Player Rotations/Groupings

[BamaMoon]

I've brought it up several times. It's a "good problem" we have with so many talented players and possible combinations. Someone said "CNO is playing with his food" referring to experimenting with what works and what doesn't.

But as we near SEC play next month, I'm just thinking out loud about who I'd like to see on the floor more unit combinations.

1. Philon - as PG, who mainly focuses on getting downhill to the rim and distributing to outside shooters/drop passes/lobs to bigs.
2. Sears - would like to see him play off the ball more/think it would help his 3 point shooting to catch and shoot
3. Youngblood -think he's gonna breakout in SEC play. Lighting fast catch and shooter
4. Reid - already our best defender, but he's often matched up defensively with the other teams best 2 or 3, which creates matchup issues for us under the rim.
5. Cliff/Nelson - We need to figure out more ways for Cliff to get touches at the rim. I also know Nelson prefers the 4, but I think he's going to have to play the 5 more going forward. Outside of Cliff catching lobs, Nelson is our best player in the paint for garbage points.

Right now, Stephenson is a riddle wrapped in an enigma. He's playing great defense and has gotten stronger but he's a nothing burger on offense. If he could ever get going he and Mou Di could allow Reid to play the #3 and give us more length on defense at 4 and 5.

 

[BamaMoon]

Another wild thought I've got:

1. Sears
2. Youngblood
3. Mallette
4. Reid
5. Cliff/Nelson

But in the halfcourt let Youngblood initiate the offense as we often do by rubbing off a highscreen from Cliff or Nelson. Watching some of Youngblood's vids he's a GREAT passer coming off screens (and while we don't feature it, he can drain a 13-15 footer like a layup). This combo would also allow Sears and Mallette to spot up behind the line for 3s. Let Reid/Cliff/ Nelson crash the boards.

I think when we figure out how to use Youngblood we'll not be talking about missing Wrightsell as much.

 

[Coach D]

Another wild thought I've got:

1. Sears
2. Youngblood
3. Mallette
4. Reid
5. Cliff/Nelson

But in the halfcourt let Youngblood initiate the offense as we often do by rubbing off a highscreen from Cliff or Nelson. Watching some of Youngblood's vids he's a GREAT passer coming off screens (and while we don't feature it, he can drain a 13-15 footer like a layup). This combo would also allow Sears and Mallette to spot up behind the line for 3s. Let Reid/Cliff/ Nelson crash the boards.

I think when we figure out how to use Youngblood we'll not be talking about missing Wrightsell as much.

Problem is you’re then not starting Philon who arguably has been the best guard so far. Also leaving out either Cliff or Nelson. But that’s a tough and great issue to have.

Maybe something like with heavy rotation of Reid and Mallette. Although not sue Mallette has shown enough to take starter min yet.
Philon
Sears
Youngblood
Nelson
Cliff

 

[oskie]

...
5. Cliff/Nelson - We need to figure out more ways for Cliff to get touches at the rim. I also know Nelson prefers the 4, but I think he's going to have to play the 5 more going forward. Outside of Cliff catching lobs, Nelson is our best player in the paint for garbage points.
...

Cliff is very good around the rim, but for whatever reason Sears refuses to give the ball up to him when Cliff is in position. Cliff has received more lobs from Grant than he has gotten from Sears.

Cliff doesn't throw his right hand up unless he has a play on the rim. When he has a path to the rim and he throws his hand up, we need to get him the ball.

There is enough film on Cliff to show he is more than effective when utilized correctly.

If we feed him under the basket on a regular basis, the defenses will collapse more to the lane and the kick-outs will be more effective.

Once Cliff is trusted to be the beast that he can be under the basket, our outside shooters will have more space to shoot. I believe that will help the spacing issue Coach has been talking about.

Just my 2¢

 

[BamaMoon]

Problem is you’re then not starting Philon who arguably has been the best guard so far. Also leaving out either Cliff or Nelson. But that’s a tough and great issue to have.

Maybe something like with heavy rotation of Reid and Mallette. Although not sue Mallette has shown enough to take starter min yet.
Philon
Sears
Youngblood
Nelson
Cliff

Wasn't thinking about Philon NOT playing PG at times (because I agree he's been one of our best players), but when he's subbed out having this rotation.

I'm just trying to figure out a rotation that gets more shooters in the game at the same time. I know we'll have to go big against certain teams, but I think our best scoring rotations will be going smaller with our 3 point shooters.

And if Reid and Philon ever start making more 3s, we'll be lethal!

 

[BAMARICH]

I think looking at the roster, these are where guys naturally "fit".

1 - Philon, Sears
2 - Holloway, Mallette
3 - Youngblood, Reid, Dioubate
4 - Nelson, Stevenson
5 - Omoruyi, Sherrell

The position flexibility, however, is off the charts because all three guards except for Mallette are capable of running the point and Youngblood can slide down to the 2. Stevenson is able to drop down to the 3 and Reid/Dioubate are capable of playing the 4. Add that that Nelson can play the 5 if you want more offense on the floor. This flexibility allows us to create matchups in a variety of ways.

