As long as Sheppard dilly reeves Wagner and Mitchell are all 25 mins and above who cares who starts. The only one who shouldn’t be starting is Edwards
Who really thinks.......?
- Thread starter Shep2win
- Start date
With an embarrassment of offensive riches, to me Cal has an easy fix; "guys, I know you can all score, so the guys that can also play Def get min." Points will be there. So, have min decided by Def effort and effectiveness. Bradshaw and Edwards are simply liabilities defensively. Their offensive output is EASILY replaced. It ain't rocket surgery.
You aren't wrong, but I think "wonderful job" is an overstatement. The roster/min management isn't egregious, but IMO, isn't optimized. There's a lot of meat left on that bone.
For me there would only be one change to make and that’s thiero for Edwards. But even still, I don’t expect him to do that. Edwards mins are already greatly reduced. But I’m sure cal would like to see him get going. So he will probably still start with a short leash.
As far as dolly and reed, I don’t think some of you guys understand just how much pressure they put on the other team while coming off the bench. It’s a coaches worst nightmare. I hope they never start
As far as dolly and reed, I don’t think some of you guys understand just how much pressure they put on the other team while coming off the bench. It’s a coaches worst nightmare. I hope they never start
It’s not hard to imagine Edwards turning over the ball two times in the opening minutes, giving up a couple threes, fouling a couple times, and all of a sudden we are down 4-12. Cal puckers, players pucker, UNCW like team starts to believe- and Cal starts saying blame me.
I fully agree on Edwards, he shouldn’t be starting and maybe you go 3 guards there & and start Reed or dilly but I honestly like having Reed & dilly off the bench because they provide a different dynamic and change games when they come in
I can’t let this stand without comment .. Cal started Gabriel ahead of DW fooooooorver until it so painfully obvious DW was the better college basketball player . Cal did groom Gabriel as hard as he do it .. WG was just not good enough to grab the preferred treatment.
You keep setting up stupid arguments no one is making other than you. Good luck with your stuff bro.
But that is irrelevant. Cal will once again be able to point to more one and dones who had success at UK and got drafted in the first round while he was coaching.
It doesn't matter that they were not projected to be one and done.
Big Z is obviously better than our other 5's. Not only his skill set but he is much rougher and tougher than the other two. And that is a difference maker being like that with his very high skill set. Also noticed when he was around the basket on defense they would either get their shot blocked by him or they would take it back out and not even try and shoot. Anybody else notice that?
So in what universe does it make sense for a coach to keep starting 3 players (and playing 65-70 minutes per game) whose stock has dropped over players whose stock has risen and performing better but play less minutes than the aforementioned.
I am not providing any commentary on who should or shouldn't be starting.
My original post, which you replied to, was in response to UKortho who said Cal is only starting Bradshaw, Edwards, etc because if he doesn't, his recruiting one and dones will take a hit.
My response was they would just be replaced with other likely one and dones, so how would that effect Cal's ability to recruit one and dones? Short answer, it wouldn't.
Again, I am not saying anything about who should or shouldn't be starting.
From what I have seen the six best are Mitchell, Wagner, Sheppard, Reeves, Dillingham and Big Z. Probably Thiero at seven, Edwards at eight, Bradshaw and Ugo about the same with Bradshaw better on offense and Ugo better on defense.
Minutes and who is in when it matters are much more important than who starts. I don't want to give up Rob and Reed coming off the bench. If when Adou comes back he starts for Edwards that's fine by me. I would not do anything to mess up the chemistry this team has on offense right now. I don't care which of the 3 headed monster starts at Center although Z could change that going forward.
In all fairness, Edwards did foul out. Otherwise he might have played 20 and we might have lost.
It's a completely valid point that Edwards shouldn't be starting. Take your tired, hackneyed nonsense and go.
Agreed and good read on Cal's mindset.
But for the folks who argue the minutes is all that matter....I agree minutes matter more than starting. But Edwards is down to 15-ish minutes.....but that is without Thiero in the lineup and now Ivisic presence would argue Edward's minutes at the 4 will fully be gone.
But by stubbornly refusing to pull from starting lineup...that alone is a 5 minutes. And then Cal always starts 2nd half the same...so there is another 5 minutes. So when you get to a point that you need minutes for what Ivisic and Thiero brings....this silliness of starting Edwards makes it harder to get minutes for players that we need to play to give us things we need to win in those 2 kids.
Bottomline....Cal never fights like this to get minutes for kids like Bryce Hopkins, Dontae Allen, Jermal Baker, etc.. And it's sort of goofy of him to be this obvious for a "player first" vs. just winning for the team concept.
