Will Alex and Cam Wear Down? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Will Alex and Cam Wear Down?

I wasn't looking when he came in and when I was watching and saw him I seriously did a double take and shook my head back and forth in disbelief. And by the time I finished that he was out.
He was in just before the end of the first half. Presumably protecting a number of our bigs with two or three fouls each. The only thing keeping him from playing more right now is the opportunity. When those opportunities arise (and they will be it injuries or foul trouble) he will demonstrate what he brings to the table. If he produces and I believe he can and will he will get more minutes. Big East hasn't even begun yet. Necessity is the mother of invention. While I'm out on a limb somewhat I would go so far as to say that if Clingan leaves after this year Singare will be the other half of the two headed monster center (5) for next season along with Samson Johnson. We shall see.
 
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How is it possible for a 20+ year college athlete (in the best shape of their life) to wear down in a season?
 
Singare was impressive in Blue/White. Has done everything asked of him like denying ball to Bycott last night.
He got a big chance last night and produced. My experienced eyes tell me when Dan Hurley gives him a chance he will get prime minutes when needed.
Like his attitude and work ethic per Blue/White observations.
They may need him down the road. Calhoun would play his third center when the other two would get two fouls..
 
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I’m hoping Hurley sits Karaban, Spencer and Clingan the next game. That would give the freshman a chance to show what they got and those guys to heal a little bit. I doubt it’ll happen though.
 
They're young, unlike most of us fans

The max number of games is < 40

Eight is enough, although I'd love to see couple of other freshman earn more time.
 
What made us grind teams out last year was our depth and no one playing much more than 30 minutes. As Castle gets healthy the minutes can go down for the starters. It was real important for Solo to get good minutes early on as now we can play an 8 man rotation.
 
Singare played last night?
UNC took a time out with the shot clock off at the end of the first half. With DC already on the bench with 2 could and Johnson playing with 3, Hurley made a fairly obvious but the right move to put Singare in for one defensive position, and then protected him from having to stop Bacot man to man by throwing out a 1-3-1. Didn’t work, and Carolina hit a 3 to end the half, but Singare played that one defensive possession.
 
These are kids, they are running on adrenaline and Red Bull, they’ll be fine.
 
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Against UNC, Alex logged 38 minutes, Cam 36 as part of an 8-man rotation. Against Kansas, Alex logged 35 and Cam 36 as we tried to beat the Jayhawks with a 7-man rotation.

Even if we get lucky with injuries and fouls, and these two stalwarts can continue to put in these minutes, what will they have left for legs come tournament time? No question in my mind that our 8-man rotation can be a "juggernaut" healthy and fresh, but will it be healthy and fresh come March?

What we've missed these past two games is a Ross or Stewart sighting. And it's late enough in the year to wonder if the window of opportunity is closing on them.

With Castle's return and Ball's breakout, we may be able to give Cam (and Tristan) an occasional rest, but what do we do if Karaban ever has to sit down? Who plays the 4 in our 4-guard lineup?
I look forward to seeing Apostolos in real time. I think he will help the team
 
I do not expect Karaban to wear down. He was the only player who did not have a true back up last season and led the team in total minutes as a RS-Freshman. He seemed to get stronger as the year went on.
 
I’m more worried about his fingers, it’s clearly bothering his shot, hope they heal by Gonzaga.
 
I'm assuming "high" means 35 or more minutes? Karaban averaged 29 mpg last season so I was thinking that what you said couldn't be true. So I looked it up.

He played 35 or more minutes 6 times. Iowa St. (38 min.), Oklahoma St. (37), St. John's (37), Xavier (35), Marquette (35), and Marquette again (35).

LOL, I'm not sure what the "high" typo was supposed to be, probably "over" or "at least"? I was pretty close, I'm surprised the average was just under 29 tbh.

Regardless, I don't expect him to get tired since he didn't last year and he's got about the same amount of backup again.
 
His 3 ball has been a bit off the last few games. We might have discovered why.
Dislocated finger on shooting hand, for starters.
 
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I’m hoping Hurley sits Karaban, Spencer and Clingan the next game. That would give the freshman a chance to show what they got and those guys to heal a little bit. I doubt it’ll happen though.
Karaban, Spencer, and Clingan need to play to stay in the swing of things so to speak. But I personally would like them to be a strict minutes restriction. UConn needs to be like Mike Tyson and deliver the knock out early so that keeping these players under the minute restrictions becomes a reality. Hopefully Castle's minutes restriction loosens and he can play more.

Like you, I would like to see Stewart, Ross, and Singare get 20 minutes each although I realize I might be aiming too high.
 
Karaban, Spencer, and Clingan need to play to stay in the swing of things so to speak. But I personally would like them to be a strict minutes restriction. UConn needs to be like Mike Tyson and deliver the knock out early so that keeping these players under the minute restrictions becomes a reality. Hopefully Castle's minutes restriction loosens and he can play more.

Like you, I would like to see Stewart, Ross, and Singare get 20 minutes each although I realize I might be aiming too high.
You realize if Ross, Stewart and Singare got 20 minutes each that would only leave 140 minutes for the remaining core 8.
 
You realize if Ross, Stewart and Singare got 20 minutes each that would only leave 140 minutes for the remaining core 8.
correct. I wasn't really thinking about the math and just spitballed a minutes number. My bigger point is I would like those 3 to get significant minutes in this next game so Spencer, Clingan, Karaban, and Castle don't have to play too much.

Edit: Although I wouldn't mind if UConn wins comfortably with 140 minutes going to the other 8 at 17.5 minutes. Basically I would like to see Karaban, Clingan, Castle, and Spencer get some playing time just to maintain some semblance of competitive basketball between North Carolina and Gonzaga, but be able to get some rest for their injuries.
 
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correct. I wasn't really thinking about the math and just spitballed a minutes number. My bigger point is I would like those 3 to get significant minutes in this next game so Spencer, Clingan, Karaban, and Castle don't have to play too much.

Edit: Although I wouldn't mind if UConn wins comfortably with 140 minutes going to the other 8 at 17.5 minutes. Basically I would like to see Karaban, Clingan, Castle, and Spencer get some playing time just to maintain some semblance of competitive basketball between North Carolina and Gonzaga, but be able to get some rest for their injuries.
I’m sure Hurley is gonna play them all but I’d prefer he give a couple a break. Castle needs to play as much as the medical team will let him so he gets some game reps. If they are up big at the half, the other three shouldn’t come back in.
 
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With the conference being weaker than anticipated, the upside could be more opportunities to work the freshmen in. Ideally that means a lot of reps for Ross and Stewart against SJU, SHU, Xavier, DePaul, and Georgetown with only heavy minutes required for the top 8 against Creighton, Marquette, Nova, Butler and PC.
Don't count Apostolos out just yet
 
"We want to get to nine (deep)," coach Dan Hurley said on Friday. "I've been able to get to 10 in my career, but I'm only going to play the players that are ready to play. Those two guys are tremendous talents. I think they've both got a chance to be NBA players. It's not happening for them right now.
 

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