So, with all the talk about the "lack of depth" and that our players are playing too many minutes, I took a look at the season stats of our competition to see how much water this holds. What I found:
Season totals:
- From ESPN.Com, I took the top 5 players from our main competition to see how our top 5 compared.
There is a drop off after Ok that lends some creadance to the thought that ISU is wearing out during games.
Average of MIN Baylor 32.54 Iowa State 32.3 Oklahoma 31.84 Texas 29.06 Texas Tech 28.66 Colorado 28.06 Iowa 27.84 Texas A&M 27.44 Kansas 26.44 Oklahoma State 26.14 Kansas State 26.1 Missouri 25.4 Nebraska 23.84 Average 28.1
Conference Totals:
From Big XII.com, ISU has 3 of the Top Ten averages for the conference (OU -2, BU - 2, KSU - 1, TT - 1, CU - 1). (The other 2 from ISU are JVB (30.2 mpg - ~20th) and Egim (29 mpg - ~27th)).
Minutes Played
## Player-Team Cl G Minutes Avg/G
-------------------------------------------------
1.Garrett, Diante-ISU...... SR 12 459 38.25
Christopherson,Scott-ISU. JR 12 459 38.25
3.Roberson, John-TTU....... SR 12 451 37.58
4.Jones III, Perry-BU...... FR 12 447 37.25
5.Dunn, LaceDarius-BU...... SR 12 442 36.83
6.Clark, Cameron-OU........ FR 12 437 36.42
7.Anderson, Jake-ISU....... SR 12 418 34.83
Pullen, Jacob-KSU........ SR 12 418 34.83
9.Pledger, Steven-OU....... SO 12 417 34.75
10.Higgins, Cory-CU......... SR 12 406 33.83
So, it would seem that there is something to the thought that ISU's players are getting more minutes,and therefore more worn down, than our competition. Other notes:
- KU and MU have nobody over 30 mpg - kNU, aTm, TTU, and OSU only 1
- All KU starters average between 25 and 30 minutes.
I think the lack of depth plays into another large problem- defense. I don't think the guys can afford to be as aggressive as we'd like them to be, because foul trouble could become the difference in a game very easily.
Great teams typically play their best players the most minutes. Good teams rely on depth with good players, bad teams - lets just say we are playing our best players lots of minutes - that doesn't mean that our best players match up well with the best players with the rest of our competition, its possible that we are simply seeing great effort from a group of guys that probably wouldn't play as much for other teams (this year) except DG.
These guys are playing way too many minutes at this level of basketball.
Way too many minutes and not enough manpower gets you last place in most any power conference and thats what we are seeing play out right before our eyes...
A lot of mins for the starting 5 but a big part is level of talent coming off the bench. Look at Texas, only 3 mins behind ISU but they don't drop off dramatically when the starters are getting a breather. The Clones go on scoring droughts when starters go out of the game. I think a better stat comparison would be average/game bench points during the Big 12 season.
A blind man should be able to figure this one out. No doubt at all this is a major problem for us this year.
Two more weeks and we can put this behind us. I'll give this years team an A for heart and don't quit. We can be proud of how they'e conducted business.
I find it sad that so many are quick to discount the athleticism of our players and minimize the effect of fatigue. Tired legs always look half a step slow at the end of a game.
It is really too bad that we have such a short bench this year. It could have been a magical season.
I counted at least 4 times yesterday where Mizzou subbed out all 5 players at the same time. If we even had 2 more capable players to sub in we'd probably have about 4 more conference wins. We just need a couple of years to build some depth.
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