Observations and Reality Check

[Knucklehank1]

- this game was lost in early December. I think Mack wanted badly to ascend in the rankings and because of that he stunted the growth of the team. He felt much safer playing McMahon, Kimble and Perry at the expense of Johnson and Williamson. So now our young guys are terribly inexperienced but there is no way we can win at a high level without their athleticism.

- our pack line defense is predicated on not allowing the ball to easily get in the paint. Yet, FSU was able to drive and shoot in the paint over our short guards or pass over the top. Think I heard they had 28 points in the paint

- expectations definitely need to be recalibrated unless and until the freshmen rise quickly. We simply do not have the athletes otherwise to compete at the highest level. As part of that we have no guards who can look into the post and deliver an effective pass. Hopefully Johnson can help fix that.

 

[Thecycle27]

Look FSU is really good so we have to take that into consideration. This is going to force Mack to make changes.

It is a long season I don’t blame him for giving the veterans the opportunity. They haven’t performed when the competition ramped up. His patience s becoming shorter and shorter with the older guys.

This is not a super athletic team.

 

[Knucklehank1]

Look FSU is really good so we have to take that into consideration. This is going to force Mack to make changes.

It is a long season I don’t blame him for giving the veterans the opportunity. They haven’t performed when the competition ramped up. His patient is becoming shorter and shorter with the older guys.

This is not a super athletic team.

Supposedly he was highly critical of McMahon after the game. My issue with that is that Ryan should’ve been and should be a role player. It seems like Mack should’ve been able to ascertain that before now.

 

[nccardfan]

In hindsight we knew this team was going to be a mix of some veteran, maybe not as talented players with 6 new freshman. So Mack had a decision, short term, play the veterans who know his system and hope, Hope the freshman find their roles. Or he could basically give up on players like Sutton and McMahon, thank them for their service and let the freshman play under fire, knowing that more losses and more adjustments necessary. Hell, why play a grad transfer like Kimble if you were just trying to find out how good the FR are. Remember we are not the kitties who simply have to let Freshman play, thank goodness. I think I know Mack is not guy who would choose the latter. Nobody guarantees PT but calimari. PT is earned not given just because we don’t think the guy in front of him is not living to expectations. The last 2 games we had, one game our all American was Houdini, but the rest of the team fought hard. Today, only the all American showed up and the “team” got exposed. I’m not sure the changes we made from UK to FSU was an improvement. It does worry me to think that Mack is such a “tweet” or social media follower that he might actually listen to fans who say McMahon or Sutton need to be benched. Their less time led to almost no production and their replacements didn’t do much better.

 

[Thecycle27]

Supposedly he was highly critical of McMahon after the game. My issue with that is that Ryan should’ve been and should be a role player. It seems like Mack should’ve been able to ascertain that before now.

Yeah, I agree on Ryan but I wonder Johnson being hurt increased Ryan’s time.

 

[Knucklehank1]

In hindsight we knew this team was going to be a mix of some veteran, maybe not as talented players with 6 new freshman. So Mack had a decision, short term, play the veterans who know his system and hope, Hope the freshman find their roles. Or he could basically give up on players like Sutton and McMahon, thank them for their service and let the freshman play under fire, knowing that more losses and more adjustments necessary. Hell, why play a grad transfer like Kimble if you were just trying to find out how good the FR are. Remember we are not the kitties who simply have to let Freshman play, thank goodness. I think I know Mack is not guy who would choose the latter. Nobody guarantees PT but calimari. PT is earned not given just because we don’t think the guy in front of him is not living to expectations. The last 2 games we had, one game our all American was Houdini, but the rest of the team fought hard. Today, only the all American showed up and the “team” got exposed. I’m not sure the changes we made from UK to FSU was an improvement. It does worry me to think that Mack is such a “tweet” or social media follower that he might actually listen to fans who say McMahon or Sutton need to be benched. Their less time led to almost no production and their replacements didn’t do much better.

Where has anyone suggested Sutton shouldn’t be playing?

 

[nccardfan]

Where has anyone suggested Sutton shouldn’t be playing?

Let’s not mince words. You know and I know that posters (I won’t say fans) have been critical of the minutes he plays and that he transferred from UNCA. Funny, less minutes didn’t equal to more production.

 

[Knucklehank1]

Let’s not mince words. You know and I know that posters (I won’t say fans) have been critical of the minutes he plays and that he transferred from UNCA. Funny, less minutes didn’t equal to more production.

I truly don’t know of anyone that has suggested Sutton get less minutes.

 

[Sound.Slave]

Let’s not mince words. You know and I know that posters (I won’t say fans) have been critical of the minutes he plays and that he transferred from UNCA. Funny, less minutes didn’t equal to more production.

I don't hear everything, but I've never heard anyone criticize Sutton's role/play/minutes. It's been a common belief that his is the glue man of this team.

