This team will be better with Giffey and Kromah getting 30 minutes

[scrappy2.0]

Its pretty simple Kromah and Giffey are the most efficient players on the team. Both have diverse assets that really help this team. Just like the Miami Heat Id rather go with no C and have Giffey and Kromah playing if I cant get more production from the 5 and the bottom line is Omar Calhoun has not earned the starting G+ minutes position. We should play 15-20 minutes center-less like the Heat do. I think Omar off the bench for 15 right now is bets for him and the team. Its not a smack against him--he had surgery and he needs time to get back to his form. He only a sophomore. the other guys are seniors and deserve the extra PT by earning it

Suggested playing time 8 man rotation we can start Phil N and Kromah and sub Giffey for Nolan 4-5 minutes in. By the way good signs from Nolan he still needs more rebounds but he had three nice post moves hes going to be good by next year.

Napier -35
Daniels-35
Boatright-30
Giffey -30
Kromah-30
Nolan -15
Calhoun 15
Bridah/Tyler/Facey/Samules/Tolksdorf) 10(whoever is needed)

 

[Chin Diesel]

Any rotation that has Napier and Daniels averaging 35 mpg is asinine.

The beauty of this team is its versatility.

What this team needs is players who can mentally stay sharp while their minutes fluctuate.

Ollie has a lot of solutions on his roster.

 

[traitor71]

Funny, when I look at this team i think of the Miami Heat model as one to follow. Play hard on the ball, get in the passing lanes and try to cause turnovers. The only difference is that i know when push comes to shove that Miami can get very tough and very physical. I am not sure we have that, not yet anyway.

 

[scrappy2.0]

Any rotation that has Napier and Daniels averaging 35 mpg is asinine.

The beauty of this team is its versatility.

What this team needs is players who can mentally stay sharp while their minutes fluctuate.

Ollie has a lot of solutions on his roster.

Any rotation that has your two best players getting the most minutes is asinine? My suggestion is to play Giffey and Kromah 30 minutes. Daniels and Napier for 35 is a given. Im taking the Miami Heat center-less model--I think that for 20 minutes it might be our best line up--playing our top 5 guys.

 

[Kitaman]

You guys are funny. Kromah has an outstanding game then he's hyped. Brimah blocks 6 shots in a game then he's hyped. Its like whatever player produces gets pegged as most important over the other. When Omar has his 25 point game or when Nolan has his double double a new minutes distribution thread will start.

The minutes are fine, we are not losing.

We are talented and on any given night two or more of our players will step up. And consequently two or more of our players will put up stinkers. Guess what its November.

Come January these threads will end and we will see 3-4 players stepping up and only one player alternatively put us stinkers. Then come March there will be no stinkers, all players stepping up and an exciting run in the Tournament(s).

The captain says "Loosen your seatbelts please".

 

[SaeHusky]

I do like Kromah for 20 minutes but lets not go crazy after 1 really good game. He still made some poor decisions late in the game - taking a 3 pointer with 16 sec on shot clock when he is below 30% for his career and trying to dribble around 3 guys at top of the key instead of giving it to boat or bazz - he lost the ball and it bounced over to bazz. Giffey on the other hand clearly does deserver 25-30 minutes a game at this point

 

[mauconnfan]

I do like Kromah for 20 minutes but lets not go crazy after 1 really good game. He still made some poor decisions late in the game - taking a 3 pointer with 16 sec on shot clock when he is below 30% for his career and trying to dribble around 3 guys at top of the key instead of giving it to boat or bazz - he lost the ball and it bounced over to bazz. Giffey on the other hand clearly does deserver 25-30 minutes a game at this point

While I agree on the quick shot (Boat did too) and the dribbling, no one came to take the ball.......and I prefer to look at the outstanding D he's played, the steals and the way he runs out in transition. He's been very good for 2 games now......he deserves more time, not starters minutes but more time for sure!

 

[James]

Kromahs athletic ability is astounding. I'm not trying to bash OC, but he's never been nearly as disruptive on defense as Lasan has been; can he work his way there ? I'm not sure... Seeing your minute distribution , you must have forgotten Brimah is a legit rotation player for us.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I said early in the year that every game is going to require situational substitutions by Ollie. There is no set order on this squad.

Napier and Boats minutes need to stay in the low 30's. There will be injuries if they are averaging over 35 a game.

After that, play the hot hand. Calhoun will have good games and Kromah will have good games and Giffey will have good games, and they will all stink up the joint too. I also like depth because it lets players play at full speed while they are out there. They don't need to keep anything in the tank. Watch Napier in the second half of a game, like Indiana, where he has logged a lot of minutes. He is clearly taking possessions off just to recuperate. El-Amin used to practically take naps on the court. The minutes add up over a season, and this isn't AAU ball where they are playing playground offense and jogging on D. These guys are working hard on the court.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Here's a thought - on a game-to-game basis, the guys who are playing the best should get the most minutes. That's the nice thing about having depth - you can make decisions based on matchups and who has the hot hand. You don't have to divide up the minutes based on some predetermined formula.

