There were 4 active guards last night. As JB likes to say regarding an injured player, "when he's ready, he'll play". Howard played 19 minutes, and certainly would have played 25-30 if the game was in doubt. In reality, the game was only 37 minutes long, as the walk-ons came in rather early.
Jalen Carey, arguably our best player in NYC last week, played 18 minutes last night vs. 14 minutes for BB. That seems odd. My biggest beef is the 8 minutes of extended run that BB got in the first half, from roughly the 11 minute mark to the 3 minute mark. This was obviously a contested game at that time, with the score within 1-2 possessions for nearly the entire first half.
Subbing out an AA like Battle for Buddy for 8 minutes straight would be the equivalent of putting in freshman Cooney for senior Triche for an extended period in a contested game. And that year we only had 3 guards total.
No one is saying he won't contribute at some point, and he has every opportunity to develop into another Rautins, for example, if he puts in the effort and the cards all fall in place.
The fact that he's 18 doesn't mean anything, nor does the fact that Gonzaga offered him. Heck, Okie State wanted Braswell. He's our 4th forward. Why is there not space for him to show what he can do? Buddy may very well have a couple moments this year where he gets hot, but I think he needs to prove himself under lower profile situations first.