2024 Offseason

[TrueBlueJay]

Play those that will win you games - pretty simple.

[alum84]

Play those that will win you games - pretty simple.

Yep, simple indeed. Ranks right up there with "Score more points than your opponent."

[#RollJays]

I keep hearing this argument so went back to an older media guide picking the 19-20 with stats for the 18-19 season and see that 10 guys averaged 8.9 minutes or more; 11 if you count Jacob Epperson’s 9.1 minutes per in only 9 games.

Bishop 8.9 in 28 games
Froling 8.9 in 30 games
Cashaw 11.2 in 33 games
Joseph 15.7 in 35 games
Jefferson 18.0 in 26 games
Krampelj 25.3 in 35 games
Zegarowski 28.6 in 33 games
Mintz 28.8 in 35 games
Alexander 32.9 in 34 games
Ballock 33.0 in 35 games

If guys can ball they will play.

Kinda cherry picking a stat here on an NIT team that lost a ton from the year prior. If you go look at conference games for that season all 5 starters pretty much played 30+mpg. There were also multiple injuries that year.

[LJay]

Didn’t cherry pick anything. I opened up a single media guide and this is what I found. I agree Mac has gone with a short bench recently but I knew it hasn’t “always” been this way as has been stated here many times. I went back 5 years. That is pretty recent.

[Jaysker12]

With Zugic looking like a done deal, I thought it might be productive to pull a sidebar topic from a few weeks ago into this thread.

What is the minutes breakdown/starting positions between Ashworth, Pop, and Zugic? I think most of us had Ashworth and Pop penciled in as the starting PG and SG, but Zugic will likely change that.

What's more likely?

Option A: all three start, Jamiya Neal comes off the bench
Option B: Pop starting PG and Zugic starting SG, Ashworth comes off the bench
Option C: Ashworth starting PG and Zugic starting SG, Pop comes off the bench
Option D: Ashworth starting PG and Pop starting SG, Zugic comes off the bench

I think it is most likely that one of Neal or Pop comes off the bench. Curious to hear other's thoughts.

[SonofFrankTomera]

My only prediction is that if Fedor and Pop both don’t start, neither will be back a year from now. If they do both start, LJ will not be back. Hope I’m wrong, I usually am.

[alum84]

In this day and age, you really can't count on anyone coming back. If someone has a breakout year, they very well might go chasing a bag or a blue blood program (or the NBA). If someone doesn't get the minutes they wanted, they're probably gone also (if they are any good, that is). You pretty much have to play with an eye toward this year only, sad as that is. Gone are the days of being able to enjoy watching a team develop over 2-3 years, like we did with Tyshon, Mitch, Damien, and company.

[SeattleJay]

With Zugic looking like a done deal, I thought it might be productive to pull a sidebar topic from a few weeks ago into this thread.

What is the minutes breakdown/starting positions between Ashworth, Pop, and Zugic? I think most of us had Ashworth and Pop penciled in as the starting PG and SG, but Zugic will likely change that.

What's more likely?

Option A: all three start, Jamiya Neal comes off the bench
Option B: Pop starting PG and Zugic starting SG, Ashworth comes off the bench
Option C: Ashworth starting PG and Zugic starting SG, Pop comes off the bench
Option D: Ashworth starting PG and Pop starting SG, Zugic comes off the bench

I think it is most likely that one of Neal or Pop comes off the bench. Curious to hear other's thoughts.

I don’t think even Coach Mac would know for sure until he sees them on the floor together. It should make for some AMAZING practices.

I personally would prefer B or C as I don’t like seeing 2 small guards on the floor together defensively. Of course, if you’re all that size can be overcome.

There was a tweet yesterday from practice. It mostly featured Ashworth feeding Fred for dunks. I thought I saw Miller on the floor. I’ll try to append it.

[SeattleJay]

Hopefully, this comes through:

https://x.com/bluejaymbb?s=11

[LJay]

Starting doesn’t mean much, who is on the floor at the end is critical and until Ash pulled his head out last year and turned up his game, his benching at that time was a damning statement.

I think kids getting 10 minutes as reserves and maybe more in certain games if they are having a good game and Kalk and Ash coming in around 28 minutes per means success. Our team generally seems gassed late in the year lately and that’s what you get with a non-trusted bench.

Mac has his best or 2nd best recruiting frosh class ever, a 3rd team All Big 12 as a sophomore transfer, another double digit scoring transfer from the PAC 12, presumably a Euro who is highly prized plus a solid returning core. It’s early but it’s hard to imagine he only finds six guys in all that he can trust.