Getting road wins are always big, and this St. Louis game will probably end up as a Q2 game. There were defensive errors and overall mistakes made in the game by us, and St. Louis made low percentage shots at key points in the game that kept this game close. Osobor kept having his contact lenses knock out. We slowed up too much while we had a big lead. Johnson continues to improve and may become our leading scorer by the end of the season, and Johnson played good defensive basketball. The team keeps on improving, but we need to stop having bad segments of basketball. In this game, we stop using the bench which I don't get.

Why didn’t Johnson play in the second half after tearing it up in the first? I agree! Big win, that’s a solid program and looked like a somewhat difficult environment.

TrueAggieman wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:33 pm

Why didn’t Johnson play in the second half after tearing it up in the first? I agree! Big win, that’s a solid program and looked like a somewhat difficult environment.

This puzzles me too. Johnson was the #1 player of the game which led us to win.

SLB wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:35 pm

TrueAggieman wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:33 pm

Why didn’t Johnson play in the second half after tearing it up in the first? I agree! Big win, that’s a solid program and looked like a somewhat difficult environment.

This puzzles me too. Johnson was the #1 player of the game which led us to win.

Sprinkle said that it was purely match-up. They went small and we countered with speed on defense.

bluegrouse wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:46 pm

SLB wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:35 pm

TrueAggieman wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:33 pm

Why didn’t Johnson play in the second half after tearing it up in the first? I agree! Big win, that’s a solid program and looked like a somewhat difficult environment.

This puzzles me too. Johnson was the #1 player of the game which led us to win.

Sprinkle said that it was purely match-up. They went small and we countered with speed on defense.

Johnson was 7/9 from the field

Did he say he made a mistake to chew clock? That decision nearly lost us the game. I have never understood when coaches do that. Just keep doing what got you the lead in the first place.

Nice win. I never love the slow down game with 4+ minutes left. Was really the only thing I ever criticized Stew for doing. I think it ruins the rhythm and allows the other team chances to gain momentum and get back in it. We are very, very good when we’re the aggressors. The slow down got us on our heels.

MrBiggle wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:48 pm

Did he say he made a mistake to chew clock? That decision nearly lost us the game. I have never understood when coaches do that. Just keep doing what got you the lead in the first place.

I agree 100%.

SLB wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:47 pm

bluegrouse wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:46 pm

SLB wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:35 pm

TrueAggieman wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:33 pm

Why didn’t Johnson play in the second half after tearing it up in the first? I agree! Big win, that’s a solid program and looked like a somewhat difficult environment.

This puzzles me too. Johnson was the #1 player of the game which led us to win.

Sprinkle said that it was purely match-up. They went small and we countered with speed on defense.

Johnson was 7/9 from the field

Just telling you what he said. I thought Johnson was great tonight.

Really solid win, any true road victories are huge. Should have never been that close with milking the clock and dumb turnovers but Brown came through in the end. This team has a lot of potential.

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:52 pm

Really solid win, any true road victories are huge. Should have never been that close with milking the clock and dumb turnovers but Brown came through in the end. This team has a lot of potential.

How many of those turnovers were enabled by poor officiating? When Great gets smacked in the eye and there’s no call it makes one wonder. They sure worked hard to make sure we didn’t cover the spread and cost them money they had on the game.

I always wonder if refs get caught up in big comebacks like that by the home team. It’s happened in our favor at the Spectrum over the years so it has been in our favor over the years.

Section_L_Aggie wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:55 pm

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:52 pm

Really solid win, any true road victories are huge. Should have never been that close with milking the clock and dumb turnovers but Brown came through in the end. This team has a lot of potential.

How many of those turnovers were enabled by poor officiating? When Great gets smacked in the eye and there’s no call it makes one wonder. They sure worked hard to make sure we didn’t cover the spread and cost them money they had on the game.

I always wonder if refs get caught up in big comebacks like that by the home team. It’s happened in our favor at the Spectrum over the years so it has been in our favor over the years.

Aggressive teams get more calls. When you are in a stall, killing clock, not gonna get the benefit of the call. Overall I enjoyed the way this game was officiated.

TrueAG wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:59 pm

Section_L_Aggie wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:55 pm

Aggie84025 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:52 pm

Really solid win, any true road victories are huge. Should have never been that close with milking the clock and dumb turnovers but Brown came through in the end. This team has a lot of potential.

