6.5 man rotation.

[pfister1]

There was a thread recently about Duke's platoon substitution system. Interestingly, during Duke's game today the commentators mentioned that Coach K stated he is not married to the system and isn't sure he's going to continue it. Then you read other coaches discuss all the timeouts and now the additional fouls that slow down the game, it's not necessary to have a ton of depth. I particularly took note today that even though CJ and Grant were both drenched with sweat, neither looked winded or grasping at shorts towards the end of the game. In fact, Grant's rebounding actually got stronger towards the end of the game.

I am very much on board with the idea that we don't need the depth to spell guys. We can use timeouts and natural breaks in the game flow to do that.

IMO, we need more depth because you never know when foul trouble, injury or sickness might bite you. The comparison someone made above to the situation with AO and Dash is not a good one. That poster is right that no amount of minutes was going to turn Dash into what we needed.

Roberson on the other hand is not Dash. He will not only be a big contributor, he will be a huge contributor next year. Given that the ability is there he just needs a little seasoning to get his confidence. Will it happen? It depends on how many times JB can steal minutes for him this season. JB played Roberson all that he could afford to today. When he came in we were up by 18 points, when he went out we had given up a good portion of that lead. Did he do anything that caused the run? I don't think so. But, taking Grant off the floor may have been part of what caused our offense to go into hibernation. Given the result in the first half, JB couldn't use him in the second half in what was a tight ballgame.

Part of the problem is that Coleman wasn't ready to play this year, so JB spent time trying to acclimate him to the game speed and may have used a lot of Roberson's acclimation minutes getting Coleman into games earlier in the season.

 

[Knicks411]

Is there really any less depth than in prior years? I don't know if it feels any different because we used to have Southerland come off the bench last year, or Dion before him, but look at our box scores from the tournament last year.

 

[Ghost]

Roberson has looked decent enough to me when he sees court time. He certainly isn't hindering us on offense any more than say Keita. Defensively he seems okay, not spectacular, but not killing us there either imo. He also seems to be a good rebounder for a Frosh and that's a skill that could warrant some continued PT. I'm not sure how much I would play him either though.

CJ was certainly struggling during the second half, and maybe you could get him some run then, but even when CJ is missing, you gotta have faith that next mid-range jumper goes - because more often than not it does. Eh, who knows. We're 19-0, it's hard to complain about much.

 

[pfister1]

Is there really any less depth than in prior years? I don't know if it feels any different because we used to have Southerland come off the bench last year, or Dion before him, but look at our box scores from the tournament last year.

I think we had more versatile and productive depth.

 

[Cusefan0307]

We lost all our momentum when G moved to the point and Roberson came in the game. Today was a prime example why JB plays his best players.

 

[pfister1]

We lost all our momentum when G moved to the point and Roberson came in the game. Today was a prime example why JB plays his best players.

Might also be the way he makes substitutions. If I'm not mistaken he had Roberson, Gbinije and Keita all in at the same time. That almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy that the offense is going to bog down.

 

[Chosen0ne]

I am very much on board with the idea that we don't need the depth to spell guys. We can use timeouts and natural breaks in the game flow to do that.

IMO, we need more depth because you never know when foul trouble, injury or sickness might bite you. The comparison someone made above to the situation with AO and Dash is not a good one. That poster is right that no amount of minutes was going to turn Dash into what we needed.

Roberson on the other hand is not Dash. He will not only be a big contributor, he will be a huge contributor next year. Given that the ability is there he just needs a little seasoning to get his confidence. Will it happen? It depends on how many times JB can steal minutes for him this season. JB played Roberson all that he could afford to today. When he came in we were up by 18 points, when he went out we had given up a good portion of that lead. Did he do anything that caused the run? I don't think so. But, taking Grant off the floor may have been part of what caused our offense to go into hibernation. Given the result in the first half, JB couldn't use him in the second half in what was a tight ballgame.