 

[nccardfan]

There was a thread not long ago about minutes distribution both short creek and PH card mentioned that he plays too many minutes. Also Flavunit in another thread. I’m pretty sure there are others. And then up until recently, there was a clamoring for more minutes by Williamson and Johnson. How do you get them more minutes without affecting other players? Doesn’t look like that would affect Nwora, Enoch or Maliks minutes leaving you only Sutton and of course, McMahon..

 

[Knucklehank1]

There was a thread not long ago about minutes distribution both short creek and PH card mentioned that he plays too many minutes. Also Flavunit in another thread. I’m pretty sure there are others. And then up until recently, there was a clamoring for more minutes by Williamson and Johnson. How do you get them more minutes without affecting other players? Doesn’t look like that would affect Nwora, Enoch or Maliks minutes leaving you only Sutton and of course, McMahon..

Don’t remember that thread. Regardless I’d think Johnson and Williamson’s minutes would come at the expense of Kimble, Perry and McMahon.

 

[nccardfan]

Don’t remember that thread. Regardless I’d think Johnson and Williamson’s minutes would come at the expense of Kimble, Perry and McMahon.

Their minutes are already divided among the 3 plus Williamson is the backup small forward. Yeah we can cut Nwora’s minutes when he sucks like against UK but he was the only one doing anything tonight. I know I am just frustrated by the loss or losses...

 

[BPGhost]

I don't hear everything, but I've never heard anyone criticize Sutton's role/play/minutes. It's been a common belief that his is the glue man of this team.

There was talk that Sutton played too many minutes and that he was worn down late in games and, later in the year last season.

Clearly the team is capable of excellent play but just as clearly, the upside is limited by mediocre guard play. 2 of 3 getting all of the clock have good basketball IQs but, D2 athleticism. The other guard is athletic but has a JUCO basketball IQ. David Johnson has both but plays like a freshman and can’t get on the floor. The rest of the pieces are there for potentially a really good year - they just have drag the guards along with them.

Basketball - like the rest of sports - is all about matchups and that’s proven every year. Some make sense and others - like us drilling UConn three times that year they won the title - do not. FSU is a terrible matchup for UofL. To have a deep run - they’ve got to play better of course but, they need to get lucky when it comes to who they have to face.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

He's gradually moving to Johnson's direction. He may not move him into the starting role but today was a giant step for him. He couldn't find the range and he made some turnovers, but he was also 2nd on the team in rebounds in 19 minutes. He's got a nose for the ball (4 offensive rebounds) and made a couple nice passes. I think he was a candidate to start prior to his injury. Now he's working his way into the rotation.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

His patience s becoming shorter and shorter with the older guys.

He said in his post game presser he moved Kimble into the lineup so that he could get Johnson into the game sooner.

 

[ShortCreek]

There was a thread not long ago about minutes distribution both short creek and PH card mentioned that he plays too many minutes. Also Flavunit in another thread. I’m pretty sure there are others. And then up until recently, there was a clamoring for more minutes by Williamson and Johnson. How do you get them more minutes without affecting other players? Doesn’t look like that would affect Nwora, Enoch or Maliks minutes leaving you only Sutton and of course, McMahon..

Guilty as charged. I believe my point was that if Sutton’s offensive production continued to tank (like it did today) that his minutes needed to drop. I love Sutton, but offensively against the upgrade in competition he’s flat killing us - along with some others.

Guys, we’ve got issues everywhere. There were many instances today where multiple players turned down wide open 3 point looks only to drive into the defense for a contested shot. But, Sutton turned down 3-4 three-point shots today, he has zero confidence in his perimeter game currently.

 

[PHCARD]

Yes I was referring to Sutton not getting subbed more often. I’m not sure how many games Sutton played last year for 40 minutes. But it was crazy.

But stats today was 28 minutes? I didn’t get to watch the game. I certainly don’t understand that scenario either?

 

[LeFors4Ever]

It’s a patchwork roster.

Rick’s guys that stayed

Grad transfers

6 freshman

None of the freshman are elite players. Maybe in time, but not now. 4 stars usually don’t come in and put up big numbers or make huge impacts. So playing them now would be playing more fire the next few years rather than this year.

But he has 3 upperclassmen at guard who probably dominate practice, are in better shape, know the system, and make better decisions. They just lack high level skill/athletic ability to compete with the big boys.

He’s playing upperclassmen because they’re performing better. If he plays the young guys more, it won’t help us win a title this year and it wouldn’t be any better probably worse.

We’re limited. We don’t have a point guard on the roster. But have a lot of good players in a down year, anything can happen.

 

[Sawyer]

- this game was lost in early December. I think Mack wanted badly to ascend in the rankings and because of that he stunted the growth of the team. He felt much safer playing McMahon, Kimble and Perry at the expense of Johnson and Williamson. So now our young guys are terribly inexperienced but there is no way we can win at a high level without their athleticism.

