The Best 5

[Adman]

One of my pet peeves is that our starting 5 does not put us in best position to win...regardless of what "system" Rickma wants to run.

Aren't we a better team with Bryce at 5, Barry at 4, Luke at 3 and either Kevin/Tommie at 1/2?

I like Dwayne. He brings us energy and defense. Hate to say it, but with him in the game:

- Barry tries to play 5. He's not a five and we're all wondering why he's disappeared

- Luke tries to play 4. For all his moxie, not gonna work. Hasn't worked for years.

- Dwayne goes o-fer. Defense cheats off him, bringing more attention to our guards and Barry

And when Bryce IS in the game, without Barry at his side at 4, we limit HIS ability to succeed.

I'm not convinced our defense or ball-handling would take enough of a hit without Dwayne in the game.

Is it simply lack of depth that prevents playing people where they belong? Can't we get Knollmeyer into the rotation -- at least briefly -- to give Bryce and Barry a breather?

Someone tell me: wouldn't we have a better chance to win getting our best 2 bigs in the game at the same time. Dwayne comes off bench to give us energy boost and breather for Kevin/Tommie.

[jjray]

Agree with your starting 5 but the problem comes with the bench. Bryce can physically only play 20 minutes a game. If Bryce only plays 20 minutes and no one takes Polk's minutes then we are in the same situation regardless of who starts. By playing Barry at 4 and Luke at 3, we need another big to emerge to take up the extra minutes at 5/4. That means Knollmeyer or Relphorde. So essentially you are not exchanging Polk minutes for Bryce. Your option is to exchange Polk minutes for Knollmeyer or Relphorde. Note that these two each made short appearances last night but were quickly yanked. I'd like to see what the team looks like with one of these two on the floor for extended minutes paired with Bryce or Barry (give it a 7 minute blast and see what it looks like). The GW game would have been the perfect time to experiment but Majerus played his starting five very late into that game.

If Rick can't stomach that, let's try exchanging Polk minutes for Danny Brown. Push Brown's minutes up to 25 and play Lisch more at the point. Maybe Danny can at least knock down an open jumper and keep the defense honest. Who can say? More of the same is slow torture.

[RUBillsFan]

One of my pet peeves is that our starting 5 does not put us in best position to win...regardless of what "system" Rickma wants to run.

Aren't we a better team with Bryce at 5, Barry at 4, Luke at 3 and either Kevin/Tommie at 1/2?

I like Dwayne. He brings us energy and defense. Hate to say it, but with him in the game:

- Barry tries to play 5. He's not a five and we're all wondering why he's disappeared

- Luke tries to play 4. For all his moxie, not gonna work. Hasn't worked for years.

- Dwayne goes o-fer. Defense cheats off him, bringing more attention to our guards and Barry

And when Bryce IS in the game, without Barry at his side at 4, we limit HIS ability to succeed.

I'm not convinced our defense or ball-handling would take enough of a hit without Dwayne in the game.

Is it simply lack of depth that prevents playing people where they belong? Can't we get Knollmeyer into the rotation -- at least briefly -- to give Bryce and Barry a breather?

Someone tell me: wouldn't we have a better chance to win getting our best 2 bigs in the game at the same time. Dwayne comes off bench to give us energy boost and breather for Kevin/Tommie.

I think having Danny Brown start over Polk would even be better than giving Polk so many minutes. Polk is a complete non-factor on offense and other teams quickly realize he cannot make a shot thus they can sag off of him on D. At least Danny can knock down a wide open 3.

On a side note, I don't think Knollmeyer looked too bad out there for his 2 minute stint against Dayton. He knocked down that turn around 8 footer and seemed to be okay on D. Relphorde on the other hand looked totally lost.

[NH]

One of my pet peeves is that our starting 5 does not put us in best position to win...regardless of what "system" Rickma wants to run.

Aren't we a better team with Bryce at 5, Barry at 4, Luke at 3 and either Kevin/Tommie at 1/2?

I like Dwayne. He brings us energy and defense. Hate to say it, but with him in the game:

- Barry tries to play 5. He's not a five and we're all wondering why he's disappeared

- Luke tries to play 4. For all his moxie, not gonna work. Hasn't worked for years.

- Dwayne goes o-fer. Defense cheats off him, bringing more attention to our guards and Barry

And when Bryce IS in the game, without Barry at his side at 4, we limit HIS ability to succeed.

