I just decided that our best lineup is…
- Thread starter Aike
- Start date
I disagree. We’ve played small with guards at the 3 spot. Quickley, Briscoe, etc. And Cal has played all three of the Freshmen together some and they were effective.
And that’s not to say that Thiero isn’t an option, but I think you have to keep the guards out there as much as possible.
My main point is that Reeves needs to be used exclusively at the 3, IMHO.
Using this logic UK should only have 2 loses then, right? I wonder how the rest of UNCW’s opponents feel playing UNCW without Wagner?
No doubt Reeves is the best 3, but the tallest other guard is a very suspect 6'3 at best. We will get eaten alive if we resort to them there much.
Briscoe was a very high level defender, and Quickly became pretty good, not to mention he had Maxey and Hagans who were very good defenders with him in the backcourt.
The Briscoe teams still struggled, particularly at the 3 spot. We won't really ever know how the Quickley team would have done.
We need size at the 3, or at least really good defense to make up for going small. And none of those 3 have shown that capability yet.
Losing stinks. Not going to sugar coat it.
But our losses with Wagner (KU on a neutral floor, @A&M, and @SC) were not bad losses. The SC loss looks better after they beat UT in Knoxville. A&M just needed it more than we did and played out of their minds and we still almost beat them.
The two “bad” losses were without Wagner.
Now I’m not going to say we are unbeatable with Wagner. Obviously that is not the case. We are, however, much better with him playing.
0-2 without him. 0-2 at home without him. It might not mean that much really, but it is a fact.
We are talking about 10 minutes max with the 3 Freshmen guards. 4-5 minutes a half. No one is suggesting playing small ball for 40 minutes.
And keep in mind, putting Sheppard and Dillingham on the wings with Wagner driving is a nice way to spread the floor.
Thiero at the 3 does very little offensively to spread things out. Thiero is much better as a 4.
So there are pros and cons to both scenarios.
I just want the best players out there as much as possible. And our guards are our strength.
I get they can score, albeit, they will have to go against a much bigger and possibly more atheltic 3 which is still going to make that a lot harder, but it's what they potentially give up that is concerning. We can't afford to get worse defensively.
You could maybe, and I mean maybe, make it work with Dillingham because he has the length and athleticism. I do not think Wagner nor Reed can handle it currently.
Give Burks some run at the 3. It's his natural spot. He has length, size, great offensive upside and he busts is ass every second he plays. He is raw, but I think with some expanded PT, he could show some good stuff.
I'm not convinced BigZ should be out there over Tre Mitchell, at the 4-spot, when he's 7'2. He may be able to be a stretch 4 in the NBA, but he has a LOOOONG ways to go to make it work in college.
Tre had a bad shooting game, and his ceiling is limited. But he's also been great for us at times. I'm not ready to throw him back to the bench, not just to see if BigZ is any better. However, it wouldn't hurt to give Tre a breather, and if that means SOME minutes of BigZ at the 4, so be it.
Rest of the lineup I like. Reed, Reeves have to play. Dilly is right there too. And I dont see how you DON'T start Ugo for what he brings defensively.
Tre had a bad shooting game, and his ceiling is limited. But he's also been great for us at times. I'm not ready to throw him back to the bench, not just to see if BigZ is any better. However, it wouldn't hurt to give Tre a breather, and if that means SOME minutes of BigZ at the 4, so be it.
Rest of the lineup I like. Reed, Reeves have to play. Dilly is right there too. And I dont see how you DON'T start Ugo for what he brings defensively.
My concern is that Tre makes you a Sweet Sixteen ceiling type team while giving Z lots of minutes potentially raises you to Final Four caliber.
It might not. But I’ve seen enough that I would try it. I’m not into moral victories and I’ve had enough of early round flameouts.
You do the best you can with what you’ve got. I don’t think we are doing that.
How far does Z have to go to make it work? How could we possibly be sure of that, given the limited sample size. But we have several years of Tre Mitchell data from 4 different schools.
SC has turned out to be a really good team. They bullied us. Getting blown out was bad, but they are legit.
Much rather lose to this SC team on the road than UNC-W or even UF at home.
SC was good enough to beat UT at TBA, so they are no slouch.
I don’t think they are that good. They are ok. But we got absolutely punked. If we’d lost by 2-3 I wouldn’t think a lot of it. But acting like that wasn’t a bad loss is spin, imo. We were in disarray.
They are a really bad matchup for us. Physical and mature. They play with a chip on their shoulder, because no one gives them any respect. That makes them dangerous.
I could be wrong, but I think they are going to continue to do some damage in the SEC.
You're not wrong. I think that can happen. The problem is, does playing BigZ sacrifice losses in the short team, and how many of those losses can we sustain before it actually starts to hurt Kentucy? Like say 3 extra losses while he gets going.. that could cap us as a 6-seed or a 7-seed.
I really didn't mind Tres play the other night, aside from the shot not falling. He still have us rebounds and assists, and he's a very smart basketball player, on a team we're the majority just aren't that intelligent at the moment.
I think they’ll do ok in the SEC because they’re allowed to play bully ball. I don’t expect them to do any damage in the tournament, but they might get lucky with the right matchup and refs.
I mean try it coach and see. But no. Z can play a stretch 4 and another big man will not hurt. Every time I see him with his back to the basket, I just want to stomp bunnies.
No offense, but your "logic" here is just plain silly. Rest assured, UNCW's other opponents would all like to have a guard of Wagner's caliber on their roster.
Ideally, 10 to 15. You can live with 10.
And it’s the cumulative effects of all those minutes. Eventually your body wears down and you become more susceptible to injuries.
See Kellan Grady, for example. Cal overplayed him and he fell apart in February.
This is why him keeping Mitchell in for 35 every game worries me.
Cal needs to throttle him back to no more than 30 and ideally around 25.
Btw, I’m not in any way implying that Tre Mitchell, DJ Wagner, or even Justin Edwards shouldn’t be playing at all. Just think those 5 I listed might be our best overall unit if given some run together.
It isn’t that sophisticated but thanksCheck your model using them and get back to me, I like your model...
They are the worstHard-headed Geeks, I can never get them to laugh...
