Tyler Polley Fully Cleared

[KembaStepback]

I have a feeling polley is going to be a bench shooter by the end of the year. Hes not a particularly good defender and he's a poor rebounder. If he's improved on that then great.

I have a feeling the starting lineup will be gaff cole bouk polley carlton in nov but by Feb akok will be in for polley and carlton could be replaced by sanogo. Martin polley AJ coming off the bench and playing decent minutes.
Having a true 2nd unit will be great to have in the first half to keep guys fresh for a change. We are so used to guys like adams and vital playing the entire game.

 

[glastonbury50]

Depth is great but deep teams of similarly talented players scare Chief. What needs to be established early on, is who are the 7 best players, who will get most of the minutes? This is particularly challenging because of multi position players. If too many guys are equal it becomes about minutes rather than winning games.
My is sense is that Brown and Sonago will get more of what many think of as Whaley and Carlton’s minutes than many expect.

Its going to be interesting. I tend to think this will really play out itself and that it will become very evident over the first few games who should be getting the bulk of the minutes.

 

[glastonbury50]

It is all good.

Besides shooting, he has proven he is a long arm defender and if he hustles on defense, he can be extremely effective. If he can replicate even by a little , his rebounding effort in his last game, he should earn plenty of minutes.

Just hope he isn't timid coming in off the injury. Youre gonna have to bang down low in the big east. The 11 board game was Tulane. Big East is a whole different animal

 

[CTBasketball]

Started every game before the injury, has almost 2 months to get ready, and is full go for the start of practice. Not even mentioning his value as an efficient scorer and floor spacer. Why isn't he starting?

Polley should be a 3pt ace off the bench. His defense is awful, he can’t rebound well enough for his size, and his offense is one dimensional.

If we go small, it’ll be Cole, Bouk, Martin/Gaffney, Jackson, then Whaley.

If we go big, it’ll be Cole, Bouk, Martin/Jackson, Whaley, Carlton. Or maybe Sanogo for Carlton. Theres no room for Polley to start I don’t think.

 

[husky429]

Tyler is elite at the most important skill in the game.

We can't have too many cooks in the kitchen. 5 shot creators would be nice, but we have A LOT of guys that haven't proven they can shoot. Bouk, RJ and Polley are the only guys that have proven they can shoot at a d1 level.

Tyler's presence opens up space for everyone else to operate. Put Gaff, Bouk, Jackson, Martin, and Whaley on the floor and we have ONE proven shooter on the floor.

I guarantee Hurley isn't underestimating Tyler's value.

 

[mauconnfan]

Amazing how many like to say Tyler is a poor defender not sure what they actually watch during games. He improves dramatically from his freshman year and was well above average prior to the injury, probably our 3rd or 4th best defender. Rebounding needs to be better no doubt but we saw he can. Will be interesting to see how and where he carves his minutes with this team. Don’t think he starts but could win it back when completely healthy, rooting for him great kid.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Polley should be a 3pt ace off the bench. His defense is awful, he can’t rebound well enough for his size, and his offense is one dimensional.

If we go small, it’ll be Cole, Bouk, Martin/Gaffney, Jackson, then Whaley.

If we go big, it’ll be Cole, Bouk, Martin/Jackson, Whaley, Carlton. Or maybe Sanogo for Carlton. Theres no room for Polley to start I don’t think.

Awful is a stretch, he can't guard physical players, ill give you that. But like @husky429 mentioned, he will bring out the best in our rim attackers by giving them space to operate. Having a guy who can average 10 points on no dribbles is very valuable to an offense. This is all assuming he doesn't improve in any other area either.

 

[imno1]

I think we will see a senior Tyler closer to what he showed right before his injury than the less aggressive Tyler Phommachanh. I expect him to start as a stretch 4 and play well.

 

[ctchamps]

Amazing how many like to say Tyler is a poor defender not sure what they actually watch during games. He improves dramatically from his freshman year and was well above average prior to the injury, probably our 3rd or 4th best defender. Rebounding needs to be better no doubt but we saw he can. Will be interesting to see how and where he carves his minutes with this team. Don’t think he starts but could win it back when completely healthy, rooting for him great kid.

You can tell the season is close when posters start dissing our players.

Polley was an above average versatile defender and a below average rebounder who was just starting to correct that deficiency when he had the injury.

His weakness on offense was his inability to drive to the basket and even that started to improve. Everything was beginning to click for him.

I’m always cautious about what to expect from players returning from an injury. But if Tyler picks up where he was prior to injury he’s getting lots of playing time.

 

[Palatine]

Polley is a favorite BY whipping boy. He shouldn't be. He looked on the verge of taking a huge step just before the injury. Best of everything to the young man.

 

[Tampahusky]

Hurley didn’t want to make him a stretch 4 last year I don’t see why with more options he would do it this year.

We didn’t have Martin last year who is an excellent rebounder. It’s not a big deal anyway if lineups don’t work we have so much firepower it’s ridiculous. I really don’t see the freshman starting unless they’re sprinkled in occasionally.