Part of the problem is that Coleman wasn't ready to play this year, so JB spent time trying to acclimate him to the game speed and may have used a lot of Roberson's acclimation minutes getting Coleman into games earlier in the season.

I never compared Dash to Roberson. I was simply pointing out that every single year we have these "our rotation is too short" posts when it isn't always the case. I for one think Roberson would be fine if he played bigger minutes. As has been pointed out, Roberson came in with Mike G and BMK. I suspect if he came in for Fair with our 4 others starts in place, the team would look fine.

 

[wallacecuse]

Keita made a few nice plays late, but was a little surprised Rak wasn't in there at that time.

I was as well...I don't like Keita at more than 15 mins per game unless Rak is at 4 fouls.

Also, I think JB made a mistake with Roberson and Baye at the same time...way too easy to defend that lineup.

 

[SU_Fan_in_VA]

Come ACC and NCAA tournament time this rotation of essentially 6 is going to be fatigued and may lose as a result. Think Dook vs. Lehigh in 2012.

 

[Knicks411]

I think we had more versatile and productive depth.

Guess it depends on the year. Last year in the tournament CJ/Brandon/MCW played nearly every minute, and James wasn't far behind, with BMK/Rak splitting C. Jerami did play 17 minutes in the Michigan game last year, but in the 3 prior games, he played a total of 19 minutes.

In 2012 you are probably right; we had a legit 3 guard rotation with Scoop/Dion/Brandon. Kris and CJ took most of the forward minutes though

 

[wallacecuse]

Come ACC and NCAA tournament time this rotation of essentially 6 is going to be fatigued and may lose as a result. Think Dook vs. Lehigh in 2012.

Except that Duke team sucked comparatively.

 

[Marsh01]

These kids are young, in great shape. Live with it.

Plus we are playing our best players and not losing games. I dont care if we play 5 guys. This isnt CYO

 

[jdubs30]

I don't think Roberson is unhappy now. But if he is, we will have about 77 minutes open at the 3 and the 4 next year; and him and McCullough are first in line for the majority.

 

[MikeSU02]

These kids are young, in great shape. Live with it. Plus we are playing our best players and not losing games. I dont care if we play 5 guys. This isnt CYO

Usually I agree. The only reason I worry a little is losing Coleman. If for nothing else, just as a security blanket for five extra fouls.

Besides that, I'm fine with 6.5 guys.

 

[newmexicuse]

The team played tired for long stretches. Jump shots were taken with no legs and some zone rotations were slow. That is why Miami was able to come back from 18 down & make a game of it. There were a couple of times that Jerami was bent over in the middle of a Miami possession when the ball was on the opposite side.

Yes, the kids are in great shape & they were able to get a second wind & suck it up at crunch time, but then again Miami is not exactly a top ten squad.

Roberson was in for three minutes, I did not see where he did so much harm that he had to come out. Sometimes you need to take a step back to take two steps forward. That is what substituting is about. You put in players who are not as good as the guys you are taking out, so that when the starters go back in they have legs and are playing at the top of their game instead of playing at the bottom half of their games.

This is the regular season. It is not a one & done tournament situation. I love that we are undefeated and ranked #2, but if I could have a reasonably developed Roberson & Buss on my bench, I would give up a couple of wins if that was the price to be paid.

Look at how the Miami kid turned an ankle, what if that was one of our big four guys ??? Developing players is not necessarily about each individual game, it is about each individual season. At some point adversity will strike. It might only be somebody getting into foul trouble, but you gotta have the tools to overcome that adversity. We have already had a couple of games when CJ and Jerami played long stretches w 4 fouls. Had the fifth come early it would have cost us.

 

[Coach Orange]

We lost all our momentum when G moved to the point and Roberson came in the game. Today was a prime example why JB plays his best players.

It's easy to forget that G is still only a redshirt sophomore. That said, his inability to make an impact during several games is more disturbing to me in terms of the "lack of depth" than Roberson's results in three minutes today given that G has played in every game this year.

