MUScoop
MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: jesmu84 on January 30, 2018, 04:38:36 PM
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Read ahead:
https://twitter.com/bensnider94/status/958376174106955777
Thoughts? How would you handle their time on the court?
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Interesting thread (didn't bother to read the supporting evidence while at work). It would certainly seem to suit their strengths to be "the guy" of their unit where they can fire at will. It would also alleviate the foul troubles a bit. Seems to be a higher probability of picking up fouls with both out there because there is one less player that can compensate for your deficiencies.
Would have to get major buy in that it's not a demotion.
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Value-added wise, defensively, Sam (-.90), Greg (-.67), Jamal (-.52), Matt (-.30) and Theo (-.11) are the best defenders. Weird that the three frosh are in the group of best defenders.
But, maybe not so weird as Wojo's defense is supposed to feed the tempo of the offense. Which is why he starts offense. Push the perimeter (and tempo) on defense and give up the paint.
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Looking at the information on the linked website I was struck by Team Ortg and Team Drtg.
With Howard and Rowsey: Ortg 122.73, Drtg 117.41
Howard, no Rowsey: Ortg 113.79, Drtg 91.64
Rowsey, no Howard: Ortg 110.07, Drtg 93.80
So what do I take from this? When the midgets play together, the offense goes through the roof, but is barely better than the team D, so it’s not worth much. When they play separately, the teams offense suffers, but still is above 110 points per 100 possessions, which is an excellent number. The team D jumps up to a suddenly respectable Drtg in the low 90s, which would make us a top 50 defensive team.
In order to maximize our offensive and defensive efficiency, it looks like splitting Howard and Rowsey is the smarter plan. There’s still something to the strategy of having two (three with Sam) great shooters on the floor together, but defensively we give up almost as much as we gain.
Unpopular, and unlikely opinion time: Wojo should start Rowsey and bring Howard off the bench.
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So MU's defense is solid, except when Markus and Andrew are both on the floor. The numbers buttress several assertions.
-Wojo can coach defense.
- the problem isn't the scheme. The problem is having two miniature guards on the floor at the same time. Can't hide them both.
- the defense will be better next year.
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So MU's defense is solid, except when Markus and Andrew are both on the floor. The numbers buttress several assertions.
-Wojo can coach defense.
- the problem isn't the scheme. The problem is having two miniature guards on the floor at the same time. Can't hide them both.
- the defense will be better next year.
Or the wrong scheme for the wrong personnel.
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Or the wrong personnel for the right scheme.
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Or the wrong personnel for the right scheme.
I don't know what you are trying to imply here. That he is playing the wrong rotation required to win or he designed a whole season around two players that he knows has no chance to execute his defense?
Either case seems like there are more options than to dig in and see what happens.
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Or the wrong scheme for the wrong personnel.
I don’t think there is a right scheme for those two.
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Looking at the information on the linked website I was struck by Team Ortg and Team Drtg.
With Howard and Rowsey: Ortg 122.73, Drtg 117.41
Howard, no Rowsey: Ortg 113.79, Drtg 91.64
Rowsey, no Howard: Ortg 110.07, Drtg 93.80
So what do I take from this? When the midgets play together, the offense goes through the roof, but is barely better than the team D, so it’s not worth much. When they play separately, the teams offense suffers, but still is above 110 points per 100 possessions, which is an excellent number. The team D jumps up to a suddenly respectable Drtg in the low 90s, which would make us a top 50 defensive team.
In order to maximize our offensive and defensive efficiency, it looks like splitting Howard and Rowsey is the smarter plan. There’s still something to the strategy of having two (three with Sam) great shooters on the floor together, but defensively we give up almost as much as we gain.
Unpopular, and unlikely opinion time: Wojo should start Rowsey and bring Howard off the bench.
I think start both - see who's hot and then pull one. Start again in 2h or 10 min mark. Would not make him popular with our guards - thats for sure.
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The defensive system Wojo is run successfully many places. It is even run successfully by Marquette when there is only one small guard on the floor. Sadly, the two best scorers in the Big East play lousy defense together. A conundrum.
