Point Guard Situaton

[Rocktheworld]

I agree with all that you wrote. AM would have been a miss for all of the schools you listed, but he is on our roster. DH had to take him out yesterday and keep him on the bench. He crossed half court yesterday and froze. He has been doing that all year. He was never a point guard at this level of competitiIon. Add in St Johns Defense (#4) and he is not able to compete at the level we require. Gotta give Hass credit for gutting out the minutes but he needs 2 weeks down time to get healthy.

Everyone (including us) wanted Timberlake last year.

At least we have another year that Aiden can develop into. I think from an athletic standpoint, there isn't much that Cam did that Aiden can’t do. All Cam has on Aiden is a little weight, which Aiden can put on. Again, Cam wasn’t asked to be our lead guard. I think we do need a more pure, big point guard from the portal with high D1 experience. With the sophomores coming back along with Tarris as a senior, with the freshmen coming in… it’s a great situation for a solid point guard to take the lead

 

[Hunt for 7]

No point beating the dead horse too much. Mahaney was a recruiting miss, but I think he has value as a bench piece once the internal pressure of starting-PG-turned-benchwarmer wears off

Can't fault the staff too much on it. 247 had him as the #22 transfer that summer and he was a 14 PPG starter on back to back tournament teams that was recruited by other good teams. It just is what it is

I bet our situation is much improved next year as a high impact transfer PG is a definite area of need. Nowell as PG2 and Mahaney as CG off the bench with Adams is pretty solid with Solo/Braylon starting

For this year, we need Diarra to get healthy and Mahaney to just play within himself and with confidence. If Nowell can contribute once he's back from injury, it's extra. This season rides on Solo and the forwards

I don’t see Mahaney staying. Makes no sense. Someone in a mid major conference will offer him a better NIL deal and honestly it would be better for him to move on. He is not going to end his career on the bench playing 10 minutes a game.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Was Timberlake a big miss for Kansas last season?

I guess I figure a recruiting miss is more so going out on a limb for someone ie taking a calculated risk and it not panning out. Following the consensus and the kid not “delivering” (as I implied in my post, we don’t know exactly what the staff expected of Aiden) doesn’t feel like a “miss” to me. I guess I just don’t like that specific word being used.

 

[UCFan1513]

Pettiford in a really good situation down at Auburn coming off the bench behind 5 seniors, getting his 22-23 minutes a game. He’ll start down there next year, see little chance he even thinks about moving off Auburn. If this is a woulda coulda hindsight, yeah maybe.

No not saying he’d transfer. Moreso saying Hurley didn’t whiff on talent eval, and having a guy like that to backup Diarra would’ve been huge

 

[AllHusky]

I think they are unfortunately bubbled if he sits a week or 2. Lucky to win 18-19 if he does. But he can’t play like last night no matter.

The tightrope we walk.

Do we want to have to win BET? No. Do we want to limp into Tournaments? No.

The question is did Hass have a tough game or is he hampered physically. Most agree he is ground down, the knee-itis being a symptom of overuse in general.

Is Alex similarly hampered by a series of dings plus concussion? Hard to know exactly.

Threading this needle between bubble concerns and physical readiness going to be Art not science. Hurley teams generally play best ball at seasons end, I’d err on the being physically ready side of decision making process.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Me reading the same reply in this thread 600 times.

 

[RuffRuff]

The tightrope we walk.

Do we want to have to win BET? No. Do we want to limp into Tournaments? No.

The question is did Hass have a tough game or is he hampered physically. Most agree he is ground down, the knee-itis being a symptom of overuse in general.

Is Alex similarly hampered by a series of dings plus concussion? Hard to know exactly.

Threading this needle between bubble concerns and physical readiness going to be Art not science. Hurley teams generally play best ball at seasons end, I’d err on the being physically ready side of decision making process.

I think we have to give StJ some credit - they are a beast of a team.

I was kinda surprised that Ross, the ex PG that he is, got so little time when we were turning the ball over nonstop. He seemed pretty effective for the same reasons against Marquette. I realize we were playing from a lead in that one.

As was stated, turning point in this one was at the 10 minute marker in first half. We were up a super impressive 26-12. I bet they were sitting back questioning themselves a bit, wondering if our shooting would just be too hard to stop. On our next two possessions we missed 3s AND got the offensive rebound and still couldn’t score. We then missed another 3 on our third possession, after stopping StJ 3x. That was the chance to split it open. They then cut the lead to 1 in less than 4 minutes and the waterfall began. In a game of swings that was the ultimate swing and momentum completely shifted. 10 minutes of beautiful basketball down the drain in a blink, crowd taken out. STJ is not a team you want to play from behind on.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Nowell needs to get healthy. I think he's a player. Shown some early season flashes. He can take over and run the offense when Diarra isn't feeling it.

Borges said pre game that he was practicing and moving well. Thought he might play. Then he was listed as out. But he said Nowell is obviously very close to coming back. Wouldn’t surprise me if they want to make very sure he doesn’t miss time again given that Diarra will be hobbled all year.

