So, I'm not understanding why Manny is getting all this credit for this mystery transformation to a completely different player over-night. The only thing that changed is what the Coaches did, the 3 guard offense. IF that had been tried earlier in the season, which I'm pretty sure it wasn't unless there was some kind of foul trouble or injury situation that got Manny into the game, it would have been met with pure ridicule (at least by the game board which is a totally different animal than the non-game board) of another unbelievably inept line-up by Buzz. No height, no this, no that. The move has turned Wade into the type of PG he is designed to be, complete with, gasp, assists!

Is it really that hard to compliment the coaching staff for that move? I haven't seen it mentioned if it has. Three guards has equaled 3 wins. Jury is out on playing a better team with that line-up, but if that means going back to our "old" line-ups, maybe that will relate to some wins against teams like Tennessee and Kentucky who we beat back when.

Manny deserves a ton of credit for taking advantage of the opportunity, but he didn't invent the line-up.

Which pronouns does Manny prefer?

Starter.

We've literally been running a three guard offense all season unless we're calling Carter a forward.

Now, maybe Buzz is calling this lineup something different with Manny also handling the ball which Carter doesn't really do, but it's not drastically different from what we've been doing all season. Also, we've tried it before. It's not like we told Manny to go stand in the corner when he went into the game like Hefner. When he comes in, he handles the ball, and far too often the ball would get stuck with him. He was a terrible passer.

Manny is getting credit because he should be getting credit. Earlier in the season when we'd put Manny in the game he was, at best, inconsistent and at worst, absolutely unplayable.

But there's a reason we haven't been doing it all year, there was absolutely no reason to think it would work. But between desperation and Carter's recent play it was worth going ahead and trying some more.

We'll see if team's adjust to it.

And Manny has improved as a passer as well.

bobinator said:

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We've literally been running a three guard offense all season unless we're calling Carter a forward.

Now, maybe Buzz is calling this lineup something different with Manny also handling the ball which Carter doesn't really do, but it's not drastically different from what we've been doing all season. Also, we've tried it before. It's not like we told Manny to go stand in the corner when he went into the game like Hefner. When he comes in, he handles the ball, and far too often the ball would get stuck with him. He was a terrible passer.

Manny is getting credit because he should be getting credit. Earlier in the season when we'd put Manny in the game he was, at best, inconsistent and at worst, absolutely unplayable.

But there's a reason we haven't been doing it all year, there was absolutely no reason to think it would work. But between desperation and Carter's recent play it was worth going ahead and trying some more.

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This is very well summed up. I will also add, Manny gets pretty lost on defense - which is probably the main reason guys like Hef and Jace took some of his minutes throughout the year. But, when you are dropping 17 and 25 pts I'm sure Buzz can look past some defensive mishaps.

People are forgetting how lost Manny was on offense earlier in the year. He would dribble around forever and then as the shot clock dwindled down, make an out of control drive to the basket and turn it over.

It is a transformation. Manny was getting playing time earlier, he was just mostly a hot mess or he would have played more.

A light bulb has come on. He's figured out how to get rid of the ball then attack later in the possession when he gets it back and once the defense has had to work/rotate a little.

The deeper you are into the shot clock, the more likely you'll have leverage/angle somewhere because the defense has had to work.

Earlier in the year he would dribble the ball up court then continue pounding it, a lot of times driving it, trying some spin move, basically forcing it.

He has been a revelation for this struggling offense simply by picking WHEN to attack better.

Buzz tried pretty much every imaginable combination earlier in the season and this one didn't really work then mostly because Manny couldn't shoot and f memory serves he was a turnover machine as well.

This particular version seems to feature more ball movement than the Manny isolation experiment.

He's a defensive + as well imo.

Better to figure this out now than never and so credit to Buzz in doing so

Manny got more playing time because he actually showed he could be on the court. Crazy how that happens. Manny was horrible earlier on both ends of the court and couldn't be on the court much as a result. He started playing better and got more minutes.

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This is very well summed up. I will also add, Manny gets pretty lost on defense - which is probably the main reason guys like Hef and Jace took some of his minutes throughout the year.

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This is probably a big reason he's probably playing more lately is we've gone back to more of that 3/4 court pressure that we used for a lot of last season and he's a lot better in that than he is our regular defense.

He's still good in our regular defense when he knows who he's guarding, and I'd probably argue a lost Manny is better than Hefner in the right spot on defense anyway. He's a very good one-on-one defender, probably our second best after Solo, but he does get lost off the ball too easily.

