A few talking points. I thought of a handful of thread topics that I thought would make for interesting conversations but just decided to combine them all into one and see where it goes.
Rotation: The 5 starters are clear. Beyond that, it gets a bit jumbled. This is one of the biggest negative results of Ice being out. In a perfect world, MB would have used the last few games to pare down his rotation and settle on a pattern of substitution. With Ice out, he was forced to add DM to the mix, due to a glaring hole at PG. None of Harris, Lindy or AA looked like they were capable filling the role of dependable team leader and calming influence, so MB went to DM, and he had some immediate success. Then AA stepped up and showed that he has the makings of a scoring PG, but it was in garbage time, so it is hard to know if it was indicative of what we can expect in the present, or if it is more realistic that it is a glimpse of the future.
I think it is safe to say that Harris and Laurent are both guys who will get good minutes. AA will get a fair shot to show that he can get it done in a tight game. With Ice available, it is pretty easy to play DM only in mop up minutes, and I expect that to be the case. I don't see a clear separation between Hidde and Kalib, so MB will still need to experiment with them a bit to determine their roles. Keylan could earn more minutes, but it is also possible that he falls into a "wait til next year" type of role. Who knows what will happen with MW...
Boynton the coach: In his short time as head coach, MB has had some very impressive games as HC, and some questionable moments as well. To some degree, I think the jury is still out, but that should be expected considering he was never a HC, at a lower level, prior to becoming the HC at OSU. I don't think anyone doubts his recruiting acumen, and that should be enough for him to have plenty of success and continue to get this thing pointed in the right direction. If you think about it, that is probably what we should expect. Baby steps. If he just gets us back to the NCAA tournament, that would be a quality skin for MB to put on his wall. I'm fairly certain that it will happen this season.
Studs and Such: Studs: Ice, Yor, Laurent. Such: The offense with Ice on the bench. It looked shaky, but the concern might be overstated. After all, we won by over 50 and scored 82 points. Let's see what happens in Lubbock before we worry too much.
The Big 12: The conference ended up looking a bit different than it has in recent years. In general, we have tended to have 1 or 2 elite teams, 1 or 2 average teams, and 6-8 very good teams. The recipe has resulted in the Big 12 having the best metrics of any conference on selection Sunday. Things look a bit different this season. We might just have 3 elite teams: KU, BU and WVU (with Tech not far off), 1 or 2 bad teams and 4-5 good, but not great, teams. I think the conference will be perceived to be 2nd or 3rd best overall, but any team that goes at least 9-9 should be be a shoe in for the NCAA tournament. That means that it is very important that we at least split with teams not in the top 4, and sweep at least 2 of them.
Rotation: The 5 starters are clear. Beyond that, it gets a bit jumbled. This is one of the biggest negative results of Ice being out. In a perfect world, MB would have used the last few games to pare down his rotation and settle on a pattern of substitution. With Ice out, he was forced to add DM to the mix, due to a glaring hole at PG. None of Harris, Lindy or AA looked like they were capable filling the role of dependable team leader and calming influence, so MB went to DM, and he had some immediate success. Then AA stepped up and showed that he has the makings of a scoring PG, but it was in garbage time, so it is hard to know if it was indicative of what we can expect in the present, or if it is more realistic that it is a glimpse of the future.
I think it is safe to say that Harris and Laurent are both guys who will get good minutes. AA will get a fair shot to show that he can get it done in a tight game. With Ice available, it is pretty easy to play DM only in mop up minutes, and I expect that to be the case. I don't see a clear separation between Hidde and Kalib, so MB will still need to experiment with them a bit to determine their roles. Keylan could earn more minutes, but it is also possible that he falls into a "wait til next year" type of role. Who knows what will happen with MW...
Boynton the coach: In his short time as head coach, MB has had some very impressive games as HC, and some questionable moments as well. To some degree, I think the jury is still out, but that should be expected considering he was never a HC, at a lower level, prior to becoming the HC at OSU. I don't think anyone doubts his recruiting acumen, and that should be enough for him to have plenty of success and continue to get this thing pointed in the right direction. If you think about it, that is probably what we should expect. Baby steps. If he just gets us back to the NCAA tournament, that would be a quality skin for MB to put on his wall. I'm fairly certain that it will happen this season.
Studs and Such: Studs: Ice, Yor, Laurent. Such: The offense with Ice on the bench. It looked shaky, but the concern might be overstated. After all, we won by over 50 and scored 82 points. Let's see what happens in Lubbock before we worry too much.
The Big 12: The conference ended up looking a bit different than it has in recent years. In general, we have tended to have 1 or 2 elite teams, 1 or 2 average teams, and 6-8 very good teams. The recipe has resulted in the Big 12 having the best metrics of any conference on selection Sunday. Things look a bit different this season. We might just have 3 elite teams: KU, BU and WVU (with Tech not far off), 1 or 2 bad teams and 4-5 good, but not great, teams. I think the conference will be perceived to be 2nd or 3rd best overall, but any team that goes at least 9-9 should be be a shoe in for the NCAA tournament. That means that it is very important that we at least split with teams not in the top 4, and sweep at least 2 of them.