Edwards fouled out with 4 something to go the most he could have played was 16 minutes. He's averaging the 7th or 8th most minutes on the team the last 9 games at 17 per game. With Big Z available Edwards will lose his 2/3 minutes a game playing the 4 so it looks like that could fall to the 12-15 range.
Last edited:
I think it’s pretty obvious by now that Cal promises starting spots to certain mega-hyped recruits during the recruiting process. Anyone still denying that simply hasn’t been paying attention over the last 15 years.
I think that’s the real and only reason why he refuses to give Dillingham or Sheppard a starting shot. It’s something he feels he must do to keep the promises he made to Edwards and Wagner.
Add the situation might soon get even more complicated if Z keeps performing and folks begin to wonder why Bradshaw still starts over him.
If Cals main concern is recruiting one and dones then he can’t merely point to players he recruited that were one and done when they weren’t projected to be. He has two players now in Bradshaw and Edwards who were top 5 in their class and projected high lottery picks whose stock has dropped. What ortho was saying is cal will continue starting them to show future recruits he never gave up on them and helped them as much as he could, team results be damned. No other coach would be starting or playing Edwards as many minutes has he’s been getting and bradshaws minutes would also start to decline now that Z is eligible and shown what he is capable of. Bradshaw has had some decent showings but has also shown he is extremely weak and doesn’t offer us the inside presence (mostly defensively) that this team needs than does Ugo or Z. Bradshaw will continue starting however and playing 20-25/game at a minimum. Z should be getting the lions share of minutes at that position however but only time will tell if that’s the case. I believe as this season progresses cal is going to have 2 of the 3 bigs on the court probably 90% of the game which will be a colossal bad coaching mistake but bad coaching is what we have come to expect from cal.
But why would Cal promise starting spots to recruits? Everybody knows who starts isn’t important according to the forum, weird. Maybe it does to the players?
I like to see Reed start and Reaves at the 3
He’s trying to get those guys up to speed. Otherwise they wouldn’t play much at all. He’s planning for March to have quality depth. Again, it doesn’t hurt us in any way. Doesn’t matter who starts
I love that we bring Reed and Dilly off the bench….opponents have to be like “oh sh*t”…now throw in Big Z? Your team doesn’t have 8 players the same caliber of our 8.
Just win. Doesn’t matter who starts
Just win. Doesn’t matter who starts
Isn't it funny, Jimmy Dykes interviewed Shep and Dilly on camera and asked them if they cared if they start, and of course on camera the guys said of course not, it's not important.
But why didn't Dykes also ask Edwards and DJ on camera if THEY cared who starts?
Also people talk about well you can start anyone with how good the offense is.
I'm not so sure of that. I think different players play better with other guys. I don't think u can just plug five in and have this work. As good as our offense has been, we have gone through massive stretches where we struggled to score and it's usually when we are fiddling with the lineups.
I'm not so sure of that. I think different players play better with other guys. I don't think u can just plug five in and have this work. As good as our offense has been, we have gone through massive stretches where we struggled to score and it's usually when we are fiddling with the lineups.
to all those who say it doesn't matter who starts you are all completely wrong. It absolutely matters and everything is all hunky dory until that one game where the guy who shouldn't be starting makes several mistakes and all of a sudden we are down 15-5 or something. That changes the whole complexion of the game! Show me any other team in the country who starts their 10th best player. It is totally insane batsh** crazy.
We aren't starting our 10th best player either tho.
You could lose a game at any point in the game. You could start people that shouldn't be starting, digging yourself a hole. Or you can start the right people but then bring those people in and dig the hole.
The bigger issue isn't starting or not starting. It's providing the most mins to the best players so that you are never in a hole to begin with lol.
It justifies their view of supporting Cal. No one really believes that the players don’t care who starts. Otherwise why does Cal need to make
promises? And why doesn’t the starting role ever change until it’s to completely absurd not to. It doesn’t make a difference in my life who starts for UK but if you think it doesn’t matter to them behind closed doors, your either an idiot or very out of touch with reality.
For those of you who keep saying it doesn’t matter who starts, please name 1 lottery player from the last 10 years of any other team that didn’t start.
I like idea of Dilly,Reed,and Z coming in together. It instantly gives the the crowd and team a spark
So they get more up to speed starting vs 5 minutes into the game? That’s what you’re selling?
Make another thread about the starting lineup. Maybe Cal will read that one and implement your changes since the current starting lineup had propelled us to a 3-14 record.
Message board warrior attacks another message board warrior for being a message board warrior. LOL