If this team is going to make a run, he must improve his production. I would bet he would be the first to say this about his play. I'm interested to see if he raises his output as the season progresses--I bet he will.

 

[newmexicuse]

It's easy to forget that G is still only a redshirt sophomore. That said, his inability to make an impact during several games is more disturbing to me in terms of the "lack of depth" than Roberson's results in three minutes today given that G has played in every game this year.

If this team is going to make a run, he must improve his production. I would bet he would be the first to say this about his play. I'm interested to see if he raises his output as the season progresses--I bet he will.

He missed his first three & then seemed to lose all O confidence after that. I don't remember if it was before or after the missed three, but there was one possession when he had a really clear driving lane & he just passed the ball off without making any sort of a play. He doesn't need to be a go to O guy, but he does need to be opportunistic when open. He changes the look of the Zone with his length up top, but he needs to do more to earn minutes, part of the reason I would like to see more of Buss who is very energetic and more O minded (from the little I have seen of him) - see my post above.

 

[iommi]

He missed his first three & then seemed to lose all O confidence after that. I don't remember if it was before or after the missed three, but there was one possession when he had a really clear driving lane & he just passed the ball off without making any sort of a play. He doesn't need to be a go to O guy, but he does need to be opportunistic when open. He changes the look of the Zone with his length up top, but he needs to do more to earn minutes, part of the reason I would like to see more of Buss who is very energetic and more O minded (from the little I have seen of him) - see my post above.

I was always skeptical about G's potential impact on this year's team offensively. He transferred from Duke after barely earning any playing time and then he sat out a year. I realize he was a top 50 recruit, but he doesn't look like a polished offensive player out there. He looks tentative; he looks like he's content just not hurting us. Teams are of course backing off of him and daring him to even be a threat.

He's helping us in the zone but his game on offense is tough to watch. To me, BJ has much more potential in our system, though BJ looks like a future 3.

 

[Jack Hall]

correct me if im wrong but the lead grew while Gbinje was on the court? His plus minus is very good in acc play

 

[iommi]

correct me if im wrong but the lead grew while Gbinje was on the court? His plus minus is very good in acc play

I don't know but he did nothing at all on the offensive end. He fumbled around with his handle once, leading to a tie-up. He didn't play much but today was not a good performance.

 

[Jack Hall]

correct me if im wrong but the lead grew while Gbinje was on the court? His plus minus is very good in acc play

and he does have impact on D, Gbinje that is. many of the threes today were on Cooneys side where he hedged on the wrong kick out guy. but yes we will need more O from MG if we want to win it all

 

[iommi]

These kids are young, in great shape. Live with it.

Plus we are playing our best players and not losing games. I dont care if we play 5 guys. This isnt CYO

I disagree, marsh. We need some sort of a bench to have fresh legs...and I don't want to even mention what would happen in the event of our annual Syracuse injury or other issue...hopefully, DC's injury WAS that injury (get well soon, DC).

 

[Jack Hall]

I don't know but he did nothing at all on the offensive end. He fumbled around with his handle once, leading to a tie-up. He didn't play much but today was not a good performance.

that was one bad play, his D was great and the lead grew quite a bit while he was in

 

[iommi]

that was one bad play, his D was great and the lead grew quite a bit while he was in

I emphasized offensive end...he did nothing on offense...he needs to be more assertive and actually score some points. He can drive; he should take the ball off the bounce instead of only taking the occasional wide open 3. His defense is fine.

 

[Marsh01]

I disagree, marsh. We need some sort of a bench to have fresh legs...and I don't want to even mention what would happen in the event of our annual Syracuse injury or other issue...hopefully, DC's injury WAS that injury (get well soon, DC).

Play the best players my friend. Playing patterson and johnson does nothing for this team. We have all american forwards. They need to play 37-40 minutes every game. Games are spaced out enough where they have plenty of time to rest.