What if...

[Huskerpapa]

...Shavon is unable to play against Wisconsin, and perhaps Penn State.  Who do you insert into the starting role, and do you add someone to the rotation?

 

If you choose to go small, which we will likely need to do, you start Tai.  Yet he has seemed to embrace the 6th man role.  Do you - gasp - start Fuller?  He played an important role against Rutgers and going back home to Wisconsin, I could certainly see him step up his game.  Do you go with Jack?  He seems to be the logical choice, but he has sort of been in the dog house as of late.  Or...do you go big and start MJ and Ed side-by-side? 

 

Hmm, what to do, what to do?

[hhcmatt]

Here is your Wisconsin starting lineup

 

3 Zak Showalter 6-2  184  Jr

24 Bronson Koenig 6-4  193  Jr

10 Nigel Hayes 6-8  240  Jr

30 Vitto Brown 6-8  230  Jr

22 Ethan Happ 6-9  235  Fr

 

Showalter, Koenig, and Hayes are almost always on the court. Happ is playing 30+ minutes as long as he isn't in foul trouble.

Brown plays 20 minutes a game and is in a time share with Frosh 6'9" forward Alex Illikainen

 

Guards Khalil Iverson and Jordan Hill are in play and very well might be against a smaller team like us. Vs Illinois they both played 25+ minutes and Hill started over Brown.

[HuskerFever]

What if...

 

I am happy you took this an entirely different direction than I anticipated when I clicked on this thread. Thank you for that.

[HuskerFever]

I think another interesting question would be, who takes Shields' points? Is it spread evenly throughout the starters or is one particular person going to step up?

[Dead Dog Alley]

If you go with Tai at the three for extended minutes, you have some problems. 1) It would necessitate getting some quality time out of Bakari - which he might be able to do, but who knows. 2) The Benny - Koenig matchup is a tough one, Benny had a hard time against him last year.  What Wisconsin does on offense pretty much neutralizes Benny's strengths defensively, and Koenig can post him up, back him down, or just shoot over him.  3)  Tai vs. Hayes does not look like a good matchup, they would isolate Hayes in the post quite a bit.

 

If you go with Jacobson or Morrow at the four, the problems you have are maybe losing a bit of offense (but if Fuller is the alternative and he's afraid to shoot you aren't losing much), and that you might have to get meaningful minutes from Hammond.  Jake has been around for a season and a half of Big Ten play and has a total of four points in conference play - with Shields out I don't know that you can have a non-threat at the five.

 

So, maybe you start Fuller (since he's from Wisconsin maybe it will get him going), tell him not to be afraid to shoot it, give him the first five minutes unless you start to get behind, and then go with McVeigh. Give Fuller and McVeigh some of the extra minutes, maybe go with Tai at the three for five minutes or so, and go with Morrow at the four for five to ten.

 

If AW III gets in foul trouble...I don't think there's any answers if that happens.

[Timforthewin]

I think McVeigh gets the start and Bakari sees some quality minutes

[Norm Peterson]

Shavon has sat with foul trouble in a number of games this season. I suspect we'll handle things similarly to how we did when Shavon was sitting with two first half fouls.

[big red22]

...Shavon is unable to play against Wisconsin, and perhaps Penn State.  Who do you insert into the starting role, and do you add someone to the rotation?

 

If you choose to go small, which we will likely need to do, you start Tai.  Yet he has seemed to embrace the 6th man role.  Do you - gasp - start Fuller?  He played an important role against Rutgers and going back home to Wisconsin, I could certainly see him step up his game.  Do you go with Jack?  He seems to be the logical choice, but he has sort of been in the dog house as of late.  Or...do you go big and start MJ and Ed side-by-side? 

 

Hmm, what to do, what to do?

I like this, we are going to see what next year will be like.  I truly feel Shields is the heart and soul of the team, but getting a feel of what next year will be like will be fun and beneficial 

[khoock]

I listened to the radio show last night with Coach Molinari and from what I understood is that McVeigh will get the start and him and Fuller will share the extra minutes. Molinari said Fuller has been practicing really well lately, which is why he got in early against Rutgers and played 18 min. Molinari also said they were satisfied with Fuller's effort and hustle. So to me it sounds like McVeigh gets the start and Fuller becomes the 8th man in the rotation.

I was also wondering about possibly going big in this game with Morrow/Jacobson or maybe even Hammond/Jacobson.

Either way it will have to be a total team effort to win without Shavon.

