Kolek planning to go pro
Well, the problem is the alternative. Carlino is better offensively, but he's not even a sieve on defense. At least a sieve stops the big pieces of sediment. Duane is better offensively, but still a work in progress on defense. Dawson is worse offensively and worse defensively. And at the end of the day, most of the time two of these four will be out there together.It's easy to say "let's play Carlino and Duane both 40" but that's just stupid. We all know that won't happen. And from a defensive perspective, that'd be suicide against any decent guards. We only have the players on this roster to work with, and Derrick, like it or not, is one of the better players from a net perspective on this roster. He's going to play. Some people may not like that, just like they didn't like it last year, but it's reality. Buzz looked at this roster and knew Derrick had to play. Wojo looked at this roster and knew Derrick had to play. When the season is all said and done, he will likely average 20-25 minutes.Maybe, maybe when Luke gets back, we'll end up working more zone in, which will lessen the need for Derrick. He's our best man-on-man defender in the backcourt, but in a zone we could get away with sitting him more in favor of the better offensive players. But until we see that change, and especially until we see some actual effort out of some of the other guys that aren't playing defense, you're going to get all the Derrick you can handle.
Well.....since "we will be getting all the Derrick we can handle"... we will "be getting a hell of a lot more losses than we can handle", and it does not take a rocket scientist to discern that.
Does anyone know if there are any recruits for 2015 Wojo is looking at? Am thinking of a confident pointguard who would take over and run the offense. I hope Nick can do it. But 2 are better than 1.
I think the job should be Duane's, full-time, effective immediately. Live with the growing pains, this is going to be a frustrating season anyway. He can spread the floor with his shooting, and most importantly he is the only one on the team that has displayed the ability to break down the defense off the dribble-drive, leading to opportunities for himself and others. Having a PG with this ability is pretty much crucial to offensive effectiveness these days. Playing him there now will pay massive dividends next year when we add Henry to the fold, IMHO.
So we are going to be pinning this season on Derrick too just like last season? That should be fun...
My only problem with this thinking is that I've seen Derrick get burnt several times in the extended D we're playing this year too. If the difference between him and a guy like Duane or Sandy or even Dawson on defense is minimal (because they're all getting burnt to varying degrees), what's the point of playing him over any of them, much less heavy minutes?
Fair question, and please know that (as my posting history will show), I am not the biggest Derrick fan. I don't think he is a high-major PG.Derrick does get burned sometimes (everybody does), but I believe he gets burned quite a bit less often than JJJ does and, especially, Duane does. Our rebounding blows and Derrick is a pretty good rebounder for a little guy. He also isn't a risk-taker on offense while the younger players around him (plus Juan) tend to take a lot of risks. All of the stuff I mentioned in this paragraph no doubt gives a coach some comfort. I still wouldn't play Derrick more than 20 mpg. I'd prefer 15. I'm just saying I can see why Wojo does play him more now -- especially with Carlino not being especially effective. Hopefully, as the younger guys prove themselves more, particularly on D, they will steal some of Derrick's PT.
I actually expect excruciating consistency from Derrick.The vast majority of his games have been just like last night's. The games like he had against Omaha this season and Arizona State last season were outliers -- significantly outside the norm.
Duane started Monday, and IMO earned the right to start next game. I think he will get more minutes at the 2 for now, eventually getting more at the 1. But again, look at context. Look at the number of other players and their relative strengths and weaknesses. If everybody else took care of the ball and played really great defense, if there was size and depth and production at the other positions perhaps Wojo would be able to play Duane 25 mpg at the point. Right now, that simply isn't the case. I think he has the most PG skills on the team. That doesn't mean that on this team, this year, right now, he should be starting at the point.
He's in on a few. MarQus Lovett matches what you are describing.
That's actually not really the case. He's not a scorer, that doesn't mean he isn't a contributor. Arizona State was his best game last year, but he played well offensively against Grambling (who didn't?), Cal State Fullerton, George Washington, Ball State, @ Butler, Xavier (all 3), Providence, @ St. John's, Seton Hall, and Creighton he was definitely a positive on offense. That is 12 of the 32 games we played in last year, which is a pretty significant number of times to be one of the better offensive players on the team. His averages from those 12 games:8.6 ppg3.4 rpg5.8 apg1.2 tpg50.6% FG (40/79)55.0% FT (22/40)While those aren't all-Big East numbers, those are very solid numbers for a starting point guard, better than any year Junior Cadougan had here by far. The problem is in the other 20 games, these were his averages:2.9 ppg4.1 rpg3.3 apg1.7 tpg27.3% FG (21/77)34.8% FT (16/46)That's a pretty big disparity between good Derrick and bad Derrick. His defense, rebounding, and turnovers were consistent, but while he gave us some very good offensive games, he also gave us some real stinkers. And yes...I realize this is cherry picking, but when you are talking about how a player is erratically inconsistent, cherry picking is really the only way to demonstrate that. Further, it didn't matter if it was against good teams or bad teams, he was just either on or off.
I'd be surprised to see us get LoVett considering how late we got in on him. Seems like since the season started, the staff has been spending more time looking at JUCO players. I think they want someone who can contribute immediately. I wouldn't be surprised to see 1-2 immediately eligible players added to the roster next year.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Not calling anyone out specifically, but I think people are giving up on Carlino way too early. His defense needs a lot of work, but he has been one of our better offensive players in the first four games.Carlino's line so far: 8.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.3 bpg, 1.3 tpg, .368 3PHe also leads the team in 3PM. I think Carlino will be the PG going forward, with Duane/JJJ holding down the SG depending on who has the hot hand. If Carlino can fix his defense, he will be a solid contributor all season.
But that is not happening. Derrick is generating 30 plus minutes. And he contributed nothing in the last game, except 0-5 FG; 0-2 FT's at crunch; etc.
Marquette has 7 guys ranked top 100. With Fischer, there is 8. The cupboard is not bare. The talent is there.
He's averaging 25 minutes a game right now. He played 35 in the Omaha game where he dropped in 17 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists on 8-13 shooting with only one turnover. Probably makes sense that he's in there. He played 32 against NJIT. Offense was bad as you pointed out but his defense was dare I say gamechanging? (That was just for you Willie). Held their top player to 13 points on 4-20 shooting (3-12 from 3 and 1-8 from 2) and at least one of those threes was when Duane was guarding him. Considering his replacement was having an awful offensive and defensive game, he seemed like the better option to me.That being said, I think Carlino will get his mojo back and end up being our starting PG going forward. Derrick will retain his role as the backup.