I'm not convinced our defense or ball-handling would take enough of a hit without Dwayne in the game.

Is it simply lack of depth that prevents playing people where they belong? Can't we get Knollmeyer into the rotation -- at least briefly -- to give Bryce and Barry a breather?

Someone tell me: wouldn't we have a better chance to win getting our best 2 bigs in the game at the same time. Dwayne comes off bench to give us energy boost and breather for Kevin/Tommie.

that only works if you know AK and MR can contribute. You cant start two guys who have no sub witing on the bench

[CallAsSee]

I think having Danny Brown start over Polk would even be better than giving Polk so many minutes. Polk is a complete non-factor on offense and other teams quickly realize he cannot make a shot thus they can sag off of him on D. At least Danny can knock down a wide open 3.

On a side note, I don't think Knollmeyer looked too bad out there for his 2 minute stint against Dayton. He knocked down that turn around 8 footer and seemed to be okay on D. Relphorde on the other hand looked totally lost.

The only problem with Knollmeyer he has not seen enough playing time. Remember way back before the season, Knollmeyer was a big part of the scrimmage against Memphis. For a coach that doesn't care about winning this year and is building for the future he sure does play non productive seniors 35+ minutes and doesn't give the rest of the bench a try. Majerus truly is a Million Dollar Moron.

[NH]

The only problem with Knollmeyer he has not seen enough playing time. Remember way back before the season, Knollmeyer was a big part of the scrimmage against Memphis. For a coach that doesn't care about winning this year and is building for the future he sure does play non productive seniors 35+ minutes and doesn't give the rest of the bench a try. Majerus truly is a Million Dollar Moron.

then please explain to me how he has won over 400 games with under 200 losses

[Archy McNally]

I'll call it as I've seen it. From what I've seen of Adam on the court this year, he needs a redshirt year bad. He looks overwhelmed when he is out there.

[billiken_roy]

One of my pet peeves is that our starting 5 does not put us in best position to win...regardless of what "system" Rickma wants to run.

Aren't we a better team with Bryce at 5, Barry at 4, Luke at 3 and either Kevin/Tommie at 1/2?

I like Dwayne. He brings us energy and defense. Hate to say it, but with him in the game:

- Barry tries to play 5. He's not a five and we're all wondering why he's disappeared

- Luke tries to play 4. For all his moxie, not gonna work. Hasn't worked for years.

- Dwayne goes o-fer. Defense cheats off him, bringing more attention to our guards and Barry

And when Bryce IS in the game, without Barry at his side at 4, we limit HIS ability to succeed.

I'm not convinced our defense or ball-handling would take enough of a hit without Dwayne in the game.

Is it simply lack of depth that prevents playing people where they belong? Can't we get Knollmeyer into the rotation -- at least briefly -- to give Bryce and Barry a breather?

Someone tell me: wouldn't we have a better chance to win getting our best 2 bigs in the game at the same time. Dwayne comes off bench to give us energy boost and breather for Kevin/Tommie.

sorry adman. that just makes too much sense and might be successful. plus it would require rickma to play knollmeyer more of which he apparently wants to keep a secret if possible.

btw, i thought knollmeyer did fine saturday night. he deserves more minutes. especially if it gives us the opportunity to make adman adjustments as described above.

[Adman]

Thanks, Roy.

I can't believe we don't at least try this.

If Knollmeyer and Relphorde aren't ready to get a couple minutes here and there each half, jeez, we could call an extra time out to give Bryce and Barry and extra breather if we had to. There always seems to be a time out or two left unused -- at least in the first half. Mike Martz used to make a living off this

Since neither Bryce or Barry are picture perfect at their respective natural positions, we handcuff each of them MORE by not playing them together.

Much rather see Barry making nice post moves at the 4, drawing some attention away from Bryce. Free up Luke at wing.

Then you'd have our 2 guards actually guarded -- and everyone set up to succeed as much as they can.

Before anyone thinks I'm bashing Rickma, I'm not. I'm the happiest guy in the world he's at the U. That said, he's not 100% right all the time. No one is. Plus, I was actually hoping anyone on the board could poke holes in my strategy. Agree that there is some risk if the bench can't be extended a bit. Worth a try, though, IMO.