The Downside (Texas A&M)

[SWC75]

- Jalen Jones, a 6-7 guard who came in shooting 4 for 18 on the season, torched us for 23 points on 10 for 17 shooting. He certainly had no size advantage on our inside guys but got around them for lay-up time and again.


- We gave up 17 offensive rebounds of 37 missed shots, (46%). We got 11 of our 33 misses, (33%).


- Our 6 man rotation played 196 of 200 minutes. And we really didn’t want them to play any less that, did we? Kaleb Joseph got the other minutes and recorded no other statistics. Actually he should have had a turnover, unofficially because he reached out and touched a ball last previously touched by an Aggie before it went out of bounds and thus lost possession for SU. Jim Boeheim pulled him and sang a song to him on the sideline and it wasn’t:

 

[orangehomer]

- Jalen Jones, a 6-7 guard who came in shooting 4 for 18 on the season, torched us for 23 points on 10 for 17 shooting. He certainly had no size advantage on our inside guys but got around them for lay-up time and again.


- We gave up 17 offensive rebounds and 37 missed shots, (46%). We got 11 of our 33 misses, (33%).


- Our 6 man rotation played 196 of 200 minutes. And we really didn’t want them to play any less that, did we? Kaleb Joseph got the other minutes and recorded no other statistics. Actually he should have had a turnover, unofficially because he reached out and touched a ball last previously touched by an Aggie before it went out of bounds and thus lost possession for SU. Jim Boeheim pulled him and sang a song to him on the sideline and it wasn’t:

just a minor quibble, he left joseph in after that play but kaleb was ineffective and removed soon later.

 

[longtimefan]

just a minor quibble, he left joseph in after that play but kaleb was ineffective and removed soon later.

And I think Kaleb's mistake was not tipping the ball out of bounds, but rather not staying in his lane heading down court on a 2-on-1 break,

 

[SoBeCuse]

Jones reminds me of DeJuan Blair. Jones is a beast.

 

[AccuRater]

- Jalen Jones, a 6-7 guard who came in shooting 4 for 18 on the season, torched us for 23 points on 10 for 17 shooting. He certainly had no size advantage on our inside guys but got around them for lay-up time and again.


- We gave up 17 offensive rebounds of 37 missed shots, (46%). We got 11 of our 33 misses, (33%).


- Our 6 man rotation played 196 of 200 minutes. And we really didn’t want them to play any less that, did we? Kaleb Joseph got the other minutes and recorded no other statistics. Actually he should have had a turnover, unofficially because he reached out and touched a ball last previously touched by an Aggie before it went out of bounds and thus lost possession for SU. Jim Boeheim pulled him and sang a song to him on the sideline and it wasn’t:

As you point out we absolutely cannot afford any injuries this year.

I'm not certain about the other, oft-mentioned consequence of our 6 or maybe 6.5 man rotation. That is fatigue, or "tired legs". The suggestion is that this manifests itself late in a game, late in the year (tournament time), or both. There seems to be some controversy.

Coach doesn't agree. With respect to late in a game, he has mentioned the large number of timeouts, etc. He seems to have a point. Elapsed time in a game is about 120 minutes while game clock time is 40 minutes. This means the players are not exerting themselves for 80 of the 120 minutes. It's not like a marathon where you are always running. Young, well-conditioned athletes should be able to handle this pace.

With respect to tournament time, the argument is that going all out for 35+ minutes consistently throughout the season should build up a player's stamina. This should result in late season success.

On the other hand, we've seen our guys tugging at their shorts late in games. And we seem to have underachieved in several (end of season) tournaments, though not in early season tournaments. So I'm not sure where I come down on this one.

 

[SWC75]

As you point out we absolutely cannot afford any injuries this year.

I'm not certain about the other, oft-mentioned consequence of our 6 or maybe 6.5 man rotation. That is fatigue, or "tired legs". The suggestion is that this manifests itself late in a game, late in the year (tournament time), or both. There seems to be some controversy.

Coach doesn't agree. With respect to late in a game, he has mentioned the large number of timeouts, etc. He seems to have a point. Elapsed time in a game is about 120 minutes while game clock time is 40 minutes. This means the players are not exerting themselves for 80 of the 120 minutes. It's not like a marathon where you are always running. Young, well-conditioned athletes should be able to handle this pace.

With respect to tournament time, the argument is that going all out for 35+ minutes consistently throughout the season should build up a player's stamina. This should result in late season success.

On the other hand, we've seen our guys tugging at their shorts late in games. And we seem to have underachieved in several (end of season) tournaments, though not in early season tournaments. So I'm not sure where I come down on this one.

Still, I think we need more than 6 guys in the rotation to give the coach options when we get in foul trouble or somebody gets hurt, even if the players aren't fatigued. The question is: who can give us that 7th or 8th guy and what does that player give us?

We have two guards: Kaleb Joseph and Franklin Howard. Joseph looked good in the exhibitions but has faded badly. And you wodner what watching games on the bench for 36 of 40 minutes is doing to him. I think Howard is better and could give us a third productive freshman if he gets the chance. But how much help do we need in the back court at this point? In any competitive game, (and we've got some more coming up immediately), JB is going to go with Gbinije and Cooney just as much as he can.

The other guy is Okoboh. Nobody knows if he has any upside beyond what we've seen. I sense that he does but may not be far enough along with the game and hasn't had the playing time to develop his game. Winning big confrontations and building up the resume is fine but we need some games against lesser opponents to see if we can develop Obokoh, (as well as Joseph or Howard) into another alternative.

 

[AccuRater]

Still, I think we need more than 6 guys in the rotation to give the coach options when we get in foul trouble or somebody gets hurt, even if the players aren't fatigued. The question is: who can give us that 7th or 8th guy and what does that player give us?

We have two guards: Kaleb Joseph and Franklin Howard. Joseph looked good in the exhibitions but has faded badly. And you wodner what watching games on the bench for 36 of 40 minutes is doing to him. I think Howard is better and could give us a third productive freshman if he gets the chance. But how much help do we need in the back court at this point? In any competitive game, (and we've got some more coming up immediately), JB is going to go with Gbinije and Cooney just as much as he can.

The other guy is Okoboh. Nobody knows if he has any upside beyond what we've seen. I sense that he does but may not be far enough along with the game and hasn't had the playing time to develop his game. Winning big confrontations and building up the resume is fine but we need some games against lesser opponents to see if we can develop Obokoh, (as well as Joseph or Howard) into another alternative.

You make good point. Which is not unusual. A serious injury to any of "The Six" would certainly be season killing. Serious foul trouble early in a conference or tournament game on one or two of The Six would probably be game killing. On the other hand, I've heard Coach make the point that an occasional five or so minutes of game experience wouldn't contribute a great deal to a player's development beyond what he learns in practice. And it might well cost a win in a close game.

 

[pfister1]

We absolutely need a 7th player to step up and be a reliable contributor, even if it is only to come in and eat some minutes without making significant mistakes. At this point Coleman does not appear to be able to go more than 20 or so minutes, so that puts us in a tough spot in a six man rotation if someone other than Coleman is injured, ill or in foul trouble. Obviously a significant injury is probably not something we could overcome.