 

[bendm]

Depth is great but deep teams of similarly talented players scare Chief. What needs to be established early on, is who are the 7 best players, who will get most of the minutes? This is particularly challenging because of multi position players. If too many guys are equal it becomes about minutes rather than winning games.
My is sense is that Brown and Sonago will get more of what many think of as Whaley and Carlton’s minutes than many expect.

seems to me the surest way to limit the minutes distribution in the front court is for brown to redshirt. playing 4 different centers is a surefire way to run into the problem you're worried about

 

[Jbirdp5]

We didn’t have Martin last year who is an excellent rebounder. It’s not a big deal anyway if lineups don’t work we have so much firepower it’s ridiculous. I really don’t see the freshman starting unless they’re sprinkled in occasionally.

I still don’t think he puts a non rebounder at the 4 and someone who has very little experience defending the post.

 

[navery12]

I still don’t think he puts a non rebounder at the 4 and someone who has very little experience defending the post.

It's kind of semantics tbh. If it makes you feel better you can say Martin is the 4 and Polley the 3, but their skillsets are very complementary whichever way you spin it

 

[Jbirdp5]

It's kind of semantics tbh. If it makes you feel better you can say Martin is the 4 and Polley the 3, but their skillsets are very complementary whichever way you spin it

I don’t think it’s semantics to say hurley would not play polley at the 4 last year. Even when asked he said he didn’t see it as a fit.
If you want to say when polley and Martin are on the floor together they are interchangeable that’s got some validity but not the point I was trying to make. That also gets you into how many minutes are they spending together on the court? Now he can be a 4 but only with certain personnel around him.

 

[CallMeBruce]

i think martin only loses his starting spot if akok comes back at 100%, which is not expected. i also like polley at SF and martin at stretch 4, he's the better rebounder/defender.

This obsession with assigning guys to positions based on rebounding is baffling to me. How many times over the last several years have we had perimeter guys as some of our top rebounders? Was Vital the power forward last year, or do you just need to update your basketball analysis?

 

[Watchdog]

Depth is great but deep teams of similarly talented players scare Chief. What needs to be established early on, is who are the 7 best players, who will get most of the minutes? This is particularly challenging because of multi position players. If too many guys are equal it becomes about minutes rather than winning games.
My is sense is that Brown and Sonago will get more of what many think of as Whaley and Carlton’s minutes than many expect.

Amen to the minutes' concerns and the effect it can have on chemistry.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I still don’t think he puts a non rebounder at the 4 and someone who has very little experience defending the post.

Ignoring the fact that Polley primarily played as the 4 for two years, what kind of backwards-ass, 1996 idea of basketball are you stuck in that you think anybody plays with two post defenders on the floor anymore?

 

[Watchdog]

Amazing how many like to say Tyler is a poor defender not sure what they actually watch during games. He improves dramatically from his freshman year and was well above average prior to the injury, probably our 3rd or 4th best defender. Rebounding needs to be better no doubt but we saw he can. Will be interesting to see how and where he carves his minutes with this team. Don’t think he starts but could win it back when completely healthy, rooting for him great kid.

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong team, but didn't Tyler put the clamps on Wichita State's best forward last year?

 

[Chief00]

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong team, but didn't Tyler put the clamps on Wichita State's best forward last year?

Danny thinks Tyler is a unique defender because he can defend fairly effectively multipositionally. In particular that helps on switch offs. Danny likes to switch more than Chief, who is old school about fighting through screens. Tyler needs to work on rebounding better, it’s no secret. He also needs to get on the same page as the guy who will get him the ball in the right spot.

 

[Fatroony5]

Danny thinks Tyler is a unique defender because he can defend fairly effectively multipositionally. In particular that helps on switch offs. Danny likes to switch more than Chief, who is old school about fighting through screens. Tyler needs to work on rebounding better, it’s no secret. He also needs to get on the same page as the guy who will get him the ball in the right spot.

Tyler Phommachanh will also be surrounded by better play makers this season as well. Guys like Gaffney and Cole should be able to get him the ball in the right spot at the RIGHT TIME. Often times last season, our primary ball handlers struggled with that. I think having guys who will find him in space will help his game a lot. Especially if Bouk is creating and looking to dish (along with AJ as well in time).

 

[Jbirdp5]

Ignoring the fact that Polley primarily played as the 4 for two years, what kind of backwards-ass, 1996 idea of basketball are you stuck in that you think anybody plays with two post defenders on the floor anymore?

First off don’t come at with some bs and try and make things personal, I’m simply saying what hurley said last year when asked about using polley as a stretch 4. When did he play the 4 last year?, and again if you respond try debating the point and don’t come at me like some type of tough guy

 

[UConnKev]

 

[ucawn]

Let’s also not forget Polley was deemed one of the hardest workers this off-season, and we know what that type of work did for Whaley...

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]