March Bench Rotation

[jibsey]

I cringe when I say this but I’d rather see Mahaney than Nowell fill in for Hass. Not the time of year for inexperience and Mahaney has some. Stewart over Ross. Samson 10 minutes per game, no more if possible.
Of course if Stew is not effective then go to Ross.
It’s taken until March to get to this but our best scenario is a short rotation 8 players and that does not bode well for the BE tournament with possible 3 games in a row.
The NCAA is 2 games and I think we can handle that barring injuries. I’m upbeat.

 

[bendm]

Yup. We just can’t get by with 7 if one of the two bench players isn’t a ball handler. We’re gonna have to play Mahaney at this point like it or not. At least he’s played in March before.

Diarra 30 / Mahaney 10
Ball 35 / McNeeley 5
McNeeley 30 / Stew 10
Karaban 35 / Stew 5
Reed 30 / Samson 10

35: Ball / McNeeley / Karaban
30: Diarra / Reed
15: Stew
10: Mahaney / Samson

 

[lateralous]

I cringe when I say this but I’d rather see Mahaney than Nowell fill in for Hass. Not the time of year for inexperience and Mahaney has some. Stewart over Ross. Samson 10 minutes per game, no more if possible.
Of course if Stew is not effective then go to Ross.
It’s taken until March to get to this but our best scenario is a short rotation 8 players and that does not bode well for the BE tournament with possible 3 games in a row.
The NCAA is 2 games and I think we can handle that barring injuries. I’m upbeat.

This really concerns me with Diarra's knee if we manage to get to the finals in the Garden. Hopefully Mahaney can go full blown rising Phoenix for a game or two.

 

[3rdbass]

This really concerns me with Diarra's knee if we manage to get to the finals in the Garden. Hopefully Mahaney can go full blown rising Phoenix for a game or two.

What has Mahaney shown us recently to think he can give us much of anything? I just don't see it besides maybe spelling Diarra for 5 minutes a game. Personally I rather see us go big with Stewart. Mahaney makes him look like an All-Start defender. LOL!

 

[lateralous]

What has Mahaney shown us recently to think he can give us much of anything? I just don't see it besides maybe spelling Diarra for 5 minutes a game. Personally I rather see us go big with Stewart. Mahaney makes him look like an All-Start defender. LOL!

Recently? Absolutely nothing but he's also been playing like 2 minutes a game. My hope with the "phoenix rising out of the ashes" comment is that we might see one or two more Baylor like performances when we really need it in two weeks. Heavy usage in three games in three days if we can make the BET finals could really aggravate Diarra's knee tendonitis going into the more important tournament.

If Stewart is having one of his on nights, I'm good with that too.

 

[3rdbass]

Recently? Absolutely nothing but he's also been playing like 2 minutes a game. My hope with the "phoenix rising out of the ashes" comment is that we might see one or two more Baylor like performances when we really need it in two weeks. Heavy usage in three games in three days if we can make the BET finals could really aggravate Diarra's knee tendonitis going into the more important tournament.

If Stewart is having one of his on nights, I'm good with that too.

It will bee interesting who gets more minutes in the next 2 gams between Nowell and Mahaney. Neither has distinguished themselves.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I just don’t think it’ll end well for Diarra if we don’t find him 10+ minutes to rest starting now. Kids a warrior and I appreciate that he’ll leave it all out there if we ask, but that doesn’t mean he has 35 good minutes to give. We need to live with the results of Nowell or Mahaney playing 5+ minutes per half.

 

[Windham4th]

It will bee interesting who gets more minutes in the next 2 gams between Nowell and Mahaney. Neither has distinguished themselves.

Mahaney looks way more confident drilling with pressure than Nowell right now.

Nowell has made some nice passes when not pressed but it's scary to see him bring it up court with pressure.

Teams will all press with him at point.

Not that Mahaney is blowing us away, but I feel more confident getting across half-court with him...

Who would have thought we be talking about this after the last 2 years?!?! Haha

 

[3rdbass]

Mahaney looks way more confident drilling with pressure than Nowell right now.

Nowell has made some nice passes when not pressed but it's scary to see him bring it up court with pressure.

Teams will all press with him at point.

Not that Mahaney is blowing us away, but I feel more confident getting across half-court with him...

Who would have thought we be talking about this after the last 2 years?!?! Haha

I don't see it. I still see an athletically challenged player who is just one play from getting another 10 second violation or turnover. He isn't a PG and it shows. Maybe Ball or someone else can bring it up and have Mahaney play off the ball which he needs to be effective. I'm not saying Nowell has been great but he seems to be getting better each time I see him with handling pressure.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Johnson is the 6th best player on the team and should be getting 6th best player minutes, even if it means playing him together with Reed for stretches.

