Carr at the 5, less Garrison

[Aike]

I think this might be the necessary tweak to propel us through the postseason.

Maybe BG gives us a Marcus Lee vs. Michigan performance somewhere down the line. But I think we need to tighten things up.

Amari can’t play 40 minutes at the 5. Maybe not even 30. Feel like running out a healthy Carr for some minutes at the 5 gives us more probability of running highly efficient offense, and doesn’t hurt us enough on defense to worry about it.

I’d like to see the minutes distribution at the 4/5 look something like this:

5
Amari - 25
Carr - 10
Garrison - 5

4
Carr - 15
Almonor - 15
Noah - 10

In tournaments play, wouldn’t bother me a bit if Garrison was only getting minutes when we have foul trouble.

 

[YardCat]

Noah should get more time the AA because he plays defense and rebounds

 

[Aike]

Noah should get more time the AA because he plays defense and rebounds

Have no problem leaning into whichever is being more productive. But I don’t think BG mostly splitting time with Amari is our most effective strategy.

 

[phunterd]

Almonor is just so bad at anything other than shooting that I don’t think he can play extended minutes in a win or go home situation.

Love him for the situational points he’s given us in big moments during SEC play but that’s about all he can give us.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Almonor is just so bad at anything other than shooting that I don’t think he can play extended minutes in a win or go home situation.

Love him for the situational points he’s given us in big moments during SEC play but that’s about all he can give us.

Alamonor plays likes he’s in an over 40 rec league

 

[catfan220]

I think this might be the necessary tweak to propel us through the postseason.

Maybe BG gives us a Marcus Lee vs. Michigan performance somewhere down the line. But I think we need to tighten things up.

Amari can’t play 40 minutes at the 5. Maybe not even 30. Feel like running out a healthy Carr for some minutes at the 5 gives us more probability of running highly efficient offense, and doesn’t hurt us enough on defense to worry about it.

I’d like to see the minutes distribution at the 4/5 look something like this:

5
Amari - 25
Carr - 10
Garrison - 5

4
Carr - 15
Almonor - 15
Noah - 10

In tournaments play, wouldn’t bother me a bit if Garrison was only getting minutes when we have foul trouble.

I’ve been surprised we haven’t seen much Carr at the 5 this year. It would have to be matchup dependent, there are definitely some centers that would abuse Carr. But that’s true of Garrison too!

 

[ManitouDan]

I’m in full agreement with shortening this rotation .. we were comfortably ahead —and we have this happen waaaay to often , we go with lineups that simply can’t compete .. YES our 7,89th players have gotten better , some way better , but that doesn’t mean they can hold their own on the road , playing in Rupp , yes , but not on the road . They can’t hang and it kills us far too often . These athletes should be , or need to be , in great enough shape to play 34 minutes , take 3 off a half , with reviews , tv timeout and coaches TOs any player should be able to stay out there . Against many teams we get out athlete”d . Badly .. please stay with lineups that can score

 

[Tprinceuk]

The longer the season goes I'm kinda hoping the Garrison transfer rumors are accurate, to me he has regressed in almost all aspects of the game and his basketball IQ was never there. Not trying to be a dick but it will be bad next year if he's the starting 5.

 

[Aike]

I’ve been surprised we haven’t seen much Carr at the 5 this year. It would have to be matchup dependent, there are definitely some centers that would abuse Carr. But that’s true of Garrison too!

Thing about it is that most centers who would abuse Carr would have trouble covering him on the perimeter. Opens up the offense even more.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

Aike knows ball…

But really I do think this makes a ton of sense.

At the very least one of Carr and Amari need to be on the floor at all times. Can’t have Almonor and Garrison together.

I might wait till SEC tourney time for the tweak as I don’t want to push Carr too hard for too long coming off his back injury. He’s just too important to this roster imo to lose again.

 

[Digger-Cat]

Anything that limits Garrison's minutes, is fine by me.

 

[Aike]

Almonor is just so bad at anything other than shooting that I don’t think he can play extended minutes in a win or go home situation.

Love him for the situational points he’s given us in big moments during SEC play but that’s about all he can give us.

He played 25 minutes for Farleigh Dickinson when they knocked off top seed Purdue in 2023.

Only scored 1 point, but I think he was mostly in there to put a body on Edey. He’s earned some trust in big situations from that game alone, imo.

 

[Aike]

Aike knows ball…

But really I do think this makes a ton of sense.

At the very least one of Carr and Amari need to be on the floor at all times. Can’t have Almonor and Garrison together.

I might wait till SEC tourney time for the tweak as I don’t want to push Carr too hard for too long coming off his back injury. He’s just too important to this roster imo to lose again.

I almost see it more as an NCAA Tournament thing. It will be here quickly.

 

[BlueSince92]

I think this might be the necessary tweak to propel us through the postseason.

Maybe BG gives us a Marcus Lee vs. Michigan performance somewhere down the line. But I think we need to tighten things up.

Amari can’t play 40 minutes at the 5. Maybe not even 30. Feel like running out a healthy Carr for some minutes at the 5 gives us more probability of running highly efficient offense, and doesn’t hurt us enough on defense to worry about it.

I’d like to see the minutes distribution at the 4/5 look something like this:

5
Amari - 25
Carr - 10
Garrison - 5

4
Carr - 15
Almonor - 15
Noah - 10

In tournaments play, wouldn’t bother me a bit if Garrison was only getting minutes when we have foul trouble.

