line ups when the 4 players out come back

[Cyclonepride]

Probably in the minority, but I would limit Babb's minutes and play whichever combo of freshman at guard works out the best all season.

I agree, simply to limit the wear and tear on him, as we need him all year. I'd love to see 28-30 minutes. It's hard to sit him because he's so good and versatile, but we will need him all season.

 

[flycy]

I agree, simply to limit the wear and tear on him, as we need him all year. I'd love to see 28-30 minutes. It's hard to sit him because he's so good and versatile, but we will need him all season.

My point was I want to see Haliburton and Wigginton play far more minutes than Babb. Babb is good for spurts, but disappears too much during critical portions of games. If he isn't driving consistently he is an offensive liability. I don't know if that has always been due to his health or if that is just the player he is. Either way, I think we have a better team in March if he is playing 20 or under.

 

[salennon07]

My point was I want to see Haliburton and Wigginton play far more minutes than Babb. Babb is good for spurts, but disappears too much during critical portions of games. If he isn't driving consistently he is an offensive liability. I don't know if that has always been due to his health or if that is just the player he is. Either way, I think we have a better team in March if he is playing 20 or under.

I do think you will be in the minority here... Even when it seems like he disappears he is still silently stuffing the Stat sheet... The offense always seems to flow better when Babb is in the game.

I agree to limit him for wear and tear purposes but that's it.

 

[Cyclonepride]

My point was I want to see Haliburton and Wigginton play far more minutes than Babb. Babb is good for spurts, but disappears too much during critical portions of games. If he isn't driving consistently he is an offensive liability. I don't know if that has always been due to his health or if that is just the player he is. Either way, I think we have a better team in March if he is playing 20 or under.

I disagree completely. You can have a very positive effect on the game without shooting (and he does). I would like him to shoot more though.

 

[Dingus]

I’m hoping the offense flows much better when Babb’s not in this year- besides Halliburton the addition of creators in Shayok and THT should help a lot. We just had no one else besides Wigginton last year who could create when Babb was out.

 

[bosco]

I thought it was limited worthless political debate and justifying allocation of resources across different silos of business organizations, but now we're seeing the problem with "facts" right here on Cyclonefanatic.

Simply put, enough statistics exist nowadays that anyone can use some statistic to support essentially any position they desire. All too often, people will take extreme positions and then find statistics to support their position. If they search hard enough, they can find something they can then spin to say the "facts" clearly support my position.

Not surprisingly, the other side can do the same, such that arguments are futile.

With the lecture over, it sure does seem that a player's defensive capability is measured not by any one statistic, but by many. Blocks, rebounds, points allowed and even efficiency (individually, team and even ranking within a team) all are separate indicators, but other indicators can't be measured by mere statistics.

So, just to put all the cards on the table, is this a correct summary?

• Lard has a higher vertical jump, such that he can block more shots than Jacobson and can get certain rebounds that Jacobson can't get
• Lard's presence (mainly when helping out, but some on-ball) impacts more shots than Jacobson's presence
• Jacobsen moves laterally better than Lard, such that he is more capable of guarding anyone (less of a liability guarding guards out top) on a switch than Lard
• Jacobsen is in the right place on defense (especially on screens and hedging and recovering) more often Lard
• Lard had a better individual defensive ranking on the team last year than Jacobsen has on the team this year
• The team has a significantly better defensive ranking this year with Jacobsen playing than the team had with Lard playing
• The freshmen and Shayok playing this year are better at defense than DJax and the other players from last year that are no longer on the team this year, playing fewer minutes this year than last year or are suspended / injured from this year.

Any other specific evidence to support the various positions?

If not, I'd say it's about a wash.

Against some teams (e.g., those that are capable of making tough shots consistently--think KU/Duke/etc...), we will want to have the dynamic & intimidating Lard rather than the solid & quick Jacobsen.

Against other teams (e.g., those that rely on getting teams out of position and making easy layups/other buckets--think WVU/Texas Tech/etc...), we will want the opposite.

I do know that I trust Prohm and Co to know when to play each or both of their two great post defenders.

Time for a moderator to summarize this long post in three short bullet points.

TLDR
Lard is good and certain things and MJ is good at certain things.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Who would you bench for Lard right now?