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This is very interesting and makes you think. What do? Vs a team with a lower org, maybe you start both, get a kead, then sub. Or vs high efficiency teams one sits to start, one starts
This is is a major issue and will be interesting to see what Wojo does. Tweak this with Heldt/Frohling/John efficiency numbers - good stuff
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Maybe we need to start doing hockey style subbing to keep other teams from constantly exploiting the littles.
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We just need to score more than the other team.
Defense no matta.
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It IS a dilemma. Very well-titled thread!
At this point, I think that for at least 20 minutes in every game, you have to hope the midgets and Sam outscore opponents.
Of course, given the propensity of both - especially Howard - to get into foul trouble, Wojo's decision is often made for him.
I think Wojo can try to do more defense/offensive subbing down the stretch of games, too.
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Bump. Go back through and see the comparative offense and defense rankings based on line up.
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Bump. Go back through and see the comparative offense and defense rankings based on line up.
Did you see updated stats somewhere?
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I think it's time to send Rowsey back to the bench. Howard still has the best turnover rate of the two and we are better offensively and defensively with him on the floor. I also think it would be best to sub them out frequently. Play them together in high-leverage situations, such as final possessions of half/game, when you desperately need threes to close a deficit, or right before scheduled timeouts (under 12, under 8, etc).
I'd go with a lineup of Howard, Elliott, Anim, Hauser, and Froling to start. Rowsey and John are first off the bench and get liberal minutes. Cain can sub in when needed at the 3/4 for shooting and rebounding, Heldt can sub in when the other bigs are in foul trouble or we go to a multi-big package.
Make sure Sam gets a touch every time down the floor on offense. He has a knack for finding the right guy or making the right decision. Rarely takes a bad shot and doesn't force his own usage so you know if he's shooting it's because he feels he has a good chance to make it, not because he's playing hero ball.
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Value-added wise, defensively, Sam (-.90), Greg (-.67), Jamal (-.52), Matt (-.30) and Theo (-.11) are the best defenders. Weird that the three frosh are in the group of best defenders.
But, maybe not so weird as Wojo's defense is supposed to feed the tempo of the offense. Which is why he starts offense. Push the perimeter (and tempo) on defense and give up the paint.
Yes, Rowsey and Howard are actually the only two Big East players to make the top 200 nationally (of 4,085 players) despite being worse than replacement players on defense. That's what makes Sam Hauser the MVP at 61st overall. I actually just updated last night, and Theo is even better and Sam and Greg are still in that order but slightly worse than when you posted.
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I think it's time to send Rowsey back to the bench. Howard still has the best turnover rate of the two and we are better offensively and defensively with him on the floor. I also think it would be best to sub them out frequently. Play them together in high-leverage situations, such as final possessions of half/game, when you desperately need threes to close a deficit, or right before scheduled timeouts (under 12, under 8, etc).
I'd go with a lineup of Howard, Elliott, Anim, Hauser, and Froling to start. Rowsey and John are first off the bench and get liberal minutes. Cain can sub in when needed at the 3/4 for shooting and rebounding, Heldt can sub in when the other bigs are in foul trouble or we go to a multi-big package.
Make sure Sam gets a touch every time down the floor on offense. He has a knack for finding the right guy or making the right decision. Rarely takes a bad shot and doesn't force his own usage so you know if he's shooting it's because he feels he has a good chance to make it, not because he's playing hero ball.
I go back to my "guidelines" I posted on Twitter before the Providence game. Howard and Rowsey should play a maximum of 10 minutes together and Rowsey should not start. Anim, Hauser, and Elliot are your switchable core with Cain as a sub where needed. I think you also play the "hot hand" at the 1 and 5, don't care who starts. If Rowsey comes in and the offense is clicking, ride him. If Froling starts but sucks and Heldt is holding things down, ride Heldt. I never under any circumstances, ever play Rowsey, Froling, and Howard together....might as well just escort them to the hoop.
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I think it's time to send Rowsey back to the bench. Howard still has the best turnover rate of the two and we are better offensively and defensively with him on the floor. I also think it would be best to sub them out frequently. Play them together in high-leverage situations, such as final possessions of half/game, when you desperately need threes to close a deficit, or right before scheduled timeouts (under 12, under 8, etc).
