The Bench looks promising

[StllH8L8ner]

When I see Danny Hurley on the floor, I like our chances.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I think the title of the post says it all. Is this bench, currently as good as last year. The answer is 'No'. But Ball will be rejoining the bench soon when Castle returns and there are 2 other freshman with a lot of potential to contribute down the line this year. If Diarra continues to play under control on the offensive end, that helps greatly.
I'm also anxious to see if Johnson gets the greenlight to put up a 3 here and there. It was part of his game in high school. Just need to keep him and DC healthy.
A big plus would be buying Karaban some minutes at the 4. I think that is part of the reason why we may see more of the Clingan/Johnson duo on the floor at the same time if foul trouble doesn't limit it.

 

[bendm]

we've already got an 8 man rotation with diarra, ball, and samson off the bench. that's all we need come march. ross and stew are gravy.

 

[yungdowork]

We knew that Newton and Karaban would be getting a ton of minutes this year based on last season, and it seems like Spencer is probably a 30+ mpg guy as well. We have so many guys who are reliable that depth isn't quite as important as last year.

That being said, with Castle out, our bench got a lot worse, but I think we'll be fine. We essentially only played 7 guys vs Texas (Jaylin Stewart got 3 minutes), and Clingan was limited to less than 1/2 of his normal minutes, but it didn't seem like we ran out of steam at all. Ball and Diarra should be able to handle splitting minutes at that 2nd guard spot, especially if Castle is truly back by early December. The next 2 games will be a great opportunity for Ball to get more comfortable, which could be huge by conference play.

 

[ctchamps]

We knew that Newton and Karaban would be getting a ton of minutes this year based on last season, and it seems like Spencer is probably a 30+ mpg guy as well. We have so many guys who are reliable that depth isn't quite as important as last year.

That being said, with Castle out, our bench got a lot worse, but I think we'll be fine. We essentially only played 7 guys vs Texas (Jaylin Stewart got 3 minutes), and Clingan was limited to less than 1/2 of his normal minutes, but it didn't seem like we ran out of steam at all. Ball and Diarra should be able to handle splitting minutes at that 2nd guard spot, especially if Castle is truly back by early December. The next 2 games will be a great opportunity for Ball to get more comfortable, which could be huge by conference play.

I felt Castle’s absence impacted the play of Tristen and Cam the second half of the Texas game. They had to be tired playing the minutes they played two days in a row. Would partially account for their poor shooting.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I think we got our Joey C replacement in Cam Spencer. But Spencer is so good that he's starting. He and Karaban might be the best long range duo in the NCAA.

Spencer was pretty well locked into a starting role when he committed here, so more Hawkins replacement than Joey C replacement (not that he’s as good as Hawkins).