December Schedule

[WeWant9]

Got to say, December is going be a heck of a month. Only 6 games, but 4 of them will be big ones.

vs. unc (Rupp)
vs. Zaga (Nashville)
vs. NC Central (Rupp)
vs. iu (Rupp)
vs. St. Johns (Atl)
vs. Bellarmine (Rupp)

I would imagine unc, Zaga, iu, and St.Johns are all ranked when we play. The good news is 2 of those games are at Rupp, with Nashville being just about a home game. This seems like one of the most staked months in a long time. Hopefully the team is ready to roll.

[Ukcat]

It be nice if Pope could have JQ ready to slowly work him into live game action during Dec

[WeWant9]

It be nice if Pope could have JQ ready to slowly work him into live game action during Dec

Agreed. NC Central seems like a great opportunity, but that would be in over 2 weeks and not sure if that would be doable or not. Hopefully he can get some reps in before SEC play. I know he has experience from the B12, but we all know how physical it can get downlow in the SEC.

[blueheretic]

He better pul something together or it's going to be a terribly rough month with lots of angst across the Big Blue Nation.

It's already getting ugly from the Loserville and Michigan State games.

[WeWant9]

He better pul something together or it's going to be a terribly rough month with lots of angst across the Big Blue Nation.

It's already getting ugly from the Loserville and Michigan State games.

No doubt. Personally hoping for a shorter rotation, giving guys more mins to get into a flow, and limit the amount of 3 jacking.

The beauty is if they go 4-0 (vs the big names) that foul taste is gone, go 0-4/1-3 and that taste will get real bad. Reality is probably around 2-2 and no true idea what this team will do come SEC play ha.

[SportsFan]

No doubt. Personally hoping for a shorter rotation, giving guys more mins to get into a flow, and limit the amount of 3 jacking.

I have to kind of disagree with the idea of a shorter rotation for the sake of "letting someone get into a flow". Waiting for someone to "come around" (i.e. - their shot to start falling) is detrimental to the team. If someone comes in and jacks up a couple of threes or ill-advised shots and bricks them, then the bench is a good motivator. Same for any starter. With as much depth as we have, there's no reason to leave guys in just so they can "get into a rhythm". By the same token, if a player is hitting their shots there's absolutely no reason for him to take a seat just to accommodate the rest of the roster. It's a coach's job to realize who has it and who doesn't, and to make player personnel decisions accordingly.

[WeWant9]

I have to kind of disagree with the idea of a shorter rotation for the sake of "letting someone get into a flow". Waiting for someone to "come around" (i.e. - their shot to start falling) is detrimental to the team. If someone comes in and jacks up a couple of threes or ill-advised shots and bricks them, then the bench is a good motivator. Same for any starter. With as much depth as we have, there's no reason to leave guys in just so they can "get into a rhythm". By the same token, if a player is hitting their shots there's absolutely no reason for him to take a seat just to accommodate the rest of the roster. It's a coach's job to realize who has it and who doesn't, and to make player personnel decisions accordingly.

Just my 2 cents, but I think our depth was overstated during the summer. I do not see a deep team in the mold of 96 or 15 that can roll out 10 or more guys.

[SportsFan]

Just my 2 cents, but I think our depth was overstated during the summer. I do not see a deep team in the mold of 96 or 15 that can roll out 10 or more guys.

Maybe not, but not many teams have that kind of depth.

That said, right now we're going 11 deep, soon to be 12 once Quaintence returns. Who are you going to eliminate? Who's minutes go either completely away or are drastically reduced?

It's not like anyone has separated themselves as "must keeps" in the rotation or must removes. As of now, I think that's WHY Pope is playing 11 guys. Remember.... he's already pretty much eliminated Potter and Hawthorne....since they're dressing out but not playing. If someone was getting minutes but not producing anything, that would be obvious and an easy choice...but since that's not the case, who are you going to completely remove from the equation?

[WeWant9]

Maybe not, but not many teams have that kind of depth.

That said, right now we're going 11 deep, soon to be 12 once Quaintence returns. Who are you going to eliminate? Who's minutes go either completely away or are drastically reduced?

It's not like anyone has separated themselves as "must keeps" in the rotation or must removes. As of now, I think that's WHY Pope is playing 11 guys. Remember.... he's already pretty much eliminated Potter and Hawthorne....since they're dressing out but not playing. If someone was getting minutes but not producing anything, that would be obvious and an easy choice...but since that's not the case, who are you going to completely remove from the equation?

Last night I looked at the roster to answer your question. I did find myself agreeing that no one has really separated themselves from the pack; perhaps that is part of the current issue? Out of curiosity I looked at our roster's minutes compared to the current top 5. They all seemed to have their main core established. I hope we can get there, I just don't have much faith in rolling 11-12 guys this year.

In a perfect world, with no injuries, Lowe, Aberdeen, Oweh, Dioubate, JQ, Chandler, Moreno, Johnson or Jelavic depending on need.

[SportsFan]

Last night I looked at the roster to answer your question. I did find myself agreeing that no one has really separated themselves from the pack; perhaps that is part of the current issue? Out of curiosity I looked at our roster's minutes compared to the current top 5. They all seemed to have their main core established. I hope we can get there, I just don't have much faith in rolling 11-12 guys this year.

In a perfect world, with no injuries, Lowe, Aberdeen, Oweh, Dioubate, JQ, Chandler, Moreno, Johnson or Jelavic depending on need.

So no Trevor Noah, who just scored 16 and was tied as the leading scorer in the last matchup with Tennessee Tech?

That's why I say just let it play out. I know some fans are used to Cal never playing his bench and giving all the minutes to his freshman starters to bump their numbers and improve their draft stock, but having a deep bench with guys capable of providing valuable minutes could be important come tournament time.