I'd go with a lineup of Howard, Elliott, Anim, Hauser, and Froling to start. Rowsey and John are first off the bench and get liberal minutes. Cain can sub in when needed at the 3/4 for shooting and rebounding, Heldt can sub in when the other bigs are in foul trouble or we go to a multi-big package.
Make sure Sam gets a touch every time down the floor on offense. He has a knack for finding the right guy or making the right decision. Rarely takes a bad shot and doesn't force his own usage so you know if he's shooting it's because he feels he has a good chance to make it, not because he's playing hero ball.
+1
Buzz used to make frequent substitutions especially with Davante. I think when you have such an extremely unbalanced player, it should at least be considered. I imagine Wojo has concerns about Rowsey's "fragility"/emotions, and perhaps it is just not in his coaching philosophy to make offense/defense substitutions. I would love to see him switching Greg and Rowsey frequently.
IMO, most high major coaches would follow standard orthodoxy and play only 1 midget at a time. Most coaches (if they were instead coaching MU as they are right now) would split the minutes between Howard and Rowsey, most likely in favor of Howard usually. They would not have them on the court together for 2/3 of the game. They just wouldn't. I honestly think we would be seeing more of GE/Cain/Sacar. IMO, if one went back even further, we likely would have been more desperately searching for a true PG (with solid defense) and probably landing one. I'm not saying a star. I'm just saying that I think Wojo had already decided that going with both midgets on the floor was a very acceptable alternative if he wasn't able to land a great PG recruit. I think other coaches would be so frightened by the thought of having the two midgets on the court that they would have had many other alternatives, other than shooting for the moon.
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I think it's time to send Rowsey back to the bench. Howard still has the best turnover rate of the two and we are better offensively and defensively with him on the floor. I also think it would be best to sub them out frequently. Play them together in high-leverage situations, such as final possessions of half/game, when you desperately need threes to close a deficit, or right before scheduled timeouts (under 12, under 8, etc).
I'd go with a lineup of Howard, Elliott, Anim, Hauser, and Froling to start. Rowsey and John are first off the bench and get liberal minutes. Cain can sub in when needed at the 3/4 for shooting and rebounding, Heldt can sub in when the other bigs are in foul trouble or we go to a multi-big package.
Make sure Sam gets a touch every time down the floor on offense. He has a knack for finding the right guy or making the right decision. Rarely takes a bad shot and doesn't force his own usage so you know if he's shooting it's because he feels he has a good chance to make it, not because he's playing hero ball.
Not a bad plan. And while neither AR nor MH would likely be happy with reduced minutes, they would be much more fresh when they're in which allows them to go all-out getting around screens. It would also help ensure they're fresh at money time.
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Buzz used to make frequent substitutions especially with Davante. I think when you have such an extremely unbalanced player, it should at least be considered. I imagine Wojo has concerns about Rowsey's "fragility"/emotions, and perhaps it is just not in his coaching philosophy to make offense/defense substitutions. I would love to see him switching Greg and Rowsey frequently.
I wholeheartedly agree with this as well. In late game situations, make those changes quickly and regularly. I've seen teams do it to us recently, but we don't seem to follow suit.
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I wholeheartedly agree with this as well. In late game situations, make those changes quickly and regularly. I've seen teams do it to us recently, but we don't seem to follow suit.
I have wondered of late, how is it we see this and Wojo doesn't. Is Wojo that stubborn or just doesn't see it? If we don't see some of these changes over the next couple of games (or any changes) I will be very concerned about Wojo's ability to coach and I'm a Wojo apologist.
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I think it's time to send Rowsey back to the bench. Howard still has the best turnover rate of the two and we are better offensively and defensively with him on the floor. I also think it would be best to sub them out frequently. Play them together in high-leverage situations, such as final possessions of half/game, when you desperately need threes to close a deficit, or right before scheduled timeouts (under 12, under 8, etc).
I'd go with a lineup of Howard, Elliott, Anim, Hauser, and Froling to start. Rowsey and John are first off the bench and get liberal minutes. Cain can sub in when needed at the 3/4 for shooting and rebounding, Heldt can sub in when the other bigs are in foul trouble or we go to a multi-big package.