How many of those turnovers were enabled by poor officiating? When Great gets smacked in the eye and there’s no call it makes one wonder. They sure worked hard to make sure we didn’t cover the spread and cost them money they had on the game.

I always wonder if refs get caught up in big comebacks like that by the home team. It’s happened in our favor at the Spectrum over the years so it has been in our favor over the years.

Aggressive teams get more calls. When you are in a stall, killing clock, not gonna get the benefit of the call. Overall I enjoyed the way this game was officiated.

I enjoyed the first 30 minutes or so of it. Both sides were physical and they let them play.

Then at the end the “aggressiveness” or IMHO fouling that St Louis got away with changed the tenor. I get that is how games tend to go but there’s nothing in the rules of the game that says if you’re more aggressive you get away with more.

I would have liked to see us go big there towards the end. We may have given up buckets but I think we could have matched them with the size advantage.

Brown
Mason
Templin
Great
Johnson

brian5562 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 9:16 pm

I would have liked to see us go big there towards the end. We may have given up buckets but I think we could have matched them with the size advantage.

Brown
Mason
Templin
Great
Johnson

The few times Johnson got it into the post he scored

Still getting used to each other. This was revealed in their late game press issues. They have a much higher ceiling than shown. Very lucky to have the kind of schedule we do against quality teams that are beatable therefore building confidence going into o league. Look forward to Johnson getting more reps. Kids gonna be good out there with Osobor. Do you use your height to defend Johnson on the perimeter or down in the paint with Osobor? Good problem to cause for other shorter teams.

I didn’t mind milking the clock in the last 3-4 minutes. Doing the math, if we use all 30 seconds, it would have been impossible for SLU to win. However, that’s assuming you don’t turn it over, and what did we do? Turn it over several times. Learning experience, but still won. We’ll be better next time in that situation.

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

bluegrouse wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 8:49 pm

Nice win. I never love the slow down game with 4+ minutes left. Was really the only thing I ever criticized Stew for doing. I think it ruins the rhythm and allows the other team chances to gain momentum and get back in it. We are very, very good when we’re the aggressors. The slow down got us on our heels.

Full throttle until the end unless you are up by 30 with only a few mins to spare.

I don't think it is that aggressive teams get more calls necessarily. I think it is that they get fouled more often.

AGGIEinIOWA wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 10:40 pm

I didn’t mind milking the clock in the last 3-4 minutes. Doing the math, if we use all 30 seconds, it would have been impossible for SLU to win. However, that’s assuming you don’t turn it over, and what did we do? Turn it over several times. Learning experience, but still won. We’ll be better next time in that situation.

I’m guessing that most of the time, when a team is up big and they slow it down, it increases their odds for victory. It is challenging for the opposing team to make a big run if you limit their number of possessions. It is the opposing team’s increased pressure that increases the likelihood of missed shots and turnovers. We obviously remember those times when we slowed it down and lost or almost lost, but we easily forget about all the times it resulted in maintaining a big lead. It would be interesting to see a large sample of data that supports or contradicts the use of the slow down strategy.
If we took quicker shots but those shots stopped dropping and the opposing team got back in the game, then some would say how dumb it was to keep trying to score when we had a big lead and didn’t need the points.
On the flip side, I do think when players mindset shifts from trying to win to trying not to lose, it has an impact. Maybe the key to “slowing it down” is to focus on how to score rather than focus on trying to burn the clock.

I think lost in some of the comeback was a boneheaded (imho) defensive play by Agbonkpolo after the loose ball to foul the guy going for a layup when we were up by 6. Up by 6, if you block it, it is a two possession game, if you concede the layup it is still a 2 possession game, but if you give up the layup and add a foul you change it to a one possession game. With that little time on the clock and considering Max was well out of position to make a good defensive play you need to concede the layup. I know it is a lot to think in the small period of time but the winning play there was to concede. Glad we still won anyway, Brown was ice shooting in the last minute, getting a 3 to extend our lead and then the 2 free throws to put the game away.

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

AGGIEinIOWA wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 10:40 pm

I didn’t mind milking the clock in the last 3-4 minutes. Doing the math, if we use all 30 seconds, it would have been impossible for SLU to win. However, that’s assuming you don’t turn it over, and what did we do? Turn it over several times. Learning experience, but still won. We’ll be better next time in that situation.

