Lineup & Rotation

A few thoughts on the lineup and rotation, with Bailey sidelined:

I liked the creative lineup used to start the game last night. But after the first few minutes, the three big guys weren't on the floor together much, if at all. I guess it would only work for extended periods of time if Taylor is ready to play some bigger minutes off of the bench.

Sharp is simply not getting it done consistently. His few of good games do not make up for a majority of really poor games. We need someone who can consistently shoot in the 35-45% range, rather than someone who shoots 0% or 25% for four straight games then 60% for one or two games. Here are Sharp's 3-point shooting percentages by game this season: 0, 0, 50, 60, 20, 0, 25, 25, 57, 0.

Tyson's long-range shooting has been a bit more consistent than Sharp's... Or, is it time to give Max Livingston a chance to become the go-to 3-point shooter?

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Tyson's long-range shooting has been a bit more consistent than Sharp's... Or, is it time to give Max Livingston a chance to become the go-to 3-point shooter?

For thought - Sharp was .333 from three-point range last year in non-conference. Then absolutely tore it up by going 48-for-110 (.436) the rest of the way.

He's .306 this year, which is about 1 or 2 made triples short of his clip from 2013-14.

In my opinion...Sharp is too deadly to stay quiet for too long. He'll round into form soon.

Yeah, I've seen enough of Bobby and the other candidates in games and in practice, without seeing the statistics, to know that Bobby offers the best possibility to make crucial 3's and play defense!

D'Marquez and Max are getting better....Max is MUCH better than when he arrived on the Bluff, but Bobby has still got to be the go-to-guy until others can consistently show otherwise in practice and drills.

From the Incredible But True file:

Hartwich leads the team in FG%: 5-6 (83.3%)
Sharp is last on the team in FG%: 20-73 (27.4%)

As poorly as Bobby is shooting from 3-point range (28.8%), he is even worse from 2-point range: 3-14 (21.4%).

If Bailey isn't able to start playing in the next couple of weeks, any chance that he scraps the rest of the season and applies for a medical red-shirt? I think the threshold is that you can't appear in more than 30% of your team's games. After playing in only 7 or 30 scheduled games so far, he is under that limit and could potentially come back next year.

Interesting thought... I guess it would depend on where he is academically, too... another year would certainly help with the upcoming graduation losses at the end of this season!

NoPoNeighbor wrote:If Bailey isn't able to start playing in the next couple of weeks, any chance that he scraps the rest of the season and applies for a medical red-shirt? I think the threshold is that you can't appear in more than 30% of your team's games. After playing in only 7 or 30 scheduled games so far, he is under that limit and could potentially come back next year.

Your math is correct.....it reminds me of Riley Barker's sophomore year when he played in 7 games and everyone expected him to eventually return to action, but instead he redshirted....and we're glad he did!

I casually mentioned the redshirt idea to KB before he went home for Christmas.....he looked at me with a big WHAT are you talking about????  He was intent on rejoining the team, graduating, and moving on with his life.

I did not attend practice today, so don't know if KB is ready to go, but if he's not ready to go in the next couple of weeks KB and the staff may have to reconsider the redshirt alternative.