Minutes

[BillyKen]

Ok, this might sound crazy, but I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on limiting Cody's minutes. Obviously, that will not happen, or to a significant extent, on senior night. But, I am referring to possibly limiting his minutes in the A10 tourney. Data that drives my suggestion:

Cody's numbers drop significantly towards the ends of each season. Clearly, year 1 he was gassed and had been asked to play a ton of minutes in only 1 semester coming straight from high school and having missed preseason.

In the past 4 games, he is 3 of 33. This year, he has already played 40 more minutes than he has any prior season. Now, I will say that I am not sure if the total minutes that I am getting from ESPN.com includes postseason play. I am operating under the assumption that it does.

Perhaps giving him some rest in Brooklyn would help provide the spark off the bench that we desperately need from Cody in order to make a nice tourney run.

Obviously, limiting his minutes too much increases the burden on the other guys. Cody currently gets 26 mpg. Cutting that down to the 15-20 range in Brooklyn and giving that time to guys like CR, GG, JB, and maybe even JM could pay dividends. Personally, I think the time should go to JM. I believe that in the tourney, at some point, we will need JM's body out there to battle with bigs. So, I'd like to give him some experience, and even if he plays in the ncaa tourney solely for his fouls, having A10 tourney experience can only help.

Also, given that minutes is the theme of the discussion, do we keep the same minute averages going into Brooklyn? RM always liked to play a deep roster...given that we already do that, I am not sure if the strategy is to play your guys less than the norm or if there is a special benchmark of minutes that you want to try to avoid so as to not tire out players (e.g. no average more than 28 mpg in Brooklyn).

[JettFlight5]

I think you dance with the one that brung ya.

[jbizzle09]

IMO, you can't do that at the very end of the season and post-season. If that was something to consider, you would've had to use less important regular season meetings to limit wear and tear. When you reach the point where every game matters, you can't look at limiting minutes anymore. Brooklyn means a lot towards seeding for the NCAA tourney and you can't look to 'rest' players at this point. You also can't really look at expanding minutes to players who have seen limited action in the past few weeks, especially in games that have real consequence.

I appreciate the thought in regards to trying to revive Cody. But I don't think he is tired at this point (or no more than any other regular rotation guy.) Sitting him more on the bench in favor of Manning is not going to be productive for this team, in my opinion. You tighten your rotation at this point, not expand it.

[billiken_roy]

imo, after jett, mitchell, mccall, evans and ellis, there is a huge drop off. proof of that is we accept rob loe and he might be the softest billiken big in billiken history. therefore to limit any of our big four playing time imo is a huge gamble. the longer you leave the others out there the more likely they will show their weakness and allow our opponent to take advantage. ellis has to play. he does way too much right to sit him. while he indeed had a horrendous night shooting the other night, i would still rather he be shooting the three we need more than anyone except maybe mike mccall. he'll be fine.

[TheA_Bomb]

I don't think there is a huge drop off. We have a pretty deep team as evidenced by SLU being #34 in bench points this season. Loe is more of a scorer and not tough inside that's true.

[ACE]

imo, after jett, mitchell, mccall, evans and ellis, there is a huge drop off. proof of that is we accept rob loe and he might be the softest billiken big in billiken history. therefore to limit any of our big four playing time imo is a huge gamble. the longer you leave the others out there the more likely they will show their weakness and allow our opponent to take advantage. ellis has to play. he does way too much right to sit him. while he indeed had a horrendous night shooting the other night, i would still rather he be shooting the three we need more than anyone except maybe mike mccall. he'll be fine.

Come on. Have you forgotten Bryce Husak? I know, I know... we all remember who recruited BH so you won't go there.

[billiken_roy]

good point. husak was far worse.

[GOSLU68]

I always thought the reason Ellis did not start was so he came into the game with fresh legs after the other 10 starters had burned off the initial enthusiasm.

Lately, Ellis seemed to be getting into the games too early

[BillyKen]

I always thought the reason Ellis did not start was so he came into the game with fresh legs after the other 10 starters had burned off the initial enthusiasm.

Lately, Ellis seemed to be getting into the games too early

I feel like CE and JJ always enter at the same time...the first official's timeout.

[Cowboy]

-BillyKen, interesting thought, might be worthy of some further analysis

[Cowboy]

I feel like CE and JJ always enter at the same time...the first official's timeout.

-there was a string of games where that happened, it stopped, CE was in first vs X without Jett I believe, for example

[dlarry]

Steven Strausburg says dont do it.

[MB73]

I am just worried that Cody has a minor injury or something... his shots were SO far off the other night, some missed by a foot and a half.

• If he is healthy, let him play his way out.
• If he has a minor injury then coach needs to limit his PT a bit and tell him to pull back on his # of shots, though I would guess that if he did have some sort of injury, Crews would have told him to pull back the other night.

[Band Legend]

There's a long break between games after tomorrow; I say you let it all hang out and ride whatever combination is working on game day. The only thing that bothered me about Cody on Wednesday night was him along with our other bigs losing their man for slams and easy buckets. That is unacceptable, but as far as offense is concerned he just needs to shoot his way out of his slump. Many times that starts with chippies and free throws, not from behind the arc. Also, why did Rob Loe attempt no threes against Xavier? He had open looks. As Bill Walton would say "Put it up, big man!"

[billikenfan05]

I'm down with limiting Cody's minutes in the a-10 tourney. I think he gets worn down as the season progresses.

[BillyKen]

There's a long break between games after tomorrow; I say you let it all hang out and ride whatever combination is working on game day. The only thing that bothered me about Cody on Wednesday night was him along with our other bigs losing their man for slams and easy buckets. That is unacceptable, but as far as offense is concerned he just needs to shoot his way out of his slump. Many times that starts with chippies and free throws, not from behind the arc. Also, why did Rob Loe attempt no threes against Xavier? He had open looks. As Bill Walton would say "Put it up, big man!"

My point was not about the long break between tomorrow and Friday's A-10 Tourney but was more about the potential of having 5 games in 9 or 10 days (assuming we make the A10 Chip game and win our first tourney game...the 9 or 10 games depends on whether we play rounds "2 & 3" of the tourney on the 21st and 23rd or 22nd and 24th).

[MapleLeaf45]

Does anyone think that Glaze could be used more early on to help Cody stay fresh? I am not sure I believe the other nights shooting was due to late season exhaustion because I think it may have had more to do with expectations for himself.

I like Glaze in there early in the game. Yes he seems robotic and easily gets whistled for fouls as a result but watching games it looks like he seems to frustrate opponents as a result. I think any foul he draws early on from opponents could be huge in the play of the game to keep players from mugging Evans later and to keep Ellis/Evans out of foul trouble.