Here are the minutes played against WVU:

Gilder - 33
Davis - 30
Hogg - 30
Wilson - 25
Trocha - 24
Flagg - 20
Starks - 20
Chandler - 8
Collins - 8
Jasey - 2

Where do the minutes for Williams and Caldwell come form when they return?

You have 16 minutes form Chandler and Collins and maybe 3 of Gilder's that Caldwell will take.

I think Davis, Trocha and Flagg all play less, maybe get 15 minutes from those three for Williams.

I though both Wilson and Starks played well, but does Caldwell get some of their minutes as well?

eag2412 said:

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Here are the minutes played against WVU:

Gilder - 33 30
Davis - 30 27
Hogg - 30 25
Wilson - 25 10
Trocha - 24 26
Flagg - 20 15
Starks - 20 15
Chandler - 8 0
Collins - 8 0
Jasey - 2 0
Williams - 27
Caldwell - 25

Where do the minutes for Williams and Caldwell come form when they return?

You have 18 minutes form Chandler and Collins and maybe 3 of Gilder's that Caldwell will take.

I think Davis, Trocha and Flagg all play less, maybe get 15 minutes from those three for Williams.

I though both Wilson and Starks played well, but does Caldwell get some of their minutes as well?

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See above

So you think Trocha actually plays MORE minutes when Williams returns?

StanGundy said:

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So you think Trocha actually plays MORE minutes when Williams returns?

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Yes, depending on opponent. We went small with Flagg or Hogg at the 4 to match WVU. Don't see that happening usually

I respectfully disagree. I think we will actually see more of DJ at the four spot, especially if he continues to shoot the ball well. Part of the reason Tyler had as much 1-on-1 coverage in the post was the ability to play 4 around 1 and space the floor. This is also predicated on DJ rebounding the ball like he did Friday. Barring injuries, I just don't see Trocha's minutes increasing with the addition of Williams. I would imagine Trocha's minutes will settle in around 18-20 on a regular basis.

Remember that Tonny also stretches the court. He is a good 3pt shooter and he sees the court well.

StanGundy said:

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I respectfully disagree. I think we will actually see more of DJ at the four spot, especially if he continues to shoot the ball well. Part of the reason Tyler had as much 1-on-1 coverage in the post was the ability to play 4 around 1 and space the floor. This is also predicated on DJ rebounding the ball like he did Friday. Barring injuries, I just don't see Trocha's minutes increasing with the addition of Williams. I would imagine Trocha's minutes will settle in around 18-20 on a regular basis.

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I don't disagree with this, as long as a streaky shooter like DJ can keep it going. I do believe Trocha's minutes should be cut in order for Rob and perhaps even others, we shall simply wait and see. I can see the 4 spot being split by all of the following depending on matchups: Hogg, Flagg (if he develops and plays aggressive like he can) Rob, and Trocha. Based on what I have seen from Trocha over the past few years, he would really need to become more agressive and strong with the ball underneath to secure more minutes, because unfortunately, I can eventually see Flagg and Hogg take up a very decent amount of his clock down the stretch. I could honestly see a stretch in some games where we have; Caldwell, Gilder, Hogg, Flagg, and Rob all on the floor together maximizing our length and athletic stretch wings who can run the floor and get buckets in transition. Other than Gilder, I would not be surprised to see Flagg as our second best defender and if he gets it going on offense, I think we start seeing him take some minutes from a player like Trocha.

I agree! Some players thrive off the bench more so than as a starter, and hey, you never know if its something that DJ needs to help him build that fire and keep him playing like he did last Friday. I for one, would not be opposed on trying that lineup early on. Maybe sitting on the bench at the start of a game and letting the game develop is the best thing for DJ and this team. Only time will tell.

Uncle Jimbo said:

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Do you think Gilder and Hogg coming off the bench was a residual punitive move from their suspension or something that will persist?

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I don't know for sure, but I have to think Gilder and Hogg not starting was related to their suspensions. I fully expect them to start going forward.

I tend to agree with Mallen, I think a lot of the minutes for anyone other than Admon and TD are going to largely fluctuate throughout the year. I can see Tonny's minutes varying greatly throughout the season, especially if Flagg is pushing for minutes. He can't play if Hogg, RW and TD are out there, and ideally that combo logs at least 15 minutes/gm together. Add in any time where Gilder and Hogg are on the court with any 2 of Caldwell/Starks/Wilson. However, he does stretch the floor well and commands attention on the perimeter. Lots of possible lineup combos for BK to tinker with.

Yep. We've seen that from Coach Kennedy before. He doesn't always start players coming off suspension.

If Caldwell is as advertised, he is going to take minutes from both Wilson and Starks.

