Mark Pope on status of Lowe and JQ
- Thread starter akaukswoosh
- Start date
Great to hear. Hopefully that means we'll play to win and not worry about managing their minutes.
Both players need to start, YES START, and play 30ish plus minutes a game, barring silly foul trouble, the remainder of the season! If Saturday comes, and they are not playing the opening tip, I’ll probably throw my phone and remote at the TV!
Not going to happen with Lowe this year.
FEED THE STUDS
Shrink the d*mn rotation and stop trying to play BYU-style and this team will be a serious threat in conference.
Then the season is over. We're not doing anything worthwhile without him playing major minutes. We have to make the gamble, play to win, and if he breaks down he breaks down.
Lowe, Oweh and Kam (if his shot's falling) make this offense flow. Without them it's just a bunch of guys standing around or DA and JJ playing hero ball
JQ and Dioubate make the defense and rebounding work. Without them we get destroyed on the glass and give up a field goal every trip up.
I'll say again, FEED THE STUDS!!!
I'm ok with BG playing like 10 minutes a game. Just get ready to sub him out when he does some dumb sh*t bc he probably will. But he does play with energy. Moreno hasn't really proven himself as a defender yet.
Noah stinks. He looks smaller and slower than ever and he's even passing up wide open 3's now. No thanks
Trent Noah against the 5 good teams he's played (he missed the Louisville game):
1.8 ppg
1.2 rpg
29% from the field
17% from three
He and Jasper Johnson have been horrible against quality competition.
gross.
I really don't remember him being that bad last year. I saw potential. Not sure what happened there
I think Noah has always been what he is, an 8 to 9 point per game guy on a mid major level team. It's just that Pope hyped him up all summer and created unreasonable fan expectations because that's what Pope does.
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No way SEC teams are gonna let Lowe stay in games, he'll be running into a lot of hard screens.
Last year we had guys who could shoot and spread the floor which got Noah open looks. So far this year not so much. Hopefully Lowe can give us good minutes to penetrate and Williams and Chandler shoot well in conference play. That will help Noah get some good looks versus having to create his own shot or so the theory goes.
Same. I’ll have had 10 days of no game pent up energy bubbling over. If Chandler and Moreno are starting and Lowe and JQ aren’t, RIP to my remote. Thankfully those Roku remotes are about $8/ea on Amazon.
Agreed. Let this group flex man. I’m legit excited about watching the basketball version of smash mouth with this group.
As they should. I’d put that dude in so many side iso ball screens he wouldn’t be able to hold that shoulder up.
Alabama's defense is a$$, we need to start our best guys and play them as much as possible. Our offense needs to be better than it has all year and that is possible against this team, they suck, no excuses.
Our defense needs to chase them off the 3 point line and stop them from going on a shooting barrage.
There is an avenue to win this game and that avenue doesn’t involve weak minded players. If Garrison is locked in, let him go, but the second he doesn't do his job, he comes out.
Lowe and JQ need to start, if they don't, it means Pope simply doesn't get it. Lowe can get hurt in the 5th minute, just like he can the 1st.
Our defense needs to chase them off the 3 point line and stop them from going on a shooting barrage.
There is an avenue to win this game and that avenue doesn’t involve weak minded players. If Garrison is locked in, let him go, but the second he doesn't do his job, he comes out.
Lowe and JQ need to start, if they don't, it means Pope simply doesn't get it. Lowe can get hurt in the 5th minute, just like he can the 1st.
If we had a Lowe who could play 30 minutes a game and not break then obviously we would play Lowe 30 minutes a game.
We don’t have a Lowe who can play 30 minutes a game and not break.
It is what it is.
We don’t need to play Lowe 30 minutes every game to win a title. Being able to play Lowe 30 minutes every game would sure make winning a title easier.
“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
We don’t have a Lowe who can play 30 minutes a game and not break.
It is what it is.
We don’t need to play Lowe 30 minutes every game to win a title. Being able to play Lowe 30 minutes every game would sure make winning a title easier.
“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
That’s inaccurate. Only thing limiting Lowe’s minutes is a fear of hurting it again. It either stays in or comes out again. No minute limitation is going to change that.
Totally disagree with this. Their strength is their guards…I believe they’d slice us up. Gotta muck it up and lean into our new identity for this one. Lost to Bama 3 times last year trying to outscore them. Limit possession and we have a chance.
