Highly unlikely that Mintz takes more shots than Boston. Mintz averaged like 9 ppg on a Nit team. I think he can be a solid contributor but we may need to pump the brakes calling him the 1st or 2nd scoring option on a top 10 team. If we get the same numbers out of him he gave Creighton I would take that as a win. For UK to be elite we need Mintz being around the 5th option not the 2nd lol.
Starting Five Wednesday
- Thread starter senonesy
- Start date
You make a perfectly valid argument. But my point was about “now,” at the beginning of the season, rather than how things may have evolved by the end of the season. Right now, from both an efficiency and effectiveness standpoint, I think Sarr, Mintz and increasingly Boston might prove to be the most reliable scoring options. I suspect Clarke, for example, will struggle with offensive efficiency early on, will improve by the end of the season, and yet will still be a shadow of the player (especially as a shooter) he becomes in a couple of years.
I’m not envisioning Mintz as a star. And I agree with you that he doesn’t need to be. He just needs to be a good mature and developed college player to be better offensively than most incoming freshmen – especially early in the year. Also, I believe at Creighton Mintz played on a heavily guard oriented team – good guards at that – and so, scoring opportunities from that position were heavily spread around. That being said, I can see and would be very happy with 9-11 pts/game from Mintz (and maybe around 17 pts/game from Mintz and Askew combined). And if Mintz is indeed no better than the 5th scoring option by the end of the year, then I think that bodes very well for this team.
I watched Mintz at Creighton and I read what their fans said about him...
-He shot too much. 9.7 points on 8 shots a game. He had plenty of opportunities to shoot
-Took too many "bad shots" and played "hero ball"
-Great 3-point shooter, but his poor shot selection made his %'s down
-Became a great defender. Really took the challenge of being engaged.
-Was a bad point-guard and was more effective off the ball.
-Although he was bad at moving the ball, he did not turn the ball over much
-The team was better when he played the role of a shooter & designated defender
-The team was worse when his role was larger & tried to do too much.
-GREAT leader. Teammates & coaches loved his work ethic too.
-In really good shape & worked hard at strength & conditioning.
He is who he is....he's a strong college role player. He is great when he accepts his role. He can hurt the team when he tries to do too much. You'd rather him be off the ball and come off the bench.
He's not some steady hand 5th year senior point guard, he's a talented scorer....but he's not a point guard and not the guy that will get the younin's involved. He's the guy you bring in to play a role.
He's going to be a great 6th man this year and come up big....but people need to temper expectations, as he's a different player than we're expecting. He's a 2-guard...and Boston/Clarke are our starters in that spot.
Mintz also did that against the Brunson Villanova title team. He has had really big games against top teams. I don't think it really matters if he starts or not, he is getting at least 20 min a game no matter what.
It will be interesting to see who starts and who gets the most minutes. With Brooks gone they don't have a lot of room for error.
Cats should have no problem with Morehead but that is quickly followed by a very good Richmond team and then KU. Not an easy start to the season.
Cats should have no problem with Morehead but that is quickly followed by a very good Richmond team and then KU. Not an easy start to the season.
Has the official starting five been revealed yet?
I bet we start:
G Askew
G Clarke
G Boston
F Jackson
F Sarr
Bench
G Mintz
G Allen
F Toppin
F Fletcher
F Ware
I think Cal will “platoon” this first game. He won’t call it that and the groups won’t get equal minutes, but I bet he puts in the bench guys together early on so everyone has a chance to get some PT. He has two complete five man lineups and although there is a drop off from first five to second five, it won’t be as huge of a gap as usual.
Now, there is no way the second five gets as much time as the first, though. I think it will be close to a 25/15 minute split in this game if it is the blowout most expect. Maybe close to 30/10 minute split if the game is closer than expected.
I do think Mintz and Askew might see close to a 20/20 minute split, though. They are really close talent wise and I expect some growing pains with Askew.
I bet we start:
G Askew
G Clarke
G Boston
F Jackson
F Sarr
Bench
G Mintz
G Allen
F Toppin
F Fletcher
F Ware
I think Cal will “platoon” this first game. He won’t call it that and the groups won’t get equal minutes, but I bet he puts in the bench guys together early on so everyone has a chance to get some PT. He has two complete five man lineups and although there is a drop off from first five to second five, it won’t be as huge of a gap as usual.
Now, there is no way the second five gets as much time as the first, though. I think it will be close to a 25/15 minute split in this game if it is the blowout most expect. Maybe close to 30/10 minute split if the game is closer than expected.
I do think Mintz and Askew might see close to a 20/20 minute split, though. They are really close talent wise and I expect some growing pains with Askew.
Sarr has touched it once and we are running the same ****** offense we always have. Looks familiar.