Injuries have slowly and gradually crushed the Cats - and it's hard to remember where we came from to see how we got to this current on court product...
Looking back at a few early season games really sets perspective to what we are dealing with now...
In a 71 point victory over KY Wesleyan, Trent Noah played 9 mins...on the road against ranked Ole Miss, 13 minutes.
In a 29 point victory against GA State - Travis Perry and Trent Noah only played 1:44 a piece...the final minutes of the game as the victory cigars....they combined for 27.5 last night. Kriisa or Butler were on the court 95% of the game against GA State...obviously 0% last night.
Some may point to the Gonzaga game as a successful game without a PG...but many forget that Kerr Kriisa played 27 minutes with an 8/4/3 line before breaking his foot.
With Kriisa out, but Butler back and Carr healthy - we were able to win some big games against UL/UF/MSU/A&M with Travis Perry playing on average 2x tv timeout segments (1 per half). Chandler/Noah were DNPs.
Since the Butler/Carr injuries, the freshman who were averaging about 7 mpg combined, are taking on 25+ mpg since Vandy. The early season victory cigars are now on the court for over a half of game time. They have actually done ok in +/-, but they aren't meant to be major players this year...
AND not only are they playing more, but the bench guys immediately ahead of them are as well...Brea & Almanor are specialists...and very good ones at that! But they are not well rounded players - and they are not thrust into non-specialist roles...more ball handling, more defense, more turnovers, more points allowed. There may have not been a worse break for us than to have 2 PG injuries...
Having said ALL of that...I have seen more fight from directional state schools than we saw in the 1Hs vs Vandy and Ole Miss. That is unacceptable. Tennessee was an exception - caught them off guard with Williams playing point center....other teams now know that. Carr looking decent against Ole Miss may add back his 30 mins of game time, helping the bench....but if Butler/Kriisa do not return, don't expect too much.
Looking back at a few early season games really sets perspective to what we are dealing with now...
In a 71 point victory over KY Wesleyan, Trent Noah played 9 mins...on the road against ranked Ole Miss, 13 minutes.
In a 29 point victory against GA State - Travis Perry and Trent Noah only played 1:44 a piece...the final minutes of the game as the victory cigars....they combined for 27.5 last night. Kriisa or Butler were on the court 95% of the game against GA State...obviously 0% last night.
Some may point to the Gonzaga game as a successful game without a PG...but many forget that Kerr Kriisa played 27 minutes with an 8/4/3 line before breaking his foot.
With Kriisa out, but Butler back and Carr healthy - we were able to win some big games against UL/UF/MSU/A&M with Travis Perry playing on average 2x tv timeout segments (1 per half). Chandler/Noah were DNPs.
Since the Butler/Carr injuries, the freshman who were averaging about 7 mpg combined, are taking on 25+ mpg since Vandy. The early season victory cigars are now on the court for over a half of game time. They have actually done ok in +/-, but they aren't meant to be major players this year...
AND not only are they playing more, but the bench guys immediately ahead of them are as well...Brea & Almanor are specialists...and very good ones at that! But they are not well rounded players - and they are not thrust into non-specialist roles...more ball handling, more defense, more turnovers, more points allowed. There may have not been a worse break for us than to have 2 PG injuries...
Having said ALL of that...I have seen more fight from directional state schools than we saw in the 1Hs vs Vandy and Ole Miss. That is unacceptable. Tennessee was an exception - caught them off guard with Williams playing point center....other teams now know that. Carr looking decent against Ole Miss may add back his 30 mins of game time, helping the bench....but if Butler/Kriisa do not return, don't expect too much.