As for Williams, he will take minutes from Davis, Trocha and Hogg at the 4/5. Agreed with Tyler not needing to play more than about 25 minutes per game.

To me, the starting lineup will be:

Caldwell/Wilson (Wilson will force Caldwell to play good defense or he will eat into JJ's minutes)
Gilder
Hogg
Williams
Davis

Then, you may see this lineup at times (would be a good zone defense lineup)

Caldwell/Wilson
Gilder/Hogg
Trocha
Williams
Davis

And if we want to go small:

Caldwell
Wilson
Gilder
Hogg
Davis/Williams

The only problem with going small is that we give up some serious length along the perimeter (besides Hogg). Ideally, if we are going small, you'd like to be able to have your 3rd guard be 6-5ish. A few years ago when we went with Collins-Caruso-House-Jones-Davis, that was a KILLER defensive lineup because Caruso was 6-5 and House was 6-6, and both could really move and defend.

Now, when we go small, we are looking at Caldwell at 6 feet (which is generous), Wilson at 6-2 and Gilder at 6-3 (and lacking long arms) ... that is pretty damn small. It could be good offensively, because those are 3 really quick guys who can attack and also shoot from outside, but Gilder may have a tough time defending against a 6-7 wing player that can shoot. Maybe you slide Gilder to the 2 and put Flagg at the 3, but I don't know how good he is defensively.

The best thing about this team, however, is how deep the bench is. Essentially, you have Trocha, Wilson, Starks and Flagg who could all play 20-25 minutes and not see much drop off (Flagg being the weakest of those 4 right now), plus Chandler and Jasey, who are both long-armed guys and explosive ... its pretty scary how deep this team is.

I re-watched the WVU game last night, and it was a pretty thorough a$$ kicking from the start. Even in the first 10 minutes when we appeared to struggle, if we had made just half of the layups we missed (especially Davis, he missed 2-3 shots that he ALWAYS makes), it wouldn't have been close. You could tell the fish were tight to start the game, but the second Hogg and Gilder subbed in, it was a completely different team out there. It was like WVU suddenly shrank away from a bully. Very impressive.

Uncle Jimbo said:

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Do you think Gilder and Hogg coming off the bench was a residual punitive move from their suspension or something that will persist?

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Uncle Jimbo, Gilder and Hogg not starting was almost definitely because of the suspensions. The staff started the same guys who started Tarleton State.

However, notice that the starters in the the second half against WVU were Wilson, Gilder, Hogg, Trocha, and Tyler Davis.

Let's see if that is the starting lineup on Friday, or if the staff again puts Flagg and Chandler out there at the beginning to get those freshman engaged early in the game.

Robert Williams will be eligible to play versus Oklahoma State, but I think you'll almost certainly see him come off the bench in that game with Trocha starting, as is the staff's M.O.

By the time we hit conference play, my guess is this will be your starting lineup:

Caldwell
Gilder
Hogg
Williams
Davis

with key reserves Trocha, Wilson, Starks, & Flagg. I think Chandler's shooting may hurt his minutes some (though love his confidence, athleticism, and hustle) so I'm thinking he and Jasey are most likely to get the least minutes in the bigger games.

Isn't Williams going to be back for the UC Santa Barbara game this Friday?

I was sunshine-pumpy in my previous post, but in fairness to my BAS, I think there is still legitimate concern over whether this team can operate well when forced into half-court sets. Even early in the second half, we had a few really bad empty possessions where WVU bailed us out on bad fouls away from the basket. I think a long team with disciplined half-court defense will still frustrate our team.

Just thought it bears noting. Once teams see the depth and athleticism that we're bringing to the floor, that's going to be the adjustment, and we're going to have to prove we can beat it. Teams will shorten games and make us come up with good half-court possessions.

Having undersized talent/depth at the guard position isn't really a problem exclusive to Texas A&M in cbb. Being 6'3" is not going to restrict Gilder from being on the court with a duo of Caldwell/Starks/Wilson. Compared to league play, USC and Arizona are largely outliers in terms of the length we will face, but it could cause problems. We already know how Arizona's size can affect us. Four of USC's 9 man rotation goes 6'10 or more and Stewart is 6'6"ish...they also played a bit of a 2-3 matchup zone against Fullerton on Friday which makes me think they will utilize that throughout the season.

I think it's just way too early to tell.

I think we can safely assume that Davis, Gilder and Williams are all going to play a lot, but after that there are a lot of variables that we have no way of really guessing at yet. It depends on how well guys play together (sometimes there are lineups that might be more talented, but just aren't cohesive for some reason), and who separates themselves from the pack at guard.

Also kind of depends on if we think we have one really dominant style of play and we try to make other teams adjust their rotations to fit ours or if we see ourselves as hyper flexible and we adjust our lineups to them.