- our pack line defense is predicated on not allowing the ball to easily get in the paint. Yet, FSU was able to drive and shoot in the paint over our short guards or pass over the top. Think I heard they had 28 points in the paint

- expectations definitely need to be recalibrated unless and until the freshmen rise quickly. We simply do not have the athletes otherwise to compete at the highest level. As part of that we have no guards who can look into the post and deliver an effective pass. Hopefully Johnson can help fix that.

We have lost to three teams. All three were quicker than us at almost every position. We were better than UK but beat ourselves at the FT line. We were not better or quicker than TEXAS Tech and FSU. I love Ryan but he is a liability against more athletic ACC competition. Quickness in college hoops prevails! You either have it or you don’t.

 

[zipp]

Unless college basketball overall is significantly down this year, I thought this team was overrated coming into the season. Primarily, that's because I thought the contribution of this freshman class was being overrated. We are not traditionally a program where freshmen step in and make significant contributions. And except for the possibility of Williamson, I didn't see any of these guys changing that. So far that's exactly what's happening.

I don't know whose additional minutes Williamson should be getting because I don't see that he can play the two-guard yet. People here bang the David Johnson drum, but he was rated by Rivals nationally outside the Top 100. For different reasons, neither of those guys are likely to make significant improvement to how this particular team plays.

That has to come from those young guys playing roles on a team of mostly upperclassmen who play better than the sum of their parts. That last part ain't happening...

 

[Thecycle27]

I agree the excitement with the team was Nwora and Enoch coming back plus the freshman mainly Williamson and Johnson. I don’t think anyone envisioned Ryan or Sutton playing this many minutes. I think both those guys give you everything they got.

I like Johnson a lot, just haven’t seen enough of Williamson. That is the only way they become great. If they don’t come around then Louisville is good and could bow out at anytime.

 

[nccardfan]

I think the issue is that we think we have seen enough of this team to say that we can be a good team on some days and we can be exposed by other teams. What has changed in comparison to other years? We were done a disservice by being ranked so high early on.

This is also a case of the grass being greener on the other side. I’m not so sure. We have seen Perry, Fresh and McMahon and have concluded if this team is going to achieve its highest potential, we have to involve the freshman. We only do this because some, but not all say that Mack is deliberately not giving the freshmen more minutes. My theory is he hasn’t been able to find the right mix. Some of our issues are:

Nwora - he’s going to decide when he wants to play hard. If he’s not scoring he has to find ways to involve the other players.
Sutton - plays hard all the time but is sometimes too unselfish. Not sure if we have a play for him to exploit a mismatch.
Enoch - has some good moves but are soft, little baby hook with either hand. Opponents push him out a little bit and he is usually short. Also doesn’t even think about passing out after the ball has been entered into the post.
Malik - he doesn’t want to work on posting up, he just wants to shoot a straight up shot facing the basket. Gets pushed even more than Enoch on defense.
Williamson - as most freshman are he is more comfortable with offense, but if he or anybody is in the game with Nwora, there’s little option. He needs to learn defense will lead to more playing time.
Perry - I still believe at this stage of their careers, he is closest to a true point guard. Problem is he thinks he is the 2nd coming of Russ Smith. If he played more like Siva, this team could become good. Think pass first, even when you think you have broken down the defense and have a clear path to the basket, look to feed the man underneath or kick to the wings.
Kimble - he has some ability but I think he is best suited as a backup. He’s not flashy, he can take a similar size guard to the basket because he’s stronger but he’s not elusive and not a consistent outside shooter. His role play steady defense and not make TOs.

 

[Cardiac Red]

I truly don’t know of anyone that has suggested Sutton get less minutes.

Yeah me either. In my opinion and most people I talk to he has been our most consistent player and gives 110% every minute he's on the floor.

No way we're a better team with him on the bench..

I do believe he probably needs to get a break a little more often, not because he's not playing well, but because he plays so hard he needs a breather.

 

[Thecycle27]

Sutton plays so hard that by the middle or end of the year he is wore down. Less minutes isn’t a bad thing as long as someone is productive when he is sitting.

 

[FlavRunit]

There was a thread not long ago about minutes distribution both short creek and PH card mentioned that he plays too many minutes. Also Flavunit in another thread. I’m pretty sure there are others. And then up until recently, there was a clamoring for more minutes by Williamson and Johnson. How do you get them more minutes without affecting other players? Doesn’t look like that would affect Nwora, Enoch or Maliks minutes leaving you only Sutton and of course, McMahon..

Yes, I said several times, Sutton plays too many minutes. I would play him 30-32 minutes a game, he shouldn't be playing 38+ minutes. He did that last year and was completely wore out by seasons end. We have a deep enough bench to give him breaks. He is the back bone of the team, but his motor is full throttle. I don't think any player on this team should be playing 35+ minutes. Our bench is way too deep. We need to use it.