I agree that extending possessions deep into the shot clock limits the amount of possessions and chances the other team has to score. The other way to do this is with defense. If you defend well, the other team has to use more shot clock and/or be forced into taking a bad shot. Rather than stall on the offensive end, I would like to see teams defend with more intensity on the other end to limit possessions. You can do this without fouling.

brian5562 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 9:16 pm

I would have liked to see us go big there towards the end. We may have given up buckets but I think we could have matched them with the size advantage.

Brown
Mason
Templin
Great
Johnson

While I'm glad we have a versatile line up, I do wish we'd quit adjusting our lineup to teams going small so much. It keeps Johnson and Sakho on the bench.

hipsterdoofus21 wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 1:54 pm

brian5562 wrote: ↑

November 28th, 2023, 9:16 pm

I would have liked to see us go big there towards the end. We may have given up buckets but I think we could have matched them with the size advantage.

Brown
Mason
Templin
Great
Johnson

While I'm glad we have a versatile line up, I do wish we'd quit adjusting our lineup to teams going small so much. It keeps Johnson and Sakho on the bench.

There have been several games where Johnson deserved to be benched but this definitely was not one of them. Never bench a player that is playing well unless the player needs a breather.

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

If we had depth Darius and Great wouldn't have to play 35 and 33 minutes a night respectively

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

Ya I haven’t looked at the stats, that surprises me a little. I guess it is more of a gut feel where I don’t get nervous when he goes 10 deep. Templin, sahko, Jackson, are essentially the 8,9and 10 and I feel like they are very capable and have already shown in limited minutes they belong.

nswaggie wrote:

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

Ya I haven’t looked at the stats, that surprises me a little. I guess it is more of a gut feel where I don’t get nervous when he goes 10 deep. Templin, sahko, Jackson, are essentially the 8,9and 10 and I feel like they are very capable and have already shown in limited minutes they belong.

Yeah, I believe we have depth with Templin, Sahko and Javon and even Burris (though he is a little confused out there right now but has lots of potential). Whether or not we use that depth is another matter. It definitely seems Sprinkle is going to play matchups more than we are accustomed to seeing and those matchups may dictate how much of our depth we actually utilize. The fact that Johnson didn’t play the 2nd half even though he was the leading scorer in the first half against St Louis shows that a player not playing doesn’t mean he isn’t capable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

scotlandog wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 1:22 pm

The fact that Johnson didn’t play the 2nd half even though he was the leading scorer in the first half against St Louis shows that a player not playing doesn’t mean he isn’t capable.

This is the perception, but not the reality.
At 19:41 in the 2H, Isaac made a basket.
At 17:26, he had a steal.
At 15:51, he missed 2 FTs.
At 11:45, he committed a foul.

No documented action after that.

He played inthe 2H, just wasn't as big a factor and (for whatever reason) ended up on the bench for the last 10 minutes.

It's not as if Sprinkle decided in the locker room not to play Isaac.

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 3:45 pm

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

If we had depth Darius and Great wouldn't have to play 35 and 33 minutes a night respectively

I mean that’s not necessarily a good argument against us having good depth. They are our 2 best players, and play important roles/positions. We have depth but there’s no good reason to not play those guys 30+ minutes a night in closer games, they can handle it. Our depth will come in handy for foul trouble, injuries, illness, but obviously we need Brown and Osobor on the floor as much as possible in most games. Our backup options at PG are basically a tag team of Martinez and Falslev but neither are true points, or Jackson who is still pretty raw as a Soph but capable of handling the PG role in a pinch for sure. Osobor is averaging 21/10, any team in the country would play him the same minutes in non blowouts.

MetsJetsAggies wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 2:06 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 3:45 pm

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

If we had depth Darius and Great wouldn't have to play 35 and 33 minutes a night respectively

I mean that’s not necessarily a good argument against us having good depth. They are our 2 best players, and play important roles/positions. We have depth but there’s no good reason to not play those guys 30+ minutes a night in closer games, they can handle it. Our depth will come in handy for foul trouble, injuries, illness, but obviously we need Brown and Osobor on the floor as much as possible in most games. Our backup options at PG are basically a tag team of Martinez and Falslev but neither are true points, or Jackson who is still pretty raw as a Soph but capable of handling the PG role in a pinch for sure. Osobor is averaging 21/10, any team in the country would play him the same minutes in non blowouts.

I just remember Osobor was played til the final minutes of the SUU game well after it was put away. He was clearly hurting, and fell to the ground because he couldn't walk right. I get playing him more and that not is necessarily due to lack of depth but I do think there is an issue of not pulling guys. They will be gassed by the end of the season.

