Benson/Pardon combo

[eastbaycat99]

The fact that the Cats won at Rutgers would give some validation to the decision to put Benson and Pardon on the floor at the same time. I rewatched the parts of the game when they both played, had a few thoughts, but would appreciate insight from others on this. First, I am glad Collins recognized that bigger front lines have been difficult for the Cats this year to my eye. The absence of a really physical power forward has left the centers with a lot to deal with. Also, as good a player as Pardon is, it has appeared to me that bigger bodied opponents have been able to get decent postups on him. With that in mind, it seemed pretty clear that when both were on the floor, Benson took on the “center” role, and Pardon became PF. I think on offense, in the half court, this gave Pardon some room to operate, and the results were good. What struck me on the defensive end was that it seemed Benson has not yet learned to use his size and strength to advantage. I thought Rutgers had pretty good movement through the posts when he was in, even with Pardon as his complement. I guess what surprised to me was that I would guess the deployment was aimed to strengthen the Cats on the defensive end, and I thought it bought them little, but I did think it created a few opportunities on offense. On the whole, it would not surprise me if we rarely see the two of them on the floor together again.

 

[hdhntr1]

The fact that the Cats won at Rutgers would give some validation to the decision to put Benson and Pardon on the floor at the same time. I rewatched the parts of the game when they both played, had a few thoughts, but would appreciate insight from others on this. First, I am glad Collins recognized that bigger front lines have been difficult for the Cats this year to my eye. The absence of a really physical power forward has left the centers with a lot to deal with. Also, as good a player as Pardon is, it has appeared to me that bigger bodied opponents have been able to get decent postups on him. With that in mind, it seemed pretty clear that when both were on the floor, Benson took on the “center” role, and Pardon became PF. I think on offense, in the half court, this gave Pardon some room to operate, and the results were good. What struck me on the defensive end was that it seemed Benson has not yet learned to use his size and strength to advantage. I thought Rutgers had pretty good movement through the posts when he was in, even with Pardon as his complement. I guess what surprised to me was that I would guess the deployment was aimed to strengthen the Cats on the defensive end, and I thought it bought them little, but I did think it created a few opportunities on offense. On the whole, it would not surprise me if we rarely see the two of them on the floor together again.

As someone else said, they were -17 when both were on the floor together so while it might be beneficial at times, ...

 

[BigCatFur]

At the end of the season last year we saw quite a bit of the two bigs line up and I thought it was continuing to get better as the experiment went on. I was disappointed at the beginning of this season that we rarely used it. I agree with east bay that this line up seems to work well despite what some of the stats indicate. Benson had a couple great games at end of last season when he got more comfortable on the floor and I think it gave us a mental edge with more physicality and power on display.

 

[BigCatFur]

Take a look at Benson’s stat line in the final game last season when we were playing two big line up.

https://nusports.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=13665

 

[7th Cir. Cat]

I was hoping someone would bring this up. I think the two big lineup was a nod to the fact that we need to score points and Pardon is our most effective (not prolific, but effective) scorer. If he has the energy (and room) to go to work in the post, he's a guy that can get you 20 points on 10 touches.

It has to be exhausting to play center in the BIG and then bang in the paint for putbacks and up and unders. Pardon is not a jump shooter so he has to work for a lot of buckets, i.e., back people down and get position. Benson taking the center role I think helped with that.

I'm in favor of trying it again. I also think it may have been a "reward" to Benson. He's earned a chance to see what a he can do as a starter.

 

[Catreporter]

Indiana started Morgan and Smith in the game at Purdue, probably with the same thought in mind about freeing up their top scorer to have more energy on offense and not get into foul trouble trying to defend the bigger opposing center.

 

[JournCat]

I think Benson is a good player who should get more time, though not today because Pardon killed IU in December. But the two bigs shouldn’t be out there together unless we’re playing a team like Purdue with its old Swanigan/Haas combo. Would much rather see us try more of Nance at the 4 due to his better shooting and speed.

 

[ricko6543211]

I was hoping someone would bring this up. I think the two big lineup was a nod to the fact that we need to score points and Pardon is our most effective (not prolific, but effective) scorer. If he has the energy (and room) to go to work in the post, he's a guy that can get you 20 points on 10 touches.

It has to be exhausting to play center in the BIG and then bang in the paint for putbacks and up and unders. Pardon is not a jump shooter so he has to work for a lot of buckets, i.e., back people down and get position. Benson taking the center role I think helped with that.

I'm in favor of trying it again. I also think it may have been a "reward" to Benson. He's earned a chance to see what a he can do as a starter.

This is related to how I feel - I think it's partly based on conserving Pardon's energy, but perhaps more so just to keep him out of foul trouble when we go against a tough big man. If the game plan is to double, then it's slightly less of a problem (e.g. what we did with Happ in the past), but if we try to have Pardon man up against their big guy (this was particularly true against Ward of MSU, but also to some extent against Iowa and others) and he picks up a few fouls, that plus additional energy and wear on defense limits his minutes / effectiveness on offense. Benson is decent on defense against a bigger slower guy, but he struggles when forced to defend in space - Rutgers worked out, but e.g. Iowa I think he would struggle with as they are more mobile and can shoot.

I don't think Benson and Pardon together is our best 5, but I think using it a bit more often, particularly against certain types of opponents, is a decent way to help our best 5 (Gaines Turner Taylor Law Pardon) be on the floor and at full effectiveness for the most important moments of the game. I think it's one method of multiple that we should be using to keep that group fresh for the last 5 minutes of the game (i.e. also give Kopp and Nance a few more minutes to ease the burden on our wings).

 

[torque-cat]

This is related to how I feel - I think it's partly based on conserving Pardon's energy, but perhaps more so just to keep him out of foul trouble when we go against a tough big man. If the game plan is to double, then it's slightly less of a problem (e.g. what we did with Happ in the past), but if we try to have Pardon man up against their big guy (most obviously Ward of MSU, but also to some extent against Iowa and others) and he picks up a few fouls, that plus additional energy and wear on defense limits his minutes / effectiveness on offense. Benson is decent on defense against a bigger slower guy, but he struggles when forced to defend in space - Rutgers worked out, but e.g. Iowa and Michigan big guys I think he would struggle with as they are more mobile and can shoot.

I don't think Benson and Pardon together is our best 5, but I think using it a bit more often, particularly against certain types of opponents, is a decent way to help our best 5 (Gaines Turner Taylor Law Pardon) be on the floor and at full effectiveness for the most important moments of the game. I think it's one method of multiple that we should be using to keep that group fresh for the last 5 minutes of the game (i.e. also give Kopp and Nance a few more minutes to ease the burden on our wings).

well said. not our best lineup but enables our best players to be available and effective late in the game--particularly Pardon.