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Interesting observations about our roster last season


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For the starters, I just went with who started the most, notwithstanding that there was some fluctuation in starting lineup.

 

For bench, I've listed them in order of number of minutes played.

 

A couple of things stand out to me:

 

Last year, not only were we young in our starting lineup (average 2.6 seasons), but our bench was extremely young (average 1.25 seasons during conference play for all intents and purposes.)

 

Last year, we started 3 guards (Watson, Webster, Taylor) and had no guards to bring off the bench in conference play.  Not a single one.

 

In spite of which, these sonsabitches were 3-1 in conference (with two road wins) until Ed Morrow got hurt.  And the wheels kinda fell off from there on out.

 

Kinda puts last season in a little bit of perspective for me at least.

Edited by Norm Peterson
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45 minutes ago, northwillriseagain said:

Is this year any more experienced? Seems the turnover is a part, and we lost a couple veterans again. 

 

I like the potential, but I'm not trusting myself anymore after saying it every year.

in: allen, copeland, duby, palmer, thorir, nana

out: ed, horne, jacobson, webster, fuller.

 

i think the talent we brought in will at the very least be equal to what we lost.

 

then if you factor in that watson, jordy, roby, and mcveigh will all be improved, we should expect to see more wins this year.

 

miles needs to get to the NIT to keep his job in my opinion.

Edited by TimSmiles
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46 minutes ago, TimSmiles said:

 

miles needs to get to the NIT to keep his job in my opinion.

 

That depends on the circumstances.  One situation that would keep him around is if they finish the season strong and there are no major player losses due to transfers or guys going pro.  The other situation is if the job security of the athletic director is not seen as being secure.  An AD on the hot seat, especially at a place without the strongest tradition, is not going to be able to make a plan A hire (or plan B, plan C, plan D....).  And a weak hire by an AD who is already on shaky ground will just make his job situation worse.

 

With 32 scheduled games (13 non-conference, 18 conference, 1 Big Ten tournament game at least) you pretty much have to win 18 to make the NIT.  I wouldn't like Miles' chances to stick around if he wins 15 to 17, but he would still have a chance.

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Experience is important IF talent is limited...does that make sense?  We have seen a number of young teams winning it all.  The talent level of those teams are unbelievable.  We have also seen experienced teams go to the end that does not have that upper end talent (such as Wisconsin).  I am not saying they weren't talented, but they were more 3 and 4 star talent than 4 and 5 star talent. 

 

Until we have players that understand what it takes to win at the highest level, then that experience doesn't mean anything.  We seem to have an interesting mix.  We are pretty talented, and IF we learn the intangibles that moves us up a couple notches...IF...IF...and eventually when.  Hope that "eventual" is now.

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3 hours ago, northwillriseagain said:

Is this year any more experienced? Seems the turnover is a part, and we lost a couple veterans again. 

 

I like the potential, but I'm not trusting myself anymore after saying it every year.

 

Editing the OP to show the difference:

 

On 8/11/2017 at 5:26 PM, Norm Peterson said:

2017-2018:

Starters:

PG  Jr.  6-0, 174#

SG  Jr.  6-6, 213# 

SF  So. 6-8, 214#

PF  Jr.  6-9, 220#

C  So  6-11, 275#

 

Bench:

G Sr 6-5, 206#

F  Jr  6-8, 215#

C  Sr 6-8, 230#
G  Fr  6-1, 180# 

 

So, in answer to your question, yeah, this roster is more experienced.  Mostly in terms of the bench.  Numbers of years' experience for the starters is basically the same, but for the reserves, we go from three freshmen and a sophomore to one freshman, a junior and two seniors.

 

And where, before, the front line consisted of an undersized Rivals 4-star and an undersized, unranked 3-star, we now have a lengthy Rivals 5-star and a very sizable Rivals 150 member.  And Jr./So. instead of So./So., so there's that as well.

 

It's obviously not just possible but likely that the actual starters and bench are different than what I've suggested above.  If a freshman, though, beats out an upper classman, that's actually a good thing, right?  It means that one of our unknown quantities was able to leapfrog a more known quantity, which means the whole is probably better than what we thought it would be.

 

Oh, and we can actually bring guards off the bench.

Edited by Norm Peterson
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