Ollie has proven that he's willing to sit starters for long stretches if they're not effective. He's clearly willing to sit Calhoun, who has played 24 minutes or less in all but two games so far. Omar can be a frustrating player when he's not knocking down shots, but he's also a guy who can get you 10 points in 3 minutes when he gets it going. Maybe most importantly, some guys respond well when "demoted" to coming off the bench and some guys don't (see Alex Oriakhi). To me, Omar seems like a guy much better suited to starting and being in the flow of the game from the start. He's one of those guys who needs to see the ball go in the basket early. If he's on the bench until the 14 minute mark and maybe doesn't get a shot off for the first couple minutes he's in there, you know that a couple of "my turn" shots are coming.

Giffey and Kromah, on the other hand, are clearly comfortable coming off the bench and it doesn't seem to affect their play at all. I see no reason to mess with that.

 

[Gurleyman]

I said early in the year that every game is going to require situational substitutions by Ollie. There is no set order on this squad.

Napier and Boats minutes need to stay in the low 30's. There will be injuries if they are averaging over 35 a game.

After that, play the hot hand. Calhoun will have good games and Kromah will have good games and Giffey will have good games, and they will all stink up the joint too. I also like depth because it lets players play at full speed while they are out there. They don't need to keep anything in the tank. Watch Napier in the second half of a game, like Indiana, where he has logged a lot of minutes. He is clearly taking possessions off just to recuperate. El-Amin used to practically take naps on the court. The minutes add up over a season, and this isn't AAU ball where they are playing playground offense and jogging on D. These guys are working hard on the court.

Kemba averaged 38 minutes, Caron 36, Ben Gordon 35, Ray Allen 35. Rip only 32 - that surprised me.

Bazz can play 35 a night.

 

[EricLA]

Kemba averaged 38 minutes, Caron 36, Ben Gordon 35, Ray Allen 35. Rip only 32 - that surprised me.

Bazz can play 35 a night.

Agreed. I've never understood the concept that playing a 40 minute game can wear out a player. Maybe I'm naive, but don't the coaches run 2+ hour practices every single day? Don't they do all kinds of wind sprints and what not to help with their stamina? On game day, the team has a light shoot around, right? Not a full 2 hour grueling practice. I would say kids who get "worn out" by the end of the season are worn out because they weren't fit enough to make it through the grueling practices.

And in games like Detroit, or against a good number of the teams in our new league, I doubt Bazz, or anyone else would need to play 35+ minutes. When you are up big, you get to rest your best players and let the other talented players on the team show their stuff.

If any player in the history of UCONN were going to be exhausted, it would have been Kemba leading his team to 5 wins in 5 days in the BET his last season. But he looked just as fresh in minute 39 of game 5 as he did in minute 1 of game 1.

Back to the point at hand, message boards are for fans to post their opinions. But the reality is none of us are at the practices and if Ollie is as smart as most of us believe, he sees what we see, and then some. Ollie will be the first to admit if there are things he as a coach can do better, and that's also one thing he has his assts for - to keep him "honest" and give their opinions on the team. If he's playing Omar more minutes there's a reason for it.

Still, won't stop us all from having opinions. Sure I'd love to see Kromah and Giffey getting more minutes than Calhoun at this point. But I'm just along for the ride, and it's been a great one so far...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Kemba averaged 38 minutes, Caron 36, Ben Gordon 35, Ray Allen 35. Rip only 32 - that surprised me.

Bazz can play 35 a night.

When has Bazz finished the season without an injury?

Caron could handle the minutes because he was a lot bigger and stronger. Allen didn't play defense, so it made it a lot easier to manage a lot of minutes. Kemba was wearing down by the end of the season. Remember the BET finals against Lousiville that year? He was practically delirious. In Kemba's case, UConn really didn't have any other choice. And Calhoun was old school about this, leaving players in beyond when he should have (see KEA vs. Utah State, 2000 NCAA Tournament).

NBA teams track minutes like MLB teams track pitch counts. There is science to this, and college basketball is following the lead. Even college football is getting into it.

 

[Onions]

If any player in the history of UCONN were going to be exhausted, it would have been Kemba leading his team to 5 wins in 5 days in the BET his last season. But he looked just as fresh in minute 39 of game 5 as he did in minute 1 of game 1.

Obviously you didn't watch the same game 5 I did. Kemba was so exhausted it was painful to watch, by minute 39 he looked like he needed an IV. The fact that he could will himself to perform in that condition was one of the greatest feats I've ever seen in sports, but it was amazing precisely because he was so obviously completely fried. That team had no options, it was Kemba or nothing. fortunately this team has more options and hopefully KO can keep Bazz to reasonable minutes.