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 2:19 pm

MetsJetsAggies wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 2:06 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 3:45 pm

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

If we had depth Darius and Great wouldn't have to play 35 and 33 minutes a night respectively

I mean that’s not necessarily a good argument against us having good depth. They are our 2 best players, and play important roles/positions. We have depth but there’s no good reason to not play those guys 30+ minutes a night in closer games, they can handle it. Our depth will come in handy for foul trouble, injuries, illness, but obviously we need Brown and Osobor on the floor as much as possible in most games. Our backup options at PG are basically a tag team of Martinez and Falslev but neither are true points, or Jackson who is still pretty raw as a Soph but capable of handling the PG role in a pinch for sure. Osobor is averaging 21/10, any team in the country would play him the same minutes in non blowouts.

I just remember Osobor was played til the final minutes of the SUU game well after it was put away. He was clearly hurting, and fell to the ground because he couldn't walk right. I get playing him more and that not is necessarily due to lack of depth but I do think there is an issue of not pulling guys. They will be gassed by the end of the season.

Sprinkle overplays the Montana State transfers Osobor and Brown. It is true that those two players are very good, but they need less minutes to be fresh for the whole season. Stats from the last game
Templin played 3 minutes, and Sakho played zero minutes.
Jackson played 0 minutes.
I am not saying play those 3 for 40 minutes, but we should be playing these 3 more than nothing and give Brown and Osobor a break.

SLB wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 3:55 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 2:19 pm

MetsJetsAggies wrote: ↑

November 30th, 2023, 2:06 pm

tysteve20 wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 3:45 pm

bpd wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:53 pm

nswaggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 12:11 pm

NVAggie wrote: ↑

November 29th, 2023, 8:35 am

Johnson should have played in the second half. I think that was a mistake by Sprink. I understand trying to match their speed, but sometimes the best way to deal with that is to make them pay with your size. Teams don't keep pressing when they are giving up easy buckets due to the press breaker. Teams will change their line up of guards when they are giving away easy layups and putbacks. We should be controlling the game. I felt like we did in the first half. In his interview, you could tell that Johnson wanted to be out there.

I agree, playing time and lineups that Sprinkle throws out makes me scratch my head at times. I felt like the Bradley game could have been won with better management as well. For now though I think Sprinkle deserves a pass as maybe he is tinkering and learning more about his team. As well, he did create the problem in the first place by recruiting so much depth. I would guess he is even pleasantly surprised with the depth on his bench and the struggle to find minutes for everyone.

It will become frustrating if it starts costing us more games.

One development i didn’t expect was for Burris to be buried on the bench so early in the season.

Depth? We are 315 in bench minutes played. Last night we basically played 7 guys.

If we had depth Darius and Great wouldn't have to play 35 and 33 minutes a night respectively

I mean that’s not necessarily a good argument against us having good depth. They are our 2 best players, and play important roles/positions. We have depth but there’s no good reason to not play those guys 30+ minutes a night in closer games, they can handle it. Our depth will come in handy for foul trouble, injuries, illness, but obviously we need Brown and Osobor on the floor as much as possible in most games. Our backup options at PG are basically a tag team of Martinez and Falslev but neither are true points, or Jackson who is still pretty raw as a Soph but capable of handling the PG role in a pinch for sure. Osobor is averaging 21/10, any team in the country would play him the same minutes in non blowouts.

I just remember Osobor was played til the final minutes of the SUU game well after it was put away. He was clearly hurting, and fell to the ground because he couldn't walk right. I get playing him more and that not is necessarily due to lack of depth but I do think there is an issue of not pulling guys. They will be gassed by the end of the season.

Sprinkle overplays the Montana State transfers Osobor and Brown. It is true that those two players are very good, but they need less minutes to be fresh for the whole season. Stats from the last game
Templin played 3 minutes, and Sakho played zero minutes.
Jackson played 0 minutes.
I am not saying play those 3 for 40 minutes, but we should be playing these 3 more than nothing and give Brown and Osobor a break.

Is playing a few extra minutes per game for college athletes in their early twenties really that big of a factor? These guys probably exercise for a few hours every day. We play ~35 games over 5 months (Nov - Mar), or 7 games/month.

NBA games are 8 minutes longer and they play 82 games over 6 months, or almost 14 games/month, and they spend a lot more time travelling (both in a plane and on the court ).

The few extra minutes per game seem negligible to me except maybe when we have 3 intense games in 3 consecutive days (like the MWC tourney).