December 8, 2008
A basketball rotation is always important in determining a team's success. Guys play better when they understand their roles and what is being asked of them. They play better when they know what their minutes are going to be, because they know how to prepare and what they will be expected to do. With a young team like we have this year, there will no doubt be hiccups in the rotation, but it is something that I intend to track pretty carefully all year. First some basic premises about rotations. 1) There are three parts to the rotation - Starters, Contributors, and Finishers. While people make a big deal about who the starters are, the true telling sign of who a coach feels his best group is comes in who finishes the games. Look at last year's squad. Starters were Robinson, Chalmers, Rush, Jackson and Arthur. The finishers replaced RussRob with Sherron most of the time. Sherron's extra burst meant that he gave us that extra edge at crunch time. Obviously last year's contributors were Kaun, Aldrich and Stewart. Kaun played all the time, Aldrich and Stewart got minutes most games, but those minutes were very limited sometimes, or could extend if they played really well.2) Rotations can change. Whether it be injuries, slumps or other situations, the rotation can change quickly.So what do I think of this year's rotation. Well, it appears Self has settled on who he would like to be his starters if people perform like they should - Collins, Taylor, Morningstar, Mc. Morris and Aldrich. Mk. Morris off the bench, along with Reed, Thomas and Releford. His finishers are still up in the air, however. Collins, Taylor and Aldrich have locked up spots in the finishing rotation, but those other two spots are up in the air. One will go to a Morris twin. The other likely will go to Mario Little once he gets healthy. I say Mario Little because neither Morningstar nor Reed has shown that they will consistently be able to crank their game up on both ends against top flight competition. Yes, Brady went off against Coppin State, but its Coppin State. Tyrel got going against Jackson State, but its Jackson State. Against a team like Texas do we really want Brady or Tyrel trying to match up with James or Mason in the last two minutes of a close game? That's where I think Mario Little comes in. Once healthy, Mario Little will probably grab 25 minutes a game, relegating either Tyrel or Brady to about 15 minutes per game, while the other player gets around 20 minutes per game.Now for things of interest so far this year.The post rotation is weird. Clearly the Morris twins, when dialed in, are much further along than Thomas. We knew that coming into the year. It's just a matter of getting the Morris twins dialed in every possession of every game. They seemed to be struggling with the volume of athleticism early on, as many players do when they first play in college. I think by January they will be there. In the meantime, I have been pleasantly surprised by Thomas. It was rumored that his offensive game was very rough, but he has shown some touch to about 12-15 feet and he doesn't mind banging. The fact that he's undersized is ok if he's out there with Cole or Mk. because they can both take up a lot of space, especially Cole. At the point, Sherron and Tyshawn have got that locked down. Unfortunately, I think both of them will have to log HUGE minutes this year, especially in close games, because we don't have another reliable ball handler on this team. One or both has to be on the floor at all times just to get us into our offense. On the wings we have an interesting situation. Brady and Tyrel are both solid contributors, but we can't play them at the same time really. The times where we have played them at the same time, we have really seemed to struggle with getting into our offense. I think that's attributable to the fact that both of them are more standstill jump shooters and not a threat to create their own offense. Without a dominant post scorer, we can't play as effectively with two spot up shooters on the floor. Again, I believe this is a problem that Mario Little will help solve by giving us another scorer to go to, especially down the stretch. Meanwhile, Travis Releford continues to not get many minutes, but he seems to generally play well when he's out there. Not perfect or mind blowing by any stretch, but he almost always makes one or two plays while he's on the floor. He's still on the outside looking in, and once Little gets healthy, he may really be scrapping for minutes. Present RotationCollins - 33 mpgTaylor - 28 mpgMorningstar - 27 mpgAldrich - 26 mpgReed - 23 mpgMc. Morris - 19 mpgMk. Morris - 19 mpgThomas - 9 mpgReleford - 7 mpgFuture RotationCollins - 33 mpgTaylor - 30 mpgAldrich - 26 mpgLittle - 25 mpgMc. Morris - 21 mpgMk. Morris - 20 mpgMorningstar - 19 mpgReed - 14 mpgThomas - 9 mpgReleford - <5 mpg