JasonB wrote:Young was sick. But beyond that...
Our defense is awful. Frustrating to watch our guys able to win offensively all night long athletically, but we react several steps slow on defense and our defensive positioning is quite poor. Hunt blocks shots, which is nice, but he is running out in transition instead of hitting the boards on defense, and he is way behind his man defensively which gives an open three, and then when he hurries to close that space, they blow right by him.
We are long and trying to close players out on the perimeter, which is going to give up drives. But we have no inside presence to block shots and protect the rim. Chargios just doesn't have a good vertical and his angles defensively are poor. That last foul was terrible - all he had to do was jump up and make the shot difficult, which he did, but then he put his arm forward and made an unnecessary foul on a difficult shot. It is like watching the Mavs ten years ago trying to play with Dirk as a rim protector.
Chargois was gassed at the end of the game. At one point, Jank signals to the bench to sub Hunt in, but then immediately changes his mind. Fundamentally in this case, I think it illustrates the problem. The only sub we have on the roster for Ethan is Young, who was out sick last night. Next year you get Ray back (maybe) and the A&M transfer (maybe), and a more experienced Young and things improve. That is a lot of maybes. Ideally, you would like to be in a position where Ethan plays more or less based on the situation and whether match ups are a good fit. Last night wasn't a great match up for him.
I also see the conundrum with Hunt. He is playing the same position as Mike, at the 4. So, when Mike is hot the last two games, Hunt's PT drops considerably. You can see where Mike is playing a stretch 4, like Jank did with Semi. His threes are in the same spot as Semi's were, at the top of the circle. Jarrey, on the other hand, playing as more of a three, took most of his deep shots from the wing. In order to improve the rotation and get Hunt more floor time, I think it would be good to give Mike time at the 3 and keep Hunt at the 4. But I also understand not wanting to rock the boat when Mike is starting to play well. And if Mike can't guard the 4 on the perimeter, good luck guarding the 3.
White not getting any PT is troubling.
Looking at the rotation for next year:
PG: Whitt
SG: Juco - White
SF: Douglas
PF: Mike - Hunt
C: Ethan - Young - Ray - A&M
I'm not including Cook and McBride, because there is pretty much no way they are ready to play next season.
The Juco and White are both combo guards, so they can spell Whitt. The gigantic hole in the rotation is at the 3. We need a very high level recruit at that spot. Otherwise that lineup might be a little deeper than this season, but has some serious issues.
You have Douglas starting next year? If that is the case, we are worse than I had feared. That kid has actually managed to regress.