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#Post#: 1126--------------------------------------------------
The bench players
DIR By: jaghatai
Date: January 15, 2012, 2:20 pm
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This is something that has been gnawing at me for the entire
season, so I figured i'd hear what you guys think.
The starting 5 (Dougher, Joyner, Rapier, Coley, Brenton) are
going to get a majority of the minutes. They play 67% of the
game (basically about 25-30 minutes/game each).
The primary bench (Hayes, Jackson, Rouse, McAllister, Carter,
Bracey) play the rest of the game, filling in typically in a
"line-change" style, where the starters all sit, essentially at
the same time, for a 3 minute stretch, 3 times per game. The
rest of their minutes come as either quick breathers or
foul-trouble replacements.
I understand this is a broad generalization, but it basically
describes our situation.
Another broad but accurate generalization.. Hayes, Bracey, and
McAllister are downright playing awful right now.
Heres my problem... we take those three guys, put them on the
court together with Rouse & Carter, they all struggle for 3
minutes, and then they get pulled. Whats the point? Why set
them up for failure? Why not rotate ONE of them in with the
starters, put them in a spot to succeed, give them decent
minutes, and try to get them out of the funk? And if they can't
succeed in that spot, then you stick them on the bench next to
Resner and try to develop them for next year.
We saw this work last year with Hayes in the Maine game. He got
himself squared away and became a very valuable asset. You
don't have to do this in a tight game, either. When up by a ton
on UMBC, stick McAllister in for Rapier in the starting 5 and
lets see what happens. Or put Bracey in for Coley. Or Hayes
for Dougher.
Truth is, we're playing for 2 goals. Win the regular season
title, and win the tournament. If you can work on getting the
team prepared for the tourney without risking the regular
season, that seems like a no-brainer.
I'm not saying throw out what they're doing. Not at all. In
games where it is close (Vermont, Albany, etc), stick to what
you've been doing. But in the blowouts, why not adjust? It's a
situational thing, granted, but at this level adjustments like
this should be easy.
I'm no expert, but does this make sense? Or am I totally
missing something?
#Post#: 1128--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: Seawolf97
Date: January 16, 2012, 10:04 am
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I see your point and it does make sense. Our bench is more
thatn just streaky either they pour on 20-25 more points or
they dont show up . Mixing them in with the starters wouldnt
hurt and is worth a try. Lets see what happens today. If
Rouse, Jackson and Hayes start hitting like they did against
Albany and UMBC we are in good shape. McAllister needs a good
dose of confidence he seems lost out there.
#Post#: 1129--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: sbufan
Date: January 16, 2012, 10:30 am
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I don't have enough knowledge of Stony Brook's personal or
basketball in general to give an answer. What I will say is that
last season, when things were going wrong, the message boards
were busting Pikiell's chops for rotating guys in out to much in
a similar fashion as you're suggesting claiming that the
players needed to get comfortable with one another on the court.
I'll admit that I shared that belief last season, and I was
wrong because, as you pointed out, that lead to Pikiell finding
Hayes and salvaging the season with solid run. I definitely like
that Stony Brook plays 10 guys every night. We have the best
depth and defense in the conference and I think the 10 man
rotation is a big part of that-guys get better with minutes and
fresh legs close out on shooters better and have a quicker first
step. Also, guys like McAllister and Bracey both have the talent
to be very good at this level, but they're only going to better
with playing time. They need to adjust to speed of the game and
get comfortable on the court.
I also want to stick up for the Stony Brook coaching staff. They
seem to take a lot of heat and almost all of it seems unfounded
to me. First off, it's remarkable how much the staff has gotten
out of their players looking back at the last several seasons
and looking at where the players were coming into the program.
El Amin went from the third leading scoring on a division 2 JUCO
team to America East player of the year. Al Rapier, despite some
unwarranted message board hype, only averaged 6 boards and 5 pts
a game as a JUCO and now is one of the most dynamic bigs in the
America East. The leap in Coley's game over the last year has
been astronomical. I don't think any team in the conference has
done a better job developing talent over the last four or five
years. Secondly, I've never really questioned Pikiell's in game
coaching, and actually think he seems to do very well with x's
and o's coming out of time outs and such.
#Post#: 1133--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: jaghatai
Date: January 16, 2012, 12:20 pm
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I don't want to bash the coaching staff, as I believe they are
doing a very good job. The recruiting has been very good, and
the team is much improved from where they used to be.
That said, I always look for things that can be improved. The
"line change" system seems good on paper, but not with the
personnel we have. We've got a bunch of streaky shooters, and a
bunch of inexperienced players. Both require consistent minutes
to get their legs underneath them. 10 minutes per game spread
out in 2 minute intervals isn't going to help these guys find
their groove.
Don't get me wrong, having starters playing a lot of minutes and
winning games is a really nice problem to have.
#Post#: 1134--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: sbufan
Date: January 16, 2012, 1:23 pm
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I didn't mean to imply you were attacking the coaching staff.
Over on the AE board posters are always so quick to criticize
the staff but never take a step back and look at how successful
they've been in other areas and on the whole.
#Post#: 1136--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: Seawolf97
Date: January 16, 2012, 9:18 pm
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Tonight the rotation was little different and it seemed to be
effective. Our coaching staff in my limited opinion is one of
the best in the conference. SBU fan maybe our coaches heard
you because at times we had two starters and three reserves
on the floor tonight . We had all our shooters out there in the
last minute with just Tommy Brenton. So we mixed it up. I
think with almost a week to prepare for Maine we win on the road
Saturday. This team is coming together at just the right time.
#Post#: 1189--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: Chairman of the Board
Date: January 25, 2012, 8:31 am
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I say go with Dougher, Joyner, Rapier, McAllister, and Carter.
That way everyone's name ends in ER. :-X
#Post#: 1196--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: Seawolf97
Date: January 25, 2012, 10:03 am
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Am expecting a win tonight. Hartford can shoot the 3 but our
big guys will be much better inside than the Hawks. Wolfie by
10 !
#Post#: 1204--------------------------------------------------
Re: The bench players
DIR By: jaghatai
Date: January 26, 2012, 7:40 am
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Interesting one last night against Hartford.
Jackson and Rouse did what they normally do. Put in solid
minutes, ran the offense. Nothing spectacular, but very solid.
Danny Carter was the also his standard self. Came in, fouled
some dudes, kept a physical presence, and gave Joyner/Rapier a
breather. No complaints here, pretty much standard.
McAllister got some solid 1st line minutes, and looked much more
comfortable. I'm hoping this continues.
Bracey has a lot of work to do on the defensive side. The game
is just too fast for him at this point.
Hayes has 0 confidence, took one shot last night (he missed a
three pointer on a fast break when he could've drove and had the
easy layup). Don't really know what to say here. One shot in 9
minutes means he just has no confidence in his new shot. This
could get interesting as the year continues. I was certain he'd
straighten himself out as the season progressed. Now i'm
starting to get concerned.
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