 

[dogpause]

Hurley stand up, screams at officials, sits down. Repeat.

 

[Kowalski]

I cringe when I say this but I’d rather see Mahaney than Nowell fill in for Hass. Not the time of year for inexperience and Mahaney has some. Stewart over Ross. Samson 10 minutes per game, no more if possible.
Of course if Stew is not effective then go to Ross.
It’s taken until March to get to this but our best scenario is a short rotation 8 players and that does not bode well for the BE tournament with possible 3 games in a row.
The NCAA is 2 games and I think we can handle that barring injuries. I’m upbeat.

I agree except for the cringe part. And it’s not a knock on Nowell because you can’t expect a lot from a freshman with limited PT. Maybe next year, but right now, but I don’t think Nowell’s handle is any better.
I’m still hoping AM can give us some needed offense off the bench and another shooter to kick out to if we’re feeding Reed more inside. I think he must have it in him as last year’s leading scorer at St Mary’s & a decent career 3 pt shooter. To me, it’s a knock on this staff that they haven’t gotten more out of him. He’s played tight but it can’t help that he’s getting 2 minutes PT & yanked after missing a foul shot.

 

[3rdbass]

I agree except for the cringe part. And it’s not a knock on Nowell because you can’t expect a lot from a freshman with limited PT. Maybe next year, but right now, but I don’t think Nowell’s handle is any better.
I’m still hoping AM can give us some needed offense off the bench and another shooter to kick out to if we’re feeding Reed more inside. I think he must have it in him as last year’s leading scorer at St Mary’s & a decent career 3 pt shooter. To me, it’s a knock on this staff that they haven’t gotten more out of him. He’s played tight but it can’t help that he’s getting 2 minutes PT & yanked after missing a foul shot.

Because he is playing out of Position at PG. Hurley even noted that he doesn't quite work there but he has no opitons. I hope we don't have rely on him in the postseason at PG or we are in trouble. Let's pray Diarra stays healthy and we can get a few minutes of rest with someone backing him up. I hope we can see Mahaney come in as a shooter and I think Nowell has looked better the last 2 games. Remember he barely has gotten any game time but really is our only answer at backup PG unless we play Ball there a little.

 

[Kowalski]

Because he is playing out of Position at PG. Hurley even noted that he doesn't quite work there but he has no opitons. I hope we don't have rely on him in the postseason at PG or we are in trouble. Let's pray Diarra stays healthy and we can get a few minutes of rest with someone backing him up. I hope we can see Mahaney come in as a shooter and I think Nowell has looked better the last 2 games. Remember he barely has gotten any game time but really is our only answer at backup PG unless we play Ball there a little.

They were counting on him to be the lead starting point guard heading into the season. They must have seen something & he did play some point at St Mary’s. But that clearly wasn’t the best fit & Diarra's better suited for that role. But I think he can give them good minutes off the bench though, and especially if the other freshman back-up hasn’t shown more.

 

[3rdbass]

They were counting on him to be the lead starting point guard heading into the season. They must have seen something & he did play some point at St Mary’s. But that clearly wasn’t the best fit & Diarra's better suited for that role. But I think he can give them good minutes off the bench though, and especially if the other freshman back-up hasn’t shown more.

Hurley was quoted that putting Mahaney at PG is like putting a "Square peg in a round hole". It doesn't work. He looks so bad bringing the ball up the court against any pressure and his passing isn't that great. I rather have him create offense at the 2. I rather have McNeeley, Ball at PG or even Ross instead of Mahaney. Ross played some of them I believe in the Marquette game. We are only talking about spot minutes.

 

[Muddler]

What has Mahaney shown us recently to think he can give us much of anything? I just don't see it besides maybe spelling Diarra for 5 minutes a game. Personally I rather see us go big with Stewart. Mahaney makes him look like an All-Start defender. LOL!

It’s hard to see either of them coming back next year so I wonder how much the coaching staff will invest in them down the stretch—especially if you don’t think you can win more than a game or two.

 

[jibsey]

It’s hard to see either of them coming back next year so I wonder how much the coaching staff will invest in them down the stretch—especially if you don’t think you can win more than a game or two.

Who don’t you see coming back besides Mahaney? I’m still dreaming about Mahaney having a breakout game that changes that thought. He does have skills.