I don't really agree with this. I think come march give them 30 minutes, but we still need to focus on making sure guys like JJ and Aberdeen can *potentially* fill in for Lowe if (when) he gets injured again. Honestly, I'd keep both JQ and Lowe at 20mpg for at least the next few games, give JJ and others more and more reps. And then as we start to get into late January, February, we can start ramping up minutes. We *could* survive a season ending injury to either of these two guys but ONLY if we see what we have in JJ and others. Now, maybe Jasper isn't it, and this experiment fails, that certainly could happen. But you have to attempt to get them ready.
Maybe I'm being overly protective, but I think THAT'S the way to a Final4. Not forcing already injured/injury prone guys into a lot of minutes without having a reliable backup option.
We sort of saw this happen exactly with the Knicks. Thibs played his stars too much and didn't develop a guy like Tyler Kolek. Brunson goes down as we all knew he would in the playoffs and the Knicks go no where. New coach this year, he starts playing Kolek and the bench more, and sure enough, Kolek is now a guy who can carry the load (somewhat) if Brunson goes down, AND spell him some minutes TO keep him fresh as the season goes on.
What? A minute restriction absolutely changes that. You might not agree with the philosophy and I get that.. but if Lowe is given 5 more minutes a game, that's 5 more minutes he has a chance of re-injury. And this is even more of a problem for a lower body injury because then it's repeated movements (sprinting, landing etc). This is why when we get to some of the lesser SEC teams, and if we're up big, you pull Lowe out, put in JJ, and I'm talking like, as soon as the 2nd half begins.
We threw away 3 of the last 4 years due to injury. The stars have to play of course, but you have to spell them as well and give yourself the best chance to go into March as healthy as possible. And then when the tournament starts, unleash them. And if they go down? Then you have a guy like JJ a little more prepared.
I don't think you can just throw a blanket over it like that.
There are going to be a lot of games where Lowe and/or JQ need to play 30+ mintues if we want to win the game. Sacrificing wins is what would happen if we limited their minutes regardless of the game situation.
Of course, we are in better shape at the 5, so it's easier to sit JQ, but, for some reason, we only have 1 true pg and we don't play in a mid major conference, Lowe has to play.
But, if we're up 15 to 20, get them out and rest them as much as possible. Don't use them when they aren't needed and give JJ the keys.
But, we only get JQ for 1 season, play him as much as possible IMO, as long as it makes sense.
In those games, yes. And for Alabama, probably have to start them and likely need to go to 25 minutes and beyond. But we still have to be very careful how much time we give to Lowe. Every minute he plays is another minute someone can bump that shoulder. So the next game against Mizz, I'm fine starting Lowe and seeing how things go, but I would really try to cap him at 25 minutes while giving JJ reps so we can be prepared.
Agree. I have a styrofoam brick for the purpose. Use it frequently. Dog knows not to bother me during UK games.
Yeah, you have to get JJ as many minutes at the pg spot as possible. I've been saying that for 2 months now, but Pope hasn't been doing that, he's been rolling with a guy that has zero pg instincts.
You have to try to win every game first and foremost, but getting Lowe out of harms way as often as possible, is very important.
I really think JJ can be a star at the pg spot, but his training should have started in October. We played quite a few cupcakes and JJ got little to no time at point.
My brick no longer has any square edges on it, it's more like a ball now.
Yep. This isn't a game where you gingerly bring them in. Bama can bury teams quick. We need our best out there to counter.
I have my plush fish cat toy that my cat shares with me during gametime for stress relief. He also encourages me to shoot his little rubber band hair bows till' my heart is content during games as a form of stress relief.
Great cat, my Timon. Best cat ever.
Last few years the plush fish has been flopping all over the place and is starting to come apart with fuzzy bits of .... plushfish guts coming out.
Yeah. It's not a pretty sight watching a game here .... lol
Go Big Blue !
Not far off. Although I do think this team needs to create turnovers in order to score efficiently. But defense should be this teams calling card. Put Kam on the nose of that 3/4 court press. Play a little like the old Vegas teams with Stacy Augmon and company. We have the personnel for it.
Not only do we only have one point guard, we don’t have anyone else that can even handle the ball or dribble drive. Maybe JJ?
We have trouble even getting the ball in bounds against good teams without Lowe.
He’s a low usage player. Sample size is small.
He seemed like a big game guy after he scored 10+ against UT last season.
Johnson is in a similar possession. He will have a good game against a good team and it will inflate his total output and popular sentiment about his play.
If Johnson goes like 2-5 from three and scores 13 points against Bama, narrative around him changes.
That's delusional. No team ever limped to the NCAA title.