But yeah, this isn't one of those cases where suddenly we're doing something that could have been working all season, Manny had plenty of chances to stake his claim to more playing time and didn't capitalize on them.

During this four game stretch he's averaging .73 pts/per minute; double what he averaged the rest of the season. (.37 pts/min.)

Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

Agree.

Manny's play as of late has clearly helped to "transform" our team into one that COULD make some noise in the tournament THIS WEEK (should his elevated play continue, supplemented by the continued good play of his teammates)... and perhaps enable the Aggies to do the same in another tournament next week and beyond!

Bobinator, agree that Mannys defense when we are pressing and trapping at half court is really disruptive and led to several turnovers last week. And not fouling!!!

The Marksman said:

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Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

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Nobody has said this at all. Please read the thread

Tobias Funke said:

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The Marksman said:

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Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

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Nobody has said this at all. Please read the thread

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Oh I have. Seems you haven't though. I'm very entertained by the attempts of some to claim that Manny hasn't changed at all, despite the recent elevation in the level of his play; it definitely shows who does not know ball.

The Marksman said:

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Tobias Funke said:

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The Marksman said:

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Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

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Nobody has said this at all. Please read the thread

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Oh I have. Seems you haven't though. I'm very entertained by the attempts of some to claim that Manny hasn't changed at all, despite the recent elevation in the level of his play; it definitely shows who does not know ball.

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Setting Manny up for an eight point game on 2-10 shooting. Good work

The Marksman said:

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Tobias Funke said:

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The Marksman said:

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Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

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Nobody has said this at all. Please read the thread

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Oh I have. Seems you haven't though. I'm very entertained by the attempts of some to claim that Manny hasn't changed at all, despite the recent elevation in the level of his play; it definitely shows who does not know ball.

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Nobody is saying that Manny isn't playing light years better than he did prior to 4 games again. He is transformed.

The argument is if he's simply playing better or the "new" scheme has set him up to play better. Seems like most of us disagree with the OP's assertion that it's a scheme thing. He is simply just better.

It's a reformation…

He seems to have taken that leap that a lot of elite athletes never make.
He has that explosive first step, great leaping ability and control in the air to make plays not many can make.
But those players often struggle going from high school to college, and then again college to pro, because everything they do is always at max speed/effort. As a result its often out of control and good teams can shut them down.
He seems to have figured out how to slow himself down enough to play under control, but that level is still faster and more explosive than most players.
That and his shooting has been great, unsure if that is sustainable but his form looks good

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I'm very entertained by the attempts of some to claim that Manny hasn't changed at all, despite the recent elevation in the level of his play; it definitely shows who does not know ball.

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The question is not the "change", but the "why". There is no way a player, after 2 years becomes more talented over-night.

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We've literally been running a three guard offense all season unless we're calling Carter a forward.


But there's a reason we haven't been doing it all year, there was absolutely no reason to think it would work.

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You actually compare Carter to Manny as a player or playing the same role? It's the insertion of Manny in combination with Wade and Boots. And, which way is it? We've been doing it all year, or we weren't because there was no reason to think it would work? The truth is we haven't been doing THIS all year and you're right, no would have thought it would work. But, let's not give credit to coaches, let's just say it was desperation.

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Manny went from not playing at all in several SEC games to being the SEC player of the week, and some of y'all don't think that's a transformation? Come on.

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You just said it yourself. He went from not playing at all, but when he did, it was in substitution for Wade or Boots. It was a coaching change that allowed his being able to use his skills in a totally different situation.

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Buzz tried pretty much every imaginable combination earlier in the season and this one didn't really work then mostly because Manny couldn't shoot and f memory serves he was a turnover machine as well.

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Show me when he was on the court with Wade and Boots, certainly never as a starter, and playing more than 20 minutes in that lineup. If at all. I can't remember a single time.

The lengths people will go not to give coaching credit for something this obvious: Getting a player that has been nothing short of a detriment (see every game thread, not my comments, he's been my Boots starter kit since I saw him play) into being HIGHLY productive is amazing. The question is though, what will he be next year when there is not Boots/Wade to combine him with? I sincerely hope he's ready for that role.

What's the point of this thread?

Yes, I'm comparing Carter and Manny in the sense that they're both guards. BJ Holmes and Danuel House are different players, but they're both guards. So Carter/Boots/Taylor is a three guard lineup.