Make sure Sam gets a touch every time down the floor on offense. He has a knack for finding the right guy or making the right decision. Rarely takes a bad shot and doesn't force his own usage so you know if he's shooting it's because he feels he has a good chance to make it, not because he's playing hero ball.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. If Rowsey is bringing 0 points, ill advised 3s, and hero ball then to the bench with him. Two smurfs puts so much pressure on the other 3 players. I'm sure the bigs have to think 'stay in front of your f'in man!' The other offensive players end up sitting and watching.
Perhaps sell it as they need them more throughout the entire game instead of playing ole defense with 3 or 4 fouls and getting everyone else in foul trouble. It would bring one of them into the game with the other teams second tier players.
I would much rather see Theo starting and sort of setting the physical tone like mentioned in another thread. We all know Heldt brings zero offense. He can bang though. Frolling, he rebounds and gets the team plenty of extra opportunities. Maybe look at Sam being able to get open more with another bigger body setting effective screens as opposed to two smurfs.
I love what Greg brings to the game. Obviously starting offense had led to losing 6 of the last 8. My picks Howard, Greg, Sam, Theo, and Frolling. Bring in Rowsey for Howard and Anim in for whichever gets two quick fouls of Theo and Frolling. I must be more old school with having the two big bodies that can rebound, sort of defend, occupy space , block shots, and run the shooters off two firm screens. I'm just tired of watching Beast 4s and 5s murdering us by starting a half shooting 6 of 8 inside the paint . Come on, how many career games are we going to give up this season?
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I wholeheartedly agree with this. If Rowsey is bringing 0 points, ill advised 3s, and hero ball then to the bench with him. Two smurfs puts so much pressure on the other 3 players. I'm sure the bigs have to think 'stay in front of your f'in man!' The other offensive players end up sitting and watching.
Perhaps sell it as they need them more throughout the entire game instead of playing ole defense with 3 or 4 fouls and getting everyone else in foul trouble. It would bring one of them into the game with the other teams second tier players.
I would much rather see Theo starting and sort of setting the physical tone like mentioned in another thread. We all know Heldt brings zero offense. He can bang though. Frolling, he rebounds and gets the team plenty of extra opportunities. Maybe look at Sam being able to get open more with another bigger body setting effective screens as opposed to two smurfs.
I love what Greg brings to the game. Obviously starting offense had led to losing 6 of the last 8. My picks Howard, Greg, Sam, Theo, and Frolling. Bring in Rowsey for Howard and Anim in for whichever gets two quick fouls of Theo and Frolling. I must be more old school with having the two big bodies that can rebound, sort of defend, occupy space , block shots, and run the shooters off two firm screens. I'm just tired of watching Beast 4s and 5s murdering us by starting a half shooting 6 of 8 inside the paint . Come on, how many career games are we going to give up this season?
I also like the idea of more big sets with Sam, Harry and Theo/Matt. This would allow both Harry and Sam to have a height and weight advantage on their defender, which would allow Sam to get into better position for his turnaround, and I think Harry has decent footwork and would not mind him taking someone on in the post more often, especially if he has a size advantage.
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I am always in favor of a balanced starting line up and bringing scoring off of the bench. So, a Markus, Greg, Sam, Sacar, Theo/Harry line up works for me. In a vacuum. It is my recollection that AR was brought off the bench early in the season (before Haanif's departure) and his body language and performance were not stellar.
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I am always in favor of a balanced starting line up and bringing scoring off of the bench. So, a Markus, Greg, Sam, Sacar, Theo/Harry line up works for me. In a vacuum. It is my recollection that AR was brought off the bench early in the season (before Haanif's departure) and his body language and performance were not stellar.
You're thinking of the Georgia game, and you are correct his body language was horrible, but Markus picked up 2 fouls in the first 70 seconds so the benching didn't last long. And right now, I really don't care if Rowsey doesn't like coming off the bench it's what the team needs so suck it up buttercup.
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NM
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I am always in favor of a balanced starting line up and bringing scoring off of the bench. So, a Markus, Greg, Sam, Sacar, Theo/Harry line up works for me. In a vacuum. It is my recollection that AR was brought off the bench early in the season (before Haanif's departure) and his body language and performance were not stellar.
F Rowsey, he is a net positive for the team about once in every 3 or 4 games. Looking back, I wish we had just let Greg and Jamal take more lumps, and have Rowsey coming off the bench and as an insurance policy for Markus fouls. He's a perfectly acceptable 6th man of the year type. If he is having body language issues because of that then he can sit next to Cam.