In looking at the last 6 games, here's the minutes each of them have played. BTW, the opponents were Creighton, UNC, Oregon, Rutgers, Houston (OT), and Illinois. Obviously, foul issues played into some of the minutes as did matchups. It's an interesting dive to go back and look at the box scores and see where opponent's offense came from. Creighton, Oregon, and Illinois all had a big man who effectively scored in the paint. Houston, Rutgers, and UNC had guards who especially were dynamic. In terms of spreading the scoring out across position groups, Creighton/Illinois/Oregon pretty much spread it out from the 5 to the 1. UNC/Rutgers/Houston were almost solely centered on the 3 to the 1. No doubt that played into the numbers below.

* Philon: 24, 34, 26, 12, 15, 33
* Sears: 34, 31, 35, 41, 33, 21
* Holloway: 16, 23, 24, 21, 26, 29
* Wrightsell: 0, 0, 15, 28, 24, 30
* Nelson: 25, 24, 28, 30, 40, 28
* Youngblood: 16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
* Dioubate: 4, 14, 18, 25, 28, 3
* Omoruyi: 25, 24, 18, 15, 17, 15
* Stevenson: 17, 16, 19, 16, 10, 13
* Sherrell: 10, 6, 4, 2, 1, 9
* Reid: 21, 18, 13, 18, 23, 19
* Mallette: 8, 9, 0, 0, 0, 0

As expected on Saturday, Youngblood slotted in at the 3 most of the time when he was on the court... and that initially seems to have took minutes away from Dioubate. However, when we see Creighton's points came primarily from a 7'1" C, 6'10" F, 6'5" G, and 6'0" G that probably helps account for the lack of PT for him rather than Youngblood's presence. The injury to Wrightsell has also changed the minutes of his backcourt mates. Specifically, it looks like Trelly's minutes are being primarily being distributed to Philon/Mallette... with Omoruyi/Sherrell playing a little more too (bigger lineup more of the time). I think these last six games are showing us what the staff wants from individual players as far as minutes go, but it doesn't show the individual groupings. I guess a major question that's begged is do they group them from the "offensive matchups" or "defensive matchups"... or a bit of both?

 

[CajunCrimson]

I’m not sure Mo isn’t injured some. His minutes and effort are low lately. Multiple games now.

 

[BamaMoon]

I’m not sure Mo isn’t injured some. His minutes and effort are low lately. Multiple games now.

Very possible. He's a swiss army knife type player and in the right situations can take over a game.

OR, it could be Reid is simply getting more minutes because he's a sharper swiss army knife.

 

[BAMARICH]

I’m not sure Mo isn’t injured some. His minutes and effort are low lately. Multiple games now.

If you look at the team matchups, I think (and I emphasize "I think" here) it could be explained there. The last six teams featured the following scorers (points in parentheses).
* Illinois - 7'1" C (14), 6'9" F (11), 6'8" F (18), 6'6" G (15), 6'2" G (17)
* Houston - 6'8" F (11), 6'3" G (14), 6'1" G (30)
* Rutgers - 6'10" G (22), 6'6" G (37, 6'6" G (6)
* Oregon - 7'0" C (19), 6'5" G (12), 6'1" G (22)
* UNC - 6'4" G (23), 6'3" G (12), 6'0" G (18)
* Creighton - 7'1" C (18), 6'10" F (16), 6'5" G (13), 6'0" G (20)

Considering his height and skill, I think it makes perfect sense that Mo would play his most minutes versus Houston and Rutgers. Houston because it went into OT and Rutgers because we needed more than one defensive stopper in that game. The way it seems to be playing out, Stevenson and Reid are the primary defensive stoppers on the floor for the bigger guards up to the biggest forwards. But in games when you need multiple stoppers for guys that size, his minutes should increase. Looking at Oregon, UNC, and Creighton I'm not surprised to see him playing less minutes. The Illini game, though, would be an outlier to that idea because they had three guys in his "wheelhouse" that put up double digits.

In my earlier post, I teased the idea of "offensive matchups" or "defensive matchups" being the major predictor of minutes played each game. IMO, Oats does more defensive matching up and is so, that's why we look so "clunky" on offense in some games (i.e. Creighton game). I think Oats is more willing to roll the ball on stopping the opponents and letting the offense take care of itself rather than putting his best offense on the court and letting the opponents score more easily.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

Well, I hope we come up with the perfect mix in time for the conference games...

 

[oskie]

Think this is a good read on the subject.

Nate Oats acknowledges need to trim down Alabama's rotation

Alabama played an 11-man rotation last game, something head coach Nate Oats said can't continue all season once SEC play comes.

www.on3.com

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

Who sits?

 

[Coach D]

Not sure he can sit Mallette after removing redshirt. Maybe Holloway gets the least minutes? Not sure who else.

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

We continue to wait for Jarin. Is time running out?

 

[BamaMoon]

We continue to wait for Jarin. Is time running out?

I think his raw skills/length keep him on the court to torment opponents 2s and 3s with his incredible quickness and length. Remember how he shut RJ Davis, UNC's leading scoring, down in that game? Stephenson tormented him!

If his shooting touch ever returns he'll get plenty of minutes. Probably will no matter what. He's 6'11' and has a 7 foot wingspan.

 

[Coach D]

We continue to wait for Jarin. Is time running out?

No. His size and D will keep him playing.