Floor minutes

[CrimsonWazzu]

I think its very telling the direction EK is going when you compare floor time between last year and this year.

Looking specifically at Longrus, Kernich-Drew and Railey. I dont try to knock on any guy who sticks out these tough transitions with coaching changes, but im glad Kent is going young and letting the future build now.

Their minutes are all down this year despite being seniors. Last year they combined for 58 minutes per game, and that has dropped to 39.5 per game this season. I think the transition and feeling out how to adjust lineups and rotations were part of the early growing pains, but now this looks like a competitive team that is playing a fun style of ball with a lot of effort. For now thats all we should be expecting, and so far weve seen a nice turnaound.

Loving more of Ike, Redding and Q with heavy minutes and Hawk is becoming the player I thought hed be by his 3rd year when I saw him playing as an a senior and hes only in year 2.


This post was edited on 1/14 6:39 PM by CrimsonWazzu

 

[jourdand]

I agree! Although, I think to be really successful we need Railey to stay out of foul trouble and continue his improvement. Longrus a junior gives us very little, and DKD ( who was supposably primed for a good season) really looks out of place when he is on the floor,
Que is starting to play more consistently and with more confidence which is a big plus. If Ike can play the way he did at UW it would go along way in helping WSU have a successful first year under coach Kent.

PS.. This team plays better when Brett Boese is on the floor! Especially on offense, but his defense is better than before also.

 

[Coug1990]

Originally posted by jourdand:
I agree! Although, I think to be really successful we need Railey to stay out of foul trouble and continue his improvement. Longrus a junior gives us very little, and DKD ( who was supposably primed for a good season) really looks out of place when he is on the floor,
Que is starting to play more consistently and with more confidence which is a big plus. If Ike can play the way he did at UW it would go along way in helping WSU have a successful first year under coach Kent.

PS.. This team plays better when Brett Boese is on the floor! Especially on offense, but his defense is better than before also.

I think it is less CEK going young, it is that he gave those players PT in the beginning and they were not good. So, he is giving PT to players that are playing the best. It just happens that the younger players are out playing the players that got a lot of PT last year.

 

[CrimsonWazzu]

Originally posted by Coug1990:

Originally posted by jourdand:
I agree! Although, I think to be really successful we need Railey to stay out of foul trouble and continue his improvement. Longrus a junior gives us very little, and DKD ( who was supposably primed for a good season) really looks out of place when he is on the floor,
Que is starting to play more consistently and with more confidence which is a big plus. If Ike can play the way he did at UW it would go along way in helping WSU have a successful first year under coach Kent.

PS.. This team plays better when Brett Boese is on the floor! Especially on offense, but his defense is better than before also.

I think it is less CEK going young, it is that he gave those players PT in the beginning and they were not good. So, he is giving PT to players that are playing the best. It just happens that the younger players are out playing the players that got a lot of PT last year.

Yeah I just kinda threw down some quick thoughts last night about the distribution of minutes, as I finally got a chance to go back and watch the UW game(was tailgating for the Hawks game on Saturday) and noticed DKD and Longrus just weren't on the floor for too long.

You're right though, the older players were getting the lions share of minutes early on, thus the struggles. It's rather obvious that the younger guys bring a lot more versatility and athleticism to the floor. Agree on Boese too, he looked like a strong defender banging up against the bigger front court guys and he showed some good offensive moves other than just spotting up and launching 3's. Some kind of combination Forrest and Harmeling is a really solid player, and only a 2nd year guy along with Hawk.

Really liking the ball security that's being emphasized. It's really what's keeping us in games along with the strong rebounding. They're not shooting well, but I get the sense it's going to continue to progress as the rotations get more firm and guys get more comfortable in their roles.