From the eye test, Greg is generally a net positive for the team because his defense is good, and so incomparably better than any other guard on the team.
In an ideal world, Greg would be the starter, and AR would get some minutes fairly early on. If AR is on fire then he can get up to 20-25 minutes and Wojo employs frequent offense/defense switching of Greg/AR. If not then Greg gets 30 minutes. This way we don't forcibly hitch our game-to-game success to AR's wild inconsistency and emotional state.
Wojo does not adjust AR's playtime at all, only if he has fouls. That's it.
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F Rowsey, he is a net positive for the team about once in every 3 or 4 games. Looking back, I wish we had just let Greg and Jamal take more lumps, and have Rowsey coming off the bench and as an insurance policy for Markus fouls. He's a perfectly acceptable 6th man of the year type. If he is having body language issues because of that then he can sit next to Cam.
From the eye test, Greg is generally a net positive for the team because his defense is good, and so incomparably better than any other guard on the team.
In an ideal world, Greg would be the starter, and AR would get some minutes fairly early on. If AR is on fire then he can get up to 20-25 minutes and Wojo employs frequent offense/defense switching of Greg/AR. If not then Greg gets 30 minutes. This way we don't forcibly hitch our game-to-game success to AR's wild inconsistency and emotional state.
Wojo does not adjust AR's playtime at all, only if he has fouls. That's it.
You greatly underestimate Rowsey's value. You absolutely do NOT want to see Markus Howard run the Point.
Over the last 4 games here are Markus's numbers:
137 Minutes Played
88 points
21/44 on 2ptFG
10/32 on 3ptFG
*This is 76 shot attempts over 4 games to generate 88 points.
10 Assists
14 Turnovers
Rowsey:
108 minutes played
42 points
6/16 2ptFG
6/20 3ptFG
12 Assists
7 Turnovers
Markus has gone full on hero ball, and the team has suffered as a result. Rowsey has not been playing well the last 4 games, yet taking him out and watching Markus run PG is NOT the solution. Personally, I feel Markus needs to be sat down and serve as the 6th man for instant offense. Clearly Markus has little interest in passing to his teammates.
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You greatly underestimate Rowsey's value. You absolutely do NOT want to see Markus Howard run the Point.
Over the last 4 games here are Markus's numbers:
137 Minutes Played
88 points
21/44 on 2ptFG
10/32 on 3ptFG
*This is 76 shot attempts over 4 games to generate 88 points.
10 Assists
14 Turnovers
Rowsey:
108 minutes played
42 points
6/16 2ptFG
6/20 3ptFG
12 Assists
7 Turnovers
Markus has gone full on hero ball, and the team has suffered as a result. Rowsey has not been playing well the last 4 games, yet taking him out and watching Markus run PG is NOT the solution. Personally, I feel Markus needs to be sat down and serve as the 6th man for instant offense. Clearly Markus has little interest in passing to his teammates.
I agree that Rowsey is being underappreciated here. I also agree that Markus has been playing way too much hero ball.
That said, someone ran the numbers and we are better with Howard on the floor and Rowsey off than we are with Rowsey on and Howard off. I believe our O rating and D ratings improved slightly with Howard on and Rowsey off.
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You greatly underestimate Rowsey's value. You absolutely do NOT want to see Markus Howard run the Point.
Over the last 4 games here are Markus's numbers:
137 Minutes Played
88 points
21/44 on 2ptFG
10/32 on 3ptFG
*This is 76 shot attempts over 4 games to generate 88 points.
10 Assists
14 Turnovers
Rowsey:
108 minutes played
42 points
6/16 2ptFG
6/20 3ptFG
12 Assists
7 Turnovers
Markus has gone full on hero ball, and the team has suffered as a result. Rowsey has not been playing well the last 4 games, yet taking him out and watching Markus run PG is NOT the solution. Personally, I feel Markus needs to be sat down and serve as the 6th man for instant offense. Clearly Markus has little interest in passing to his teammates.
