Bench is Playing Tight. Shorten the Rotation. What Say You?

[ManFromOZ]

Lot of mid to high 30's in minutes played last night for the starters with the exception of AJAX. Newton played out of his mind with more burn. Shades of being back in Greenville, North Carolina and the misfit AAC. Played looser while the trio of Diarra, Alleyne and Calcaterra are playing tighter than a drum. Can a shorter rotation play to the strengths of a volume scorer like Newton? Six bench points last night didn't help the cause. Joey California looks lost and can't throw the ball in the ocean right now. Diarra threw up a goose egg in 9 minutes. Playing five guards is causing guys to look over their shoulders. Like Norman Dale, go with your best five. What say you?

 

[Kenny11]

If we don’t get in foul trouble, yes. It’s that time of year

Also, There are 8 long tv timeouts per game, a 15 minute half time, multiple other timeouts and breaks. These breaks don’t stop guys from getting banged up but guys shouldn’t really ever be winded if they are in good shape…some bigs are an exception because of their body types

 

[UConn Esq]

I cut all of Alleyne's minutes right off the bat.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Xavier played the entire game with 7 guys. We knew going in that they dont have a deep bench. You'd think going full court press the entire game instead of just the 2nd half would have been the answer to tire them the hell out since we play with 9, 10 guys. If Newton has figured it out then I think I'd be ok with shortening the rotation but also tough when you get nothing offensively out of Ajax or Hawkins for a half, but we arent getting anything from our bench right now.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I cut all of Alleyne's minutes right off the bat.

100%. Me and the kid next to me said the same exact thing last night. He’s stopped contributing.

 

[aburks41]

Xavier played the entire game with 7 guys. We knew going in that they dont have a deep bench. You'd think going full court press the entire game instead of just the 2nd half would have been the answer to tire them the hell out since we play with 9, 10 guys. If Newton has figured it out then I think I'd be ok with shortening the rotation but also tough when you get nothing offensively out of Ajax or Hawkins for a half, but we arent getting anything from our bench right now.

Our bench scoring has killed us over this stretch. I feel like in Nov/Dec they were good for a combined 15-20 points per game. Now we're lucky if we are getting 10 points out of them. That's enough to flip these close losses into wins. We could very easily be sitting at 19-3 right now, with a 1 seed in sight. It's just depressing lol

 

[HuskyFich]

Xavier played the entire game with 7 guys. We knew going in that they dont have a deep bench. You'd think going full court press the entire game instead of just the 2nd half would have been the answer to tire them the hell out since we play with 9, 10 guys. If Newton has figured it out then I think I'd be ok with shortening the rotation but also tough when you get nothing offensively out of Ajax or Hawkins for a half, but we arent getting anything from our bench right now.

Maybe we would have gone to it a little earlier if we weren’t down 17. A full court press is not a good move when you’re down a lot. One or two press breaks and your spirit is gone.

Need a little momentum first unless you literally start the game with it.

Also, Hurley has shortened the bench considerably. Did any bench player get double digit minutes last night?

 

[walski]

Lot of mid to high 30's in minutes played last night for the starters with the exception of AJAX. Newton played out of his mind with more burn. Shades of being back in Greenville, North Carolina and the misfit AAC. Played looser while the trio of Diarra, Alleyne and Calcaterra are playing tighter than a drum. Can a shorter rotation play to the strengths of a volume scorer like Newton? Six bench points last night didn't help the cause. Joey California looks lost and can't throw the ball in the ocean right now. Diarra threw up a goose egg in 9 minutes. Playing five guards is causing guys to look over their shoulders. Like Norman Dale, go with your best five. What say you?

So are you saying 35 minute was not enough for Newton? Lol. Maybe those guys need more time not less.

 

[Punkbo]

Depth is one of our strengths. Our bench needs to provide an energy boost and give the starters some rest. I still think the baseline is 150 minutes for the starters and 50 minutes for the bench with flexibility based on foul trouble.

The bench needs to be better than it’s been recently. When things were going well, Clingan and Joey C were a great combo to add energy. We need that again. Diarra provides some relief with ball handling duties and playing solid defense. Samson can provide help defensively at the 4 with more physical players. Alleyne remains a dilemma.

 

[boiwerebad]

I say stick to pressing so we probably need to play 8/9 deep, just as guys will tire out

PG: Newton (30), Diara (10)
SG: Hawkins (34), Joey (6)
SF: Jackson (30), Joey(4), Alleyne (6)
PF: Karaban (30), Samson (10)
C: Sanogo (26), Clingan (14)

Just some initial thoughts. Eventually will probably need to drop Alleyne out of the lineup and his 6 minutes disperse, but think if we press, we need depth. If we just stick regular 1 on 1 man defense, Newton, Hawkins, Jackson, Karaban, Sanogo, Joey, Clingan and Samson should get minutes with Diara coming in spot duty.

 

[Jbirdp5]

I think how the second half was played last night is the way we should play going forward. No more than 5 a half for diarra. Alleyne only if foul trouble. Joey C shouldn’t be in the rotation either.

 

[methodology]

I still can’t believe Hurley trotted out a lineup of Joey, Diarra, and Alleyne for a stretch. No Hawkins and I believe Sonogo might have been on the bench also.

Where was the offense supposed to come from

 

[jpeakin]

I still can’t believe Hurley trotted out a lineup of Joey, Diarra, and Alleyne for a stretch. No Hawkins and I believe Sonogo might have been on the bench also.

Where was the offense supposed to come from

I was literally sick to my stomach when I saw this. I just knew nothing good was going to come of it. And I like those guys, but not all at the same time. Another questionable coaching decision.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Maybe we would have gone to it a little earlier if we weren’t down 17. A full court press is not a good move when you’re down a lot. One or two press breaks and your spirit is gone.

Need a little momentum first unless you literally start the game with it.

Also, Hurley has shortened the bench considerably. Did any bench player get double digit minutes last night?

Alleyne got 13. Clingan got only 7.

 

[bendm]

can we have a 4 man rotation?

the only guys i care to see anymore are hawkins, karaban, samson, and clingan.