A couple interesting trends

[billsin01]

Minutes

I think it's interesting when you look at the last six games -- all six close, hard-fought contests even though the first game vs. UConn ended up a bit lopsided -- at how many minutes both CJ and, especially, Scoop have logged.

In the first 24 games of the season, CJ topped the 30-minute mark five times and two of those were 30 minutes even. In the last six CJ has averaged 35.8 mpg.

Scoop topped 30 minutes just three times in the first 24 (and remember the first 24 includes 11 BE games). The last six -- he's averaging 32.2 and has topped 30 in all but one game.

So while Joseph has seen his minutes increase as well, these two jump out b/c for the season each is well below 30 mpg. Waiters minutes have gone up but he hasn't been close to 30 minutes in any of the past three games. Triche's numbers have gone down the last six.

So why the increase for Scoop and CJ at the expense of Dion and Triche (and Xmas, obviously)? My theory is that it has to do with the consistency of offensive production they offer. Neither has a real explosive offensive game but each offers a pretty diverse offensive skill set and they are tough players to really sit on any one aspect of their game.

Shots
Interesting that Joseph, in the last seven games, is averaging 13 shots/game. If you take out the Louisville game where he was in foul trouble, he's averaged 14.3 shots. If you take the first 23 games, he averaged just 10.3 shots/game. Now his minutes have gone up but going from 10 shots to 14 is a 40% increase, so it seems to be a focus. IS this a good thing? I guess we'll see. The one downside is that despite playing inside the 3-point arc a bit more and being more aggressive, Joseph is still averaging just a shade under 4 FT attempts per game.

Fair is also averaging 9.1 shots/game in the last 7, but that increase is largely due more to increased minutes as his shots have gone up 38% while his minutes have increased close to 30% in that same span.

 

[dollarbill44]

I think the closeness of the games has been due to getting away from playing 9 guys a lot, like we were doing earlier in the season. In these latest close games, we had decent leads that we let get away. In the earlier part of the season, the games were closer until we started to pull away in the final 10 minutes.

I think this is indicative of the guys who are playing more are getting tired at the end of the games. When players get tired, they lose focus, get a little sloppy with the ball and it gets harder to get your shots to fall. This has been the recipe over our last 10 games, for the most part.

 

[billsin01]

I think the closeness of the games has been due to getting away from playing 9 guys a lot, like we were doing earlier in the season. In these latest close games, we had decent leads that we let get away. In the earlier part of the season, the games were closer until we started to pull away in the final 10 minutes.

I think this is indicative of the guys who are playing more are getting tired at the end of the games. When players get tired, they lose focus, get a little sloppy with the ball and it gets harder to get your shots to fall. This has been the recipe over our last 10 games, for the most part.

Yeah, I wasn't so much advocating for playing 35+ minutes as much as simply stating it and looking for an explanation. But I tend to agree. What I will say, however, is that these games have been close as much for what this team did (or perhaps more accurately, didn't do) early in games. Not knocking down open looks, occasionally poor shot selection, not finishing close to the basket -- it seems like stuff that often happens for 40 minutes as opposed to simply the last 10.

 

[dollarbill44]

Yeah, I wasn't so much advocating for playing 35+ minutes as much as simply stating it and looking for an explanation. But I tend to agree. What I will say, however, is that these games have been close as much for what this team did (or perhaps more accurately, didn't do) early in games. Not knocking down open looks, occasionally poor shot selection, not finishing close to the basket -- it seems like stuff that often happens for 40 minutes as opposed to simply the last 10.

Looking specifically at the UConn, USF and Rutgers games, we had large leads and could have finished them off fairly early in the 2nd halves. We were doing everything right for long stretches in both of the last two games, only to go into cocoons.

 

[billsin01]

Looking specifically at the UConn, USF and Rutgers games, we had large leads and could have finished them off fairly early in the 2nd halves. We were doing everything right for long stretches in both of the last two games, only to go into cocoons.

No, that's true and UConn in particular was strange b/c Southerland and Carter-Williams had played really well off the bench. I just think minutes played can be part of the explanation, but poor shot selection and turnovers (which may have been due to minutes played, but aren't necessarily) were big parts as well. Ultimately, though, I agree that with this particular group JB needs to take advantage of his resources.

 

[dollarbill44]

No, that's true and UConn in particular was strange b/c Southerland and Carter-Williams had played really well off the bench. I just think minutes played can be part of the explanation, but poor shot selection and turnovers (which may have been due to minutes played, but aren't necessarily) were big parts as well. Ultimately, though, I agree that with this particular group JB needs to take advantage of his resources.

I agree. And a few of those games it didn't seem to make a difference who was in the game as they were all seemingly playing poorly.

 

[rrlbees]

I've noticed the last few games we are running a lot more iso's for KJo, especially late in games.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

I've noticed the last few games we are running a lot more iso's for KJo, especially late in games.

I certainly prefer that to, "give it to one of the Philly kids and have them fire up a jump shot late in the shot clock" which seemed to be designed to let other teams hang around in games

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

We have definitely been running more iso's for Joseph late in games (hell all game). Also, I too believe CJ, Scoop and Joseph were dog tired at the end of these games because in many of these games they did not get one second of rest the entire half. In my mind, there is no reason whatsover to not rotate all three guard (four if you want Carter-Williams in there as well) so that no guard plays more than 15 minutes of the 2nd half AND no reason whatsover to not insure that either Southerland or Christmas is providing the same type of rest to CJ and Joseph. Further, I think this rest helps are defensive rebounding tremendously because rebounding out of the zone is predicated almost exclusively on effort by ALL five players, especially the guards.

 

[TexanMark]

I loved when Boeheim brought in his "Orange Team" in the first half vs UConn...the second string came in and streched the lead. I hope he does that against a few teams in both upcoming tournaments.

 

[Marsh01]

I've noticed the last few games we are running a lot more iso's for KJo, especially late in games.

I wish they would do this more in teh first half. Its amazing that when he puts his mind to getting to the basket and scoring that big bucket that we need he almost always delivers.