Sorry... I forget on this board that you have to cover all your bases in essay format, or assumptions get made based on any parts left out and you can be proved wrong on those points... ::)
To be clear, I'm not in favor of Markus being the primary ballhandler, uncertain where that came from. I'm in favor of Sam being focal point of the offense and GE/Anim doing the things they do well. GE is not a bad ballhandler and Sacar is a powerful driver. Sam is also an excellent decision-maker.
As we've watched Wojo's teams over the last few seasons we have seen that he generally does not have a traditional PG floor general on the court. Like it or not but we don't even have a PG on this team. Any lineup that gets drawn up has to find some way to get around that fact, no matter who/what/where/when. The lineup I was arguing for has enough decent ballhandlers and adept passers to get by.
As far as "running the point" goes, this really only applies for the player bringing the ball up the court most of the time and the one that holds onto the ball and running down clock. Otherwise, we don't have a player that primarily focuses on meaningful PG responsibilities. It's a shared responsibility.
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Bump.
We look a LOT better when one of them is not on the court
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Bump.
We look a LOT better when one of them is not on the court
Yup
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You greatly underestimate Rowsey's value. You absolutely do NOT want to see Markus Howard run the Point.
Over the last 4 games here are Markus's numbers:
137 Minutes Played
88 points
21/44 on 2ptFG
10/32 on 3ptFG
*This is 76 shot attempts over 4 games to generate 88 points.
10 Assists
14 Turnovers
Rowsey:
108 minutes played
42 points
6/16 2ptFG
6/20 3ptFG
12 Assists
7 Turnovers
Markus has gone full on hero ball, and the team has suffered as a result. Rowsey has not been playing well the last 4 games, yet taking him out and watching Markus run PG is NOT the solution. Personally, I feel Markus needs to be sat down and serve as the 6th man for instant offense. Clearly Markus has little interest in passing to his teammates.
Bump..
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Sub them in together when the other team has weak 3 point shooters and drivers in the game.....LOL!
Very very small offensive spurts and sub one out into a TV time out etc......
Targeted "Crack" offense.....
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Bump..
You are coach now
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Bump..
Will be interesting to see how Howard is re-integrated. The balanced offense and defensive effort were lacking with Howard being a terrible defender and taking far and away the most shots. Can't have games like the first SJU game where Howard and Rowsey play the entire game together and hope to outchuck the other team while Cain and Elliott have one shot attempt apiece.
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So MU's defense is solid, except when Markus and Andrew are both on the floor. The numbers buttress several assertions.
-Wojo can coach defense.
- the problem isn't the scheme. The problem is having two miniature guards on the floor at the same time. Can't hide them both.
- the defense will be better next year.
We have had much shorter guards and done OK. But, we should play more zone so our opponents don't pick our guards to defend the rim.
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We have had much shorter guards and done OK. But, we should play more zone so our opponents don't pick our guards to defend the rim.
"shorter" doesn't automatically equal bad defense, I agree.
Bad defensive players equals bad defense, though.
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Bump..
I know you really like bumping that post, but maybe you shouldn't. It doesn't support what you want it to support. A few reasons:
1) You are using a 4-game sample size when we have a 27-game season and two years of data on the players overall to look at.
2) When Markus and Rowsey play together, Rowsey is the one playing the point. His role is to facilitate, Markus' role is to score. Hard to blame Markus for not having point guard stats when he's playing shooting guard.
3) Your small sample size indicates Rowsey has been improving in a PG type role of late. Since conference play started, Markus' assist rate has gone up while Rowsey's assist rate has gone down.
4) You are comparing a 5th year senior to a 2nd year freshman. In his first two years at UNC-Asheville, Rowsey was the primary ballhandler with assist rates of 17.0/18.8. Howard has shared duties or played the 2 and had assist rates of 19.9/18.4. As an upperclassman, Rowsey improved on those numbers, the assumption that Howard wouldn't do the same is curious at best.
I'll be the first to say that I certainly don't want Markus to be our only option at the point next year. I have my concerns with his size and with having a PG that has traditionally been a shoot-first player. But Markus could absolutely be an excellent point guard with fairly marginal adjustments to his game. The defensive side is a concern, but unless we can induce a four-inch growth spurt, there are aspects of that that simply aren't correctable.