I love it. Carr has the play-reading and passing ability. Definitely the only guy remotely qualified to sub for Amari in that actual point-center capacity. Doing this not only gives more minutes at 4 for Almonor and Noah, which I think is a good thing, divied up based on matchups and the games they’re having respectively night by night, it frees up Pope to use Garrison as the all-purpose situational post defender, a role I think he can excel at if he narrows his focus to it. Big man can be a particularly tough role to play and over the years we’ve seen a lot of those guys take their game to a higher level by narrowing their focus first.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Pretty sure we played Carr some at the 5 during that Duke comeback. It might have something to do with his injury in terms of not wanting to put him up against the other teams 5 on defense.

 

[catfan220]

Thing about it is that most centers who would abuse Carr would have trouble covering him on the perimeter. Opens up the offense even more.

I agree and in some cases the tradeoff may be worth it, but in general our offense isn’t the problem.

 

[Aike]

Pretty sure we played Carr some at the 5 during that Duke comeback. It might have something to do with his injury in terms of not wanting to put him up against the other teams 5 on defense.

I think that’s highly likely. Also, you can’t blame Pope for working to see how much production we can get from BG.

I just think we are officially in the stretch run and need to start tightening up. 2 more weeks of critical games, then the SEC Tournament. Crazy.

 

[Ron Mehico]

I think that’s highly likely. Also, you can’t blame Pope for working to see how much production we can get from BG.

I just think we are officially in the stretch run and need to start tightening up. 2 more weeks of critical games, then the SEC Tournament. Crazy.

I mean last night, at Bama, for a large stretch in the second half our backcourt was Perry, Brea, and Noah. And we were still in it. We just need to get healthy. If we can get Butler, Robinson, and Carr healthy we have a chance. If not, then winning 1 game in the tournament is a success imo.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Carr is really the only option as a scoring post player.

He’s not what you would call crafty in the post. But he’s so far ahead of anyone else it’s not a discussion.

And he can pick and pop. Not so much pick and roll because he lacks strength.

I would like to see Pope give this a go.

 

[Aike]

I agree and in some cases the tradeoff may be worth it, but in general our offense isn’t the problem.

It isn’t that our offense is the problem. It’s that our offense is our best weapon and gives us a chance every night.

On some level, we are in a similar position to last year. I believed then, and still believe, that had we leaned into our most efficient offense, we would have made a run.

With only a few games left to play, I just feel like BG makes a few too many poor decisions every time out. He’s still making December mistakes.

All this is contingent on Carr’s health, obviously. When Carr is playing in pain he makes his share of mistakes as well.

 

[rolaid]

If you have to play BG, the only way possible to do it is just letting him be a pick and roll center. He’s pretty good at rolling hard to the basket. Catch the ball & Dunk it…but that’s all he needs to do and he needs to be told when he gets a rebound to find a guard or wing right away and give them the ball quit trying to hold it be cool and do all the things that he does that drives us all nuts

 

[3Bluefever325]

Noah should get more time the AA because he plays defense and rebounds

Agree, unless Almonor is hot

 

[catfan220]

It isn’t that our offense is the problem. It’s that our offense is our best weapon and gives us a chance every night.

On some level, we are in a similar position to last year. I believed then, and still believe, that had we leaned into our most efficient offense, we would have made a run.

With only a few games left to play, I just feel like BG makes a few too many poor decisions every time out. He’s still making December mistakes.

All this is contingent on Carr’s health, obviously. When Carr is playing in pain he makes his share of mistakes as well.

Fair enough, good post

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Alamonor plays likes he’s in an over 40 rec league

Damn.

That is funny.

And accurate.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

If there's any whispers of him actually going after the year--I'd dump his minutes entirely. Not taking any chances with the season with a guy who isn't invested and is ready to move on to another CBB program.

UK just needs to get Robinson/Butler back and can move forward with tighter rotation too. If you are getting ready for NCAA play-there's no reason to have deep and premeditated rotation because you get longer TV timeouts and no safety net.

Understand why Pope has gone to Garrison with roster limited too. Just sick of watching him get punked on the court.

 

[Stretch98]

I think this might be the necessary tweak to propel us through the postseason.

Maybe BG gives us a Marcus Lee vs. Michigan performance somewhere down the line. But I think we need to tighten things up.

Amari can’t play 40 minutes at the 5. Maybe not even 30. Feel like running out a healthy Carr for some minutes at the 5 gives us more probability of running highly efficient offense, and doesn’t hurt us enough on defense to worry about it.

I’d like to see the minutes distribution at the 4/5 look something like this:

5
Amari - 25
Carr - 10
Garrison - 5

4
Carr - 15
Almonor - 15
Noah - 10

In tournaments play, wouldn’t bother me a bit if Garrison was only getting minutes when we have foul trouble.

Totally agree with this astute analysis. Garrison is a loose cannon on offense and has no concept of ball security, especially at critical moments in the game. Yesterday, just as we had cut into the lead, he ended up with a loose ball at the defensive end and galloped out of there, dribbling high and loose and not looking to pass the ball to anyone, all the way to the other end where he forced up a wild shot that Bama rebounded; and their speed led to a quick bucket before we could get back on defense. The play killed our momentum and amounted to a four point turnaround. Not good.

His free throw shooting has also gone to hell.

 

[BlobUK]

I agree. Play Carr at the 5 some. He's much better than Garrison.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

If Carr is fully back health wise I’m all for this. I’ve seen enough of garrison being so bad at pick and roll defense he is nowhere near the rim when the guy is dunking the ball.