Rotation Thoughts after 4 games

[Qman]

It appears to me that following players minutes are set in stone.

Haws 32 mpg at the 3.
Fischer 30 mpg at the 2.
Austin 30 mpg at the 4/5.

So we have some rebounding and lot of scoring/shooting ability locked in.

I believe that Worthington is going get at least 5 minutes at the start of each half to protect Austin from foul trouble.

This leads to the biggest question mark on the roster--who can play point guard? Or maybe we will divide the tasks up-- ball handling and defending other teams point guard.

We don't really have an answer for the ball-handling setup role. IMO only Ellis is a really good ball-handler. Winder is 2nd and everyone else is below that. In the last 3 games Ellis has passed on open 3 after open 3. Against good defensive teams your point has to take and hit 3's. Ellis also hasn't applied much if any ball pressure.

Btw I was surprised to Bartley playing 3rd string PG this season. In the SVU game he made several passes I didn't think he was capable. But his handle is so loose and sloppy. If he could handle better, it was make his athletic ability for more valuable.

As for the bigs I see a Worthington, Kaufusi, Nielson committee holding down the fort when we don't go small.

I see a lot of talent in Nixon but he just isn't ready.



Maybe in crunch time we will play a mostly healthy KC at the 4 as a point forward with Winder-Fischer-Haws-Austin. That would let Winder take the toughest perimeter matchup and get our best players on the floor.

[SpiffCoug]

hasn't KC been in foul trouble much of the regular season?

[Wolverine]

KC will man the point Monday night and moving forward. Hopefully he will continue to get back to full strength.

[Gunk]

KC will man the point Monday night and moving forward. Hopefully he will continue to get back to full strength.

He will and may very well get eaten alive. His handles aren't there. Arkansas trapped him multiple times & SDSU is a defensive jaugernaut.

Hope I am wrong.

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[Wolverine]

KC will man the point Monday night and moving forward. Hopefully he will continue to get back to full strength.

He will and may very well get eaten alive. His handles aren't there. Arkansas trapped him multiple times & SDSU is a defensive jaugernaut.

Hope I am wrong.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

That Could very well be the case. I just think Coach Rose has his mind set on KC running the point. I hope you are wrong as well

[Qman]

KC will man the point Monday night and moving forward. Hopefully he will continue to get back to full strength.

He will and may very well get eaten alive. His handles aren't there. Arkansas trapped him multiple times & SDSU is a defensive jaugernaut.

Hope I am wrong.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

This is what I am most worried about. SDSU goes full court press from the opening tip. If KC can't handle it, then we don't have a true ball-hander on the floor at all. It could get really ugly.

[Cougs_Rule]

KC isn't a true PG, but he's the best Rose has on O. He is not quick enough to guard the point. Rose has an interesting dilemma, or at least options. Winder is best defender at PG. Halford will probably get blown up by better teams and that little experiment will be limited to over. Watch Ellis disappear as big boy teams now appear on schedule.
Even if BYu loses to SDSU, it will be good to see what this team is made of.

[Wolverine]

KC isn't a true PG, but he's the best Rose has on O. He is not quick enough to guard the point. Rose has an interesting dilemma, or at least options. Winder is best defender at PG. Halford will probably get blown up by better teams and that little experiment will be limited to over. Watch Ellis disappear as big boy teams now appear on schedule.
Even if BYu loses to SDSU, it will be good to see what this team is made of.

This is a fair assessment. It seems like dribble penetration from speedy point guards (think UMass, Anthony Ireland, etc.) was the Achilles Heel of last year's team. I see similar issues this year. This week in Maui will paint a much clearer picture moving forward.

[beauso79]

Man this team could use Carlino's help at PG this year.......we'd probably be undefeated with him. We have nobody that can penetrate the defense and then kick out to an open shooter of which we have multiple this year. Halford still sucks against better opponents and KC is going to be hampered by his knee for a while. The only hope I really see is that Bartley can figure it out in a hurry because he's the only one this year that has even tried to dribble inside and attack even though it hasn't looked pretty at times. Winder is a 2 plain and simple. If we can find a guy who can attack the defense off the dribble and then some form of a post presence in the near future we might do better than expected. This team would have been pretty special with Carlino and Aytes come January

[BYULV]

Man this team could use Carlino's help at PG this year.......we'd probably be undefeated with him. We have nobody that can penetrate the defense and then kick out to an open shooter of which we have multiple this year. Halford still sucks against better opponents and KC is going to be hampered by his knee for a while. The only hope I really see is that Bartley can figure it out in a hurry because he's the only one this year that has even tried to dribble inside and attack even though it hasn't looked pretty at times. Winder is a 2 plain and simple. If we can find a guy who can attack the defense off the dribble and then some form of a post presence in the near future we might do better than expected. This team would have been pretty special with Carlino and Aytes come January

We'd be even more incredible if Jimmer or Ainge were around, but they've moved on as well. I liked carling a lot, but thought he was a bit wild and unpredictable, maybe to the point of uncoachable. If we only took his good game, I agree, we'd be awesome this year. But, he brought with him some of his own frustrating style of play which ultimate is what got him out of the starting line up last year and there are no guarantees that wouldn't have continued this year.