Give us a 6'1" or taller grad transfer PG that plays good defense to either play alongside Markus or back him up (15-25 mpg ideally) and we'll be good to go.
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I'm a little more concerned about Markus' ability to be a 30 mpg PG at this level, but I like where you're going, brewski. We agree more than we disagree, that's for sure.
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I'm a little more concerned about Markus' ability to be a 30 mpg PG at this level, but I like where you're going, brewski. We agree more than we disagree, that's for sure.
There are reasons to be concerned, and I do think we will be best suited to have options at the PG, but it has felt a lot like people think Markus is somehow irrevocably broken at times. If he makes it back this year, he will have a very good chance to become our first 1,000 point scorer as a sophomore, will be on pace to be Marquette's all-time leading scorer, and is the leading scorer on this team. The kid is a phenomenal talent who is still developing into the player he will become. He's still just 18 years old and there are freshmen that will come in next year and be older than Markus. He's far from perfect, but he's one of the most exciting offensive talents we've seen in nearly a generation.
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I know you really like bumping that post, but maybe you shouldn't. It doesn't support what you want it to support. A few reasons:
1) You are using a 4-game sample size when we have a 27-game season and two years of data on the players overall to look at.
2) When Markus and Rowsey play together, Rowsey is the one playing the point. His role is to facilitate, Markus' role is to score. Hard to blame Markus for not having point guard stats when he's playing shooting guard.
3) Your small sample size indicates Rowsey has been improving in a PG type role of late. Since conference play started, Markus' assist rate has gone up while Rowsey's assist rate has gone down.
4) You are comparing a 5th year senior to a 2nd year freshman. In his first two years at UNC-Asheville, Rowsey was the primary ballhandler with assist rates of 17.0/18.8. Howard has shared duties or played the 2 and had assist rates of 19.9/18.4. As an upperclassman, Rowsey improved on those numbers, the assumption that Howard wouldn't do the same is curious at best.
I'll be the first to say that I certainly don't want Markus to be our only option at the point next year. I have my concerns with his size and with having a PG that has traditionally been a shoot-first player. But Markus could absolutely be an excellent point guard with fairly marginal adjustments to his game. The defensive side is a concern, but unless we can induce a four-inch growth spurt, there are aspects of that that simply aren't correctable.
Give us a 6'1" or taller grad transfer PG that plays good defense to either play alongside Markus or back him up (15-25 mpg ideally) and we'll be good to go.
I used the 4 game sample size as we were in the midst of losing 4 games in a row. One poster felt Rowsey was the "problem." I happened to disagree and said that Markus was hurting the team due to excessive shooting, and not playing team basketball.
Suggested Markus needed to be sat down and called on as a 6th man. Ironically, once Markus got hurt, we went from down 16 against Creighton to winning the game, and turned in a relatively dominant win over a St. John's team that largely dominated us 10 days earlier.
Of course I expect Markus to improve as a PG with more time/experience. I'm confident he can be a great PG for us next year, and this time on the bench will help him realize he doesn't have to do it all on his own and launch 76 shots in a 4-game stretch.
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I used the 4 game sample size as we were in the midst of losing 4 games in a row. One poster felt Rowsey was the "problem." I happened to disagree and said that Markus was hurting the team due to excessive shooting, and not playing team basketball.
Suggested Markus needed to be sat down and called on as a 6th man. Ironically, once Markus got hurt, we went from down 16 against Creighton to winning the game, and turned in a relatively dominant win over a St. John's team that largely dominated us 10 days earlier.
Of course I expect Markus to improve as a PG with more time/experience. I'm confident he can be a great PG for us next year, and this time on the bench will help him realize he doesn't have to do it all on his own and launch 76 shots in a 4-game stretch.
If only you were our coach, we'd be 27-0 26-1. (Nobody's perfect; not even you, Ners.)
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Bump
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Bump
LOL - Thanks. Today's game just more proof Wojo has no clue as a head coach. I understand you kneel at the altar of Wojo, and he can do no wrong - but we just lost to DePaul, in a must win game, making a strong deviation from the formula that had us playing our best basketball of the year.
I mean Wojo was even forced into playing 1 small for the first half of this game and we at least had a lead/were in control..even though not playing zone. What does he do in the 2nd half?? M2M with Rowsey and Howard playing together.