We are 1/2 way through the conference season. It's not good. I don't think anyone can argue that this is not "too early to tell". By tomorrow night we will be closer to the end of the conference season than to the beginning.
When is pounding the rock insanity? When do we try a different hammer? We have 1/2 the data/history on hand for 2022.
Some thoughts:
1) We have basically not touched the starting 5 - The Roper change is hardly an attempt to change anything. It's swapping the lowest man on the totem pole for someone else. I've voiced my thoughts that I think it made sense for Roper to play big minutes against WI. Not so much that it makes sense to give him anywhere close to the same minutes Berry should have in most games. We could try the obvious Young/Nance, we could try Beran starting at 3, we could try Berry and Roper with Audige coming off the bench with a different rotation. Players care very deeply about being starters or not. Regardless of what you hear them say publicly, they do. It's kind of the same of hearing people in an office saying they don't care about their title or having an office. Overwhelmingly they care, at best they try to convince themselves they don't. A player starting is a vote of confidence, among other things. It's not an accident changing the starters is so often used as an attempt to shake things up
2) We don't ride the hot hand or what is working, we don't even change lineups to start the second half. We have had multiple games where things improve as the first half progresses. And we come back from the locker room with the same lineup, just to see it squandering the progress we have made. It's almost like there's a script and nothing will make us deviate from it (with the exception of foul trouble).
3) The rotations, they are insanity. From minute 15 in the first half to the break it's a lunacy of rotations. What is it that we are up to? 30 substitutions by half time? There's no chance of anyone getting hot. There's 4 guys off the bench together with very little hope of scoring on offense except Young making a couple of plays. I'd love to see data on number of subs we do vs the rest of the conference.
My guess is we will see no changes at all. Rutgers is struggling, Nebraska is the worst team in the league. We have played close games and the calendar has been much tougher than it will be in the 2nd half of conference play. So pound the rock because that's the only way to get to winning. Except when we faced minor or struggling teams, at home, PSU and MD, just like against the big boys, we lost.
When is pounding the rock insanity? When do we try a different hammer? We have 1/2 the data/history on hand for 2022.
Some thoughts:
1) We have basically not touched the starting 5 - The Roper change is hardly an attempt to change anything. It's swapping the lowest man on the totem pole for someone else. I've voiced my thoughts that I think it made sense for Roper to play big minutes against WI. Not so much that it makes sense to give him anywhere close to the same minutes Berry should have in most games. We could try the obvious Young/Nance, we could try Beran starting at 3, we could try Berry and Roper with Audige coming off the bench with a different rotation. Players care very deeply about being starters or not. Regardless of what you hear them say publicly, they do. It's kind of the same of hearing people in an office saying they don't care about their title or having an office. Overwhelmingly they care, at best they try to convince themselves they don't. A player starting is a vote of confidence, among other things. It's not an accident changing the starters is so often used as an attempt to shake things up
2) We don't ride the hot hand or what is working, we don't even change lineups to start the second half. We have had multiple games where things improve as the first half progresses. And we come back from the locker room with the same lineup, just to see it squandering the progress we have made. It's almost like there's a script and nothing will make us deviate from it (with the exception of foul trouble).
3) The rotations, they are insanity. From minute 15 in the first half to the break it's a lunacy of rotations. What is it that we are up to? 30 substitutions by half time? There's no chance of anyone getting hot. There's 4 guys off the bench together with very little hope of scoring on offense except Young making a couple of plays. I'd love to see data on number of subs we do vs the rest of the conference.
My guess is we will see no changes at all. Rutgers is struggling, Nebraska is the worst team in the league. We have played close games and the calendar has been much tougher than it will be in the 2nd half of conference play. So pound the rock because that's the only way to get to winning. Except when we faced minor or struggling teams, at home, PSU and MD, just like against the big boys, we lost.