And I don't know any way to easily find lineup data, but if you think the only difference these last few games is Manny just being inserted into the lineup differently, then that wouldn't be to Buzz's credit, it would be to his massive discredit that he never tried it before. And of course Buzz isn't going to put him out there for 20 minutes when he's not playing well.

You can still give Buzz credit for sticking with the hot hand when Manny was clearly more effective against South Carolina than Carter and Hefner and then just rolling with it these last few games and changing up the defense to maximize Manny's athleticism out there. Those are good coaching decisions.

But at the same it's also true that Manny just simply wasn't very good most of the season, and at times he was straight up terrible. He had our worst +/- in several games this season. And it's more than just lineup combinations if you go from one of our worst players to one of our best.

I think there's some truth to both sides of the narrative and a lot of it is interconnected. Buzz deserves credit for sticking with a hot lineup but, yes Manny was unplayable for a large portion of the season.

How does Henry's decline affect Manny's opportunity to showcase? How would a peak Henry (Best Big Available) with an Andy + Manny + Boots + Wade combo look? And quite honestly, that's probably what the coaching staff envisioned in April/May of last year is that lineup. However, we never really got to see that lineup perform at a high level this year.

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What's the point of this thread?

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To try to get someone, anyone to compliment the coaching move that was a radical change. The twisting of the facts is pretty amazing here. Manny sucked, and then he didn't. But, now it's to Buzz' discredit that it wasn't tried sooner. Wow.

I'm not sure what advice the coaching staff maybe gave him, but it sure looks like the game has slowed down a bit for him. He's seeing the offensive scheme more readily than he did earlier in the year, when he was more prone to tunnel vision ISO ball.

If this is more of a turning of the corner, that could make us a viable contender in the SEC tournament. Wade, Boots, and Manny are all guys with the ability to get their own shot, and this only creates more stressors on the defense (because no team wants to leave Taylor in single coverage if they can help it).

txag72 said:

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What's the point of this thread?

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To try to get someone, anyone to compliment the coaching move that was a radical change. The twisting of the facts is pretty amazing here. Manny sucked, and then he didn't. But, now it's to Buzz' discredit that it wasn't tried sooner. Wow.

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What are you talking about?

You're the one that's saying Manny is the same player he's always been, we just finally played him with Boots and Wade. If that's true, the only thing holding Manny back all this time (remember he was on the same team as Boots and Wade last year too) was Buzz not playing him alongside those two, then it would be coaching malpractice. We only have like six guards and only two of them have been reliably good, if the coaching staff couldn't come up with "hey let's try one of the other ones" before now they should all be fired.

I'm saying that's not the case. Manny had given Buzz no reason to think he could play like this. He didn't earn the playing time. Manny's playing better, he's getting more time, that's good solid coaching and a player improving. And now Buzz is modifying the defense to play to Manny's strengths also. Good coaching! This is giving Buzz credit without making it sound like our coaching staff is full of idiots.

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You're the one that's saying Manny is the same player he's always been, we just finally played him with Boots and Wade.

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Pretty much yea. We are totally on different pages as to who got Manny in a position to succeed. Three guards who can drive to the basket gives more opportunity for one on one on Manny without getting doubled team like
Wade and Boots do when it's just the two of him. They can handle it better than Manny. Hence why Manny works better now.

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that's good solid coaching and a player improving.

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YAY, you said it. That's all I was saying to begin with.

Then if you think that's true, that Manny has always been this capable. How do you think it's good coaching that it's taken two entire seasons to try it?

I literally said "You can give Buzz credit" and "those are good coaching decisions" in my last post.

C'mon bobinator. He improved over-night, between 3 games ago when we started this offense and 4 games ago when we didn't. I yield. I give coaching 95% of the change. I give Manny 25% for taking advantage of the opportunity because the results have been greater than a 100% change in team performance against the competition we played..

I'm not saying it was overnight. And it actually started in the South Carolina game. We lost that game, but Manny played pretty well and Carter was terrible so they gave Manny the start against Georgia and he was effective in that game as well so keep it rolling.

I guess we can just agree to disagree if you think the Manny we've seen the last couple of games is the same one we saw earlier in the season just with different teammates on the floor and think that constitutes some kind of incredible coaching decision.

somehow this is Wade Taylors fault

I'll settle this and say Buzz is the best coach in the country. Fair?

He didn't transform, he just 'formed'