bad rap. You assume and that's all you have. He was 1-5 from 3 last night against a far weaker team than ucla. You can't just say he's going to put up a bunch of points in a hurry when he has never come close, not even against weak competition.

Briscoe is a way better defender, he also averages more ppg than Mulder's career high over two seasons. It's a no brainer which player gives the team the highest chance of winning. I want to see Mulder play, I like his athleticism, his rebounding, and his demeanor. No make believe, no assumptions.

Uhh, he went 1-5 and is still by far our best three point shooter percentage wise at 43 percent, the fact that he had a bad shooting night and still has a great percentage makes what he's done so far even more impressive and for him to put up 9 points and 7 rebounds just goes to show he's more than just a spot up shooter and can be affective when his outside shot isn't falling, which it is way more often than not, those darn stats huh? Using one game to try to make this point isn't very smart.

 

[JC CATS]

I trust Cal's coaching decisions but if he were to ask me...:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

 

[jc2010]

No he can't. This is kind of post that gives every critic a bad rap. You assume and that's all you have. He was 1-5 from 3 last night against a far weaker team than ucla. You can't just say he's going to put up a bunch of points in a hurry when he has never come close, not even against weak competition.

Briscoe is a way better defender, he also averages more ppg than Mulder's career high over two seasons. It's a no brainer which player gives the team the highest chance of winning. I want to see Mulder play, I like his athleticism, his rebounding, and his demeanor. No make believe, no assumptions.

Yes he can, he was 1-5 against Valpo but in an earlier game he was 4-5 so yes he can score in bunches. On the 2012 NC team we had a young man that could fill it up but couldn't guard a lamp post and he played an important role on that team.

 

[JoeBeeHall]

Thats the way shooting goes for average shooters. Someone who is ON everyday is rare.
Very few Larry Birds out there .

 

[Xception]

We need good three point shooters like last year to do anything in the tournament