I’m not going to be happy until we have an all freshmen starting 5
Seriously though, give Stewart or Ross consistent PT to give Karaban a breather (past just this game) and get their feet wet and we’re good lmao.
I’d like 5-10 minutes against Gonzaga from one those guys. If they’ve been working hard and giving the effort asked of them, reward them with some court time in the big games.
If they aren’t giving the effort asked of them that’s another story but I don’t think that’s the case.
I wasn't sure where to jump into the fray, with this thread going of in so many directions.
It's challenging for any coach as to how to divide the minutes and give the inexperienced freshman or even sophomores playing time at the expense of the more proven players.
In any game where a bad few minute stretch could cost you the game, a coach wants his most proven players out there, taking into account 2 to 3 rotation players that are going to get minutes. Sometimes foul trouble or fatigue dictate going deeper into the bench but Hurley seems to have viable options with his top 7 to 8 players.
In games where a W is not in question, a good coach like Hurley, strategically will give some early minutes to some bench players who have begun to earn it in practice or improved play in prior games. But even so, it's at the expense of giving more minutes to the proven top 7 or 8 players you want prepared to playing significant minutes against tougher upcoming opponents.
Where it gets tricky is which bench players to give some minutes, and how many, in high pressure situations in close games where the outcome is uncertain. Do you take minutes from your starters or primary bench players to see what these unproven players can do? By doing so you give them critical learning opportunities to develop their game where they learn to perform in more pressure and more competitive situations compared to minutes against an over matched team or mop up minutes at the end of a game.
Add to the above, balancing winning now with developing players for later in the season or the following season.
It's clear that Castle will begin to get more minutes as he continues to recover. Ball, after having mixed results while Castle was out, has really improved on both ends of the floor and deserves some rotation minutes.
So that leads us to the primary point of this thread, are there minutes to be earned from either or both Stewart and Ross? There's just not enough minutes most games to give some to both. I think Stewart in the last game, the Manhattan game and in practice has given Hurley some reasons to start giving him some minutes against tougher competition. Since he's from Seattle, I think he'll get some against Gonzaga, and maybe even a few early minutes if he's practiced well leading up to Friday's game. From this point on there aren't any gimmes since it's the Zaggs followed by only conference opponents.
As for Ross, the only way I see him getting some meaningful minutes is either Stewart doesn't take advantage of what he gets or Hurley does what JC used to do, which is give a small chunk of minutes one game to a non-rotation bench player he wanted to develop and do the same to another in the next game. Sometimes he'd extend the minutes to that player if he did well. But if not, he'd sit that player and give the other one some play that game. It will be interesting to see if Hurley will begin to give Stewart or even Ross a few meaningful minutes as the season goes on.
But we have to take into account Castle getting more minutes as he recovers from his injury. It will likely be Ball's and Diarra's minutes he cuts into though. Stewart and Ross might get minutes when Kararaban needs a rest or he and Spencer are in foul trouble, or when Hurley decides to go small if the bigs (DK or Johnson) are both in foul trouble and they need some size out on the floor. Most of the time, depending who is in foul trouble, Hurley has gone to either a big lineup for a few minutes with DC and SJ on the court at the same time with 3 perimeter players (Newton, Spencer, Castle, Diarra or Ball) or a small lineup with one of the bigs or AK on the floor with 4 of the guards since we have some unusual size and very good rebounding (Newton 6-5, Castle 6-6 & Spencer 6-4). Even Diarra and Ball rebound well on both ends of the floor even though they are listed at 6-2 and 6-3 respectively, which I think is very generous with Diarra who doesn't look anything close to 6-2. My point here is Danny has so many rotation options with his top 8, assuming Castle continues to get more minutes and Ball doesn't regress, getting overtaken by either Stewart or Ross, which I don't see happening. I just hope Hurley can get those two some minutes throughout this season since I think many of us believe they both have a ton of upside to be excellent players, maybe even as soon as next season.
It will be interesting to see which freshman become part of the rotation or at least get some PT as the season goes on.