 

[MyDorona]

I wonder if they try Liam at pg just try an spell a couple minutes for Hass

Season-long data suggests we are an average-at-best defensive team. Playing Liam significant minutes in place of Hass ensures that we’d be a terrible defensive team. Who guards the other team’s smaller, quicker guards?

 

[Hi-Low]

PG situation is a mess...what else can you say. It's been holding team back all year and will continue to. Major miscalculation by DH & Staff on Mahaney transition to lead PG. Remember that season started with Mahaney as starting PG and Diarra in natural position as backup pg 6th man.

DH scrapped that after 1 game...so he didn't have "faith" in Diarra as lead PG in the off-season and after 1 game he knew Mahaney wasn't a PG at all....so we're stuck with a hobbled Diarra as lead PG.

 

[Dove]

Far too often have we been punched in the mouth at home. Soft team.

I don't think they're soft at all. Something is off.

 

[mauconnfan]

Borges said pre game that he was practicing and moving well. Thought he might play. Then he was listed as out. But he said Nowell is obviously very close to coming back. Wouldn’t surprise me if they want to make very sure he doesn’t miss time again given that Diarra will be hobbled all year.

Need him and DH needs a longer rope with him, one mistake and out can’t happen. Let him play through it has to be a piece the rest of the year somehow. It’s scary that HD had 6 days to rest and didn’t look any better at all. That’s an issue!

 

[Hoophound]

If the Thad Matta era at Butler ends, Bizjack is worth a look. He tore us up and he played great in another game I watched recently. He’s a Hurley kind of guy. Tenacious, creative, great handle, good shooter.

 

[ihatepants]

On the bright side, the coaching staff will have plenty of time to scout and tamper this year for a replacement because they won’t have to worry about another deep run in March.

 

[UofCT]

Bashir from Monmouth

 

[superjohn]

Hass can't be playing 34 minutes like he did last night. Kid is hurt and from what Hurley said it's something they have to deal with the rest of the season. The staff missed on Mahaney and we've been unlucky with Nowell's injuries. We clearly need to bring in a big point guard through the portal in the offseason.

As for the rest of the season Liam and Solo are going to have to play big roles as initiators of the offense from here on out with Diarra playing less. I feel terrible for Hass.

 

[Icehawk]

Taller, stronger guard(s) are what I want. Sold D is a must. Feels like DH tilted a little too far this year on the O side.

 

[BGesus4]

Not that this is helpful or even had any chance of happening, but how good would Racine’s own Tyrese Hunter have been on this team.

 

[Scrappy3]

It's a really bad situation. That will not work itself out. Nowell hasn't played really. And AM isn't a pg.

I wonder if they try Liam at pg just try an spell a couple minutes for Hass

Exactly
Play Liam as a scoring pg with Stewart at sf

Give Hassan two weeks off.

 

[superjohn]

Everyone (including us) wanted Timberlake last year.

At least we have another year that Aiden can develop into. I think from an athletic standpoint, there isn't much that Cam did that Aiden can’t do. All Cam has on Aiden is a little weight, which Aiden can put on. Again, Cam wasn’t asked to be our lead guard. I think we do need a more pure, big point guard from the portal with high D1 experience. With the sophomores coming back along with Tarris as a senior, with the freshmen coming in… it’s a great situation for a solid point guard to take the lead

Aidan can't do any of what Cam can do. Aidan is a nice kid and I root hard for him but he's been overwhelmed physically all season. Cam is a physically strong guard, never got outmuscled. This would be like comparing Vin Diesel back in the day physically to back in the day Ronnie Coleman.

I'll continue to root for Aidan but we simply can't be relying on him to have any sort of major role next season. As you stated we need to bring in a big point guard from the portal.

 

[Hoophound]

Nowell has to come back and play well this season or we are gonna be a quick out. That’s a big ask as he’s always hurt and he hasn’t played well yet. The talent is there, need to acclimate him asap. 6-7 solid minutes per game would even help.

 

[Mike Honcho]

We didn’t, we had the kid from St. Marys from the portal who DH wanted above every other point guard in the portal. This season is on DH. Where was Stewart in the second half, AK is almost not playable. He’s a ghost out there, nonexistent on offense and defense. He’s invisible. Can’t shoot anymore, can’t defend me and I’m 73, he just floats around not having any positive impact on the game. Last year he was the 5th concern for opposing defenses so he got the worst front court defender now they are playing attention to him and he’s been exposed as slow, non athletic, slow release on his shot, slow on his drives to the rim and can’t guard anyone. He’s invisible on offense and defense but he played the entire second half and I don’t think Stewart sniffed the court. Even when things were starting to get away late second half AK was nonexistent. It’s like playing 4 on 5 he contributed nothing and he’s supposed to be a team leader. Great guy nice person but a major disappointment for the sole returning starter from last season.

We've reached that point in the season where 73 year old posters claim that D1 athletes cannot guard them. Ahh, February.