[hhcmatt]

I listened to the radio show last night with Coach Molinari and from what I understood is that McVeigh will get the start and him and Fuller will share the extra minutes. Molinari said Fuller has been practicing really well lately, which is why he got in early against Rutgers and played 18 min. Molinari also said they were satisfied with Fuller's effort and hustle. So to me it sounds like McVeigh gets the start and Fuller becomes the 8th man in the rotation.

 

Wisconsin scores a lot on the FT line and isn't shooting as much nor making as much from 3 this year. Thus, I think we see some more zone this game which is something Fuller seems to excel at and something that we can utilize McVeigh's length at.

 

I need to listen to that Molinari segment again as it was full of info while I was trying to wrestle kids.

[hhcmatt]

 

...Shavon is unable to play against Wisconsin, and perhaps Penn State.  Who do you insert into the starting role, and do you add someone to the rotation?

 

If you choose to go small, which we will likely need to do, you start Tai.  Yet he has seemed to embrace the 6th man role.  Do you - gasp - start Fuller?  He played an important role against Rutgers and going back home to Wisconsin, I could certainly see him step up his game.  Do you go with Jack?  He seems to be the logical choice, but he has sort of been in the dog house as of late.  Or...do you go big and start MJ and Ed side-by-side? 

 

Hmm, what to do, what to do?

I like this, we are going to see what next year will be like.  I truly feel Shields is the heart and soul of the team, but getting a feel of what next year will be like will be fun and beneficial 

 

 

I think guys will be asked to step up and hopefully they are up for the task

[AuroranHusker]

Insert Tai in the three-guard lineup & play a bit more zone. Force Wisconsin to match up with NU.

[hhcmatt]

Insert Tai in the three-guard lineup & play a bit more zone. Force Wisconsin to match up with NU.

 

It looks like Wisconsin went small against a smaller Illinois squad because of this. 

[hal9000]

 

 

...Shavon is unable to play against Wisconsin, and perhaps Penn State.  Who do you insert into the starting role, and do you add someone to the rotation?

 

If you choose to go small, which we will likely need to do, you start Tai.  Yet he has seemed to embrace the 6th man role.  Do you - gasp - start Fuller?  He played an important role against Rutgers and going back home to Wisconsin, I could certainly see him step up his game.  Do you go with Jack?  He seems to be the logical choice, but he has sort of been in the dog house as of late.  Or...do you go big and start MJ and Ed side-by-side? 

 

Hmm, what to do, what to do?

I like this, we are going to see what next year will be like.  I truly feel Shields is the heart and soul of the team, but getting a feel of what next year will be like will be fun and beneficial 

 

 

I think guys will be asked to step up and hopefully they are up for the task

 

I've got a good feeling about Fuller.  This is a good opportunity for him and I think he is going to be aggressive. 

[jason2486]

I don't mind the thought of Bakari getting some extended minutes. I'm not claiming he's the next Petteway or White, but I've liked some of the things he can do, especially his passing. He is quick, athletic, and his high school videos show that he can shoot the ball.

I'm also wanting to see Morrow and Jacobson on the court together. I know that Miles tends to not do that, and I'm assuming it's because they are both trying to play the 5, but I would love to see them at the 4/5 together. These guys are D1 athletes, so I don't think conditioning should be a huge issue. I guess Morrow's foot/feet could be a problem though.

[formerlybis]

 

Insert Tai in the three-guard lineup & play a bit more zone. Force Wisconsin to match up with NU.

 

It looks like Wisconsin went small against a smaller Illinois squad because of this. 

 

Badger fan here - that might have been part of it, but Brown was questionable to play at all vs. Illinois because of an "upper body injury". He came in and played and made some key plays, but from what we had been led to believe, he was supposed to be limited availability. That was the only game all year that the starting five was different.

[hhcmatt]

 

 

Insert Tai in the three-guard lineup & play a bit more zone. Force Wisconsin to match up with NU.

 

It looks like Wisconsin went small against a smaller Illinois squad because of this. 

 

Badger fan here - that might have been part of it, but Brown was questionable to play at all vs. Illinois because of an "upper body injury". He came in and played and made some key plays, but from what we had been led to believe, he was supposed to be limited availability. That was the only game all year that the starting five was different.

 

 

Thanks for the 411. Didn't know he was injured.

[Huskerpapa]

Well we now know Shavon is out, Jack will start and once the game starts, it will be all hands on deck.  Hopefully Tai. Benny and Glynn can handle the penetration part of the game and Jack, Andrew and others can hit their 3's.

 

Perhaps as importantly, the team will need to pick up what we lose on the defensive end with the loss of Shavon.  He is underrated as a defensive player, especially this year.