 

[Gurleyman]

Neither guy is bringing anything to the table right now, but at least with Mahaney you know if he knocks down a couple shots and suddenly starts feeling good, he’s capable of a 20-point night. Certainly not expecting it. Mental struggles are a beast to overcome and he’s never played well with us or in the tournament (he did put 25 on Gonzaga in a conference title game), so he’s facing massive headwinds. But he has had lots of big scoring games in his archives, and he could have a throwback night. Get him free for a couple wide open looks, they go down, and suddenly he‘s feeling good again and maybe a game changes. Would be a pleasant surprise. But that version of him does exist.

Nowell has never had an impact game at this level. Expecting him to suddenly be a difference maker is believing in a mythical version of him that nobody has seen.

 

[3rdbass]

Neither guy is bringing anything to the table right now, but at least with Mahaney you know if he knocks down a couple shots and suddenly starts feeling good, he’s capable of a 20-point night. Certainly not expecting it. Mental struggles are a beast to overcome and he’s never played well with us or in the tournament (he did put 25 on Gonzaga in a conference title game), so he’s facing massive headwinds. But he has had lots of big scoring games in his archives, and he could have a throwback night. Get him free for a couple wide open looks, they go down, and suddenly he‘s feeling good again and maybe a game changes. Would be a pleasant surprise. But that version of him does exist.

Nowell has never had an impact game at this level. Expecting him to suddenly be a difference maker is believing in a mythical version of him that nobody has seen.

Problem with that was Mahaney was playing off guard and not the lead guard for St. Mary's. If you want him playing the Joey California role I'm fine with that. I think he could excel in that.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

This really concerns me with Diarra's knee if we manage to get to the finals in the Garden. Hopefully Mahaney can go full blown rising Phoenix for a game or two.

I've had IT Band tendonitis before and the only cure is dry needling. Couple sessions and I was right as rain. I think that is what Diarra has, but it's tough to find licensed practitioners in dry needling...but man that helped more than weeks of PT.

 

[Gurleyman]

Problem with that was Mahaney was playing off guard and not the lead guard for St. Mary's. If you want him playing the Joey California role I'm fine with that. I think he could excel in that.

He doesn’t play that way unfortunately - he doesn’t come off screens looking to shoot. It’s one of my frustrations with him that I feel like the staff should have flagged. The ball kinda sticks to him for a while. It did with Cam sometimes too but he would always cut like he wanted the shot, and would force the defense to react. If it was taken away, he’d go to the next plan and was always probing and it felt like he was thinking two chess moves ahead. Mahaney tends to get an advantage and then not use it. He had the ball a lot at St. Mary’s - seems like he was more of a screen and roll guy and not a “get open off the ball”guy.

 

[3rdbass]

He doesn’t play that way unfortunately - he doesn’t come off screens looking to shoot. It’s one of my frustrations with him that I feel like the staff should have flagged. The ball kinda sticks to him for a while. It did with Cam sometimes too but he would always cut like he wanted the shot, and would force the defense to react. If it was taken away, he’d go to the next plan and was always probing and it felt like he was thinking two chess moves ahead. Mahaney tends to get an advantage and then not use it. He had the ball a lot at St. Mary’s - seems like he was more of a screen and roll guy and not a “get open off the ball”guy.

Good observation but I just meant in the scoring role that Joey C. gave us off the bench and not how they each scored their buckets. Either way not being the main ball handler initiating offense would be good for him and take some of that pressure of his brain as it seems to be really impacting his play.

 

[JT-55]

Guys it is March and Mahaney is averaging 4 ppg and has played 12 minutes in the last 4 games. The dream of him being Joey C. is done.
Let's just hope that whoever the backup guard is can protect the ball and get us into an offensive set for around 8-10 minutes each night to give Diarra's knee a rest.

 

[Kitaman]

On paper we have some decent bench players but not one is consistent or reliable. If Reed starts, we have no bench. Its problematic that we can't call on a defensive stopper, or a scoring spark or even a high energetic game impactor (think AJ).

Our starting 5 can beat any 5 starters in the Nation. I just hope they all are capable of playing 35-40 minutes each this month.

Just saying going into the Tourney, we can't rely on our bench for production.

 

[JT-55]

On paper we have some decent bench players but not one is consistent or reliable. If Reed starts, we have no bench. Its problematic that we can't call on a defensive stopper, or a scoring spark or even a high energetic game impactor (think AJ).

Our starting 5 can beat any 5 starters in the Nation. I just hope they all are capable of playing 35-40 minutes each this month.

Just saying going into the Tourney, we can't rely on our bench for production.

I think Ross could be a bit of a defensive stopper. He just doesn't give much on the other end.