Singare is the only guy that I could understand being unhappy with his PT since he’s not a frosh
Mahaney 20 / Diarra 20
McNeeley 25 / Nowell 10 / Mahaney 5
Stew 10 / Ball 20 / Ross 10
Karaban 25 / Stew 15
Reed 20 / Johnson 20
25: Mahaney / McNeeley / Stew / Karaban
20: Diarra / Ball / Reed / Johnson
10: Nowell / Ross
Bench: Abraham / Singare
The video of Abraham during practice were impressive. Granted they're selective clips, but I was impressed with his handle, athleticism and shot making and didn't look like a player that would be sitting most of the season on the bench.
I'm not sure the concern is that we have too many good players, but it will be more of a challenge for the staff to develop chemistry with the five players that are on the floor if he expands the rotation. I can certainly see the top 11 players getting solid playing time on any given game. Depending on matchups, style of play and foul situation, that the number of minutes will vary for some of the players that are in the lower portion of that 11. I just think that separation of talent between the top 11 players is a lot closer than we've ever seen at UConn.
The two things to keep an eye on are:
Can the multi-positional players execute at a high level on both ends of the floor with a frequent variety of different lineups?
Will two or more players be able to consistently step up and execute during critical points in the game such as during winning time and when opponents make a run or other types of adversity that take place during a game where the team desperately needs to turn the tide back in their favor?
What makes things interesting when trying to discuss playing time is that in Hurley's system there's a lot of positionless execution in their offense, and even their defense to some degree. The one, two and three positions, and even the four, are often executing a similar things in the motion offense. And when the shot clock starts to run down, if all four of those players have the skill to handle, dish and create their own shot, any one of them could find the ball in their hands with the task of making a quick decision to either create enough space and take the J, or drive and do one of the following: dish to a teammate under or cutting to the basket, kick it out to one of our open sharpshooters, take a mid-range shot in the soft area of the paint, or take it right to the basket to either score or draw a foul.
Last season, Newton was often the player with the ball in his hands as the clock was running down. Late in the season we started to see Castle take that on as well. And there were times when Cam, Diarra or Alex found themselves in that situation and were able to execute some critical plays.
This upcoming season looks like we'll have a lot of players who have the skills to execute what I described about. The question is will there be a few who can consistently process and execute successfully under high pressure situations. I know that Hurley and the staff will figure it out and will coach the team to make sure the right players have the ball during those situations.
Based on what we know and a small sample of video, I'd say all except the three bigs have some array of skills to execute in those situations. If I were to guess, I think Diarra, Mahaney, Alex and maybe even Stewart will be called upon early in the season to take on these types of situations, while players such as Ball, Nowell and McNeeley might also take this on as they develop and Hurley gains confidence in them. And you might be able to add Abraham and Ross, who both have surprisingly good handles, to that mix if they develops enough to find themselves earning some PT. With all this said, the ability to defend will play a huge part on how much playing time each player will earn.
It's going to be an exciting season and I wouldn't be shocked to see Hurly go deeper into the bench than he has before.
