And why our freshmen are plastered to the bench? This season the rotations by Collins have often been impossible to fathom.
Can someone tell me why Blake Smith is in the game?
- Thread starter Medill '03
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I thought the moment they started double teaming KJ should have been in. Not so much a Smith or not thing, but just better ball handling.
Smith is 6 ft 7 and the guy he's guarding is like 6'3 so I think that was the logic but it didn't work out
I mean, yeah, but when he’s so egregiously bad on offense, and makes two of those most inexcusable defensive mistakes, I can’t fathom what played into that decision.
Uh…don’t think Collins expected him to make those fouls.
I really like Blake Smith’s attitude and I’m sure he is a great person but he was an utter disaster on both offense and defense down the stretch. It was borderline criminal negligence by Collins to not take him out for Windham or Ciaravino. We would have won that game by 6 or more if not for that. I mean I get it trust the experienced guy, but at some point when Blake is so clearly shell shocked - terrified to do anything on offense and we are playing literally 4 on 5, and then repeatedly fouling 3 point shooters on defense… I wanted to scream at the screen when he was back in the game for that last possession as I was severely concerned he was going to cost us the game with yet another reckless close out at the buzzer.
Ciaravino and Windham were horrible on D the entire time they played.
I’m hoping that Ciaravino and Windham can be major contributors next year. I don’t blame Collins if they’re not ready. But I struggle to see how they’ll get there by not playing, benched behind Smith.
Collins has put Smith for bits on defense all year. He was good at cutting off the drives all night, and that was the extent of the USC offense, aside from Sljakert.
Ummm. Did you watch Blake Smith compared to those two? His infractions down the stretch? Agree to disagree as to which of them you’d rather have out there, especially when on the other side of the floor it’s literally 4 on 5.
I know Chris is a smart guy and willing to make adjustments after the fact, so we won’t see that insanity next game. But it was pretty incredible that he didn’t make an adjustment down the stretch when Blake was so clearly shell shocked and terrible on the floor the last 4 minutes. At least we got the win. Phew.
And then after 3 bad fouls he still put him back out there for the last possession with 2.9 seconds left. Thankfully Ty was the guy on ball for the inbounds and he swept it away safely.
Last year, a lot of people were clamoring for Blake to be put on scholarship. Now we still get folks acting like it’s some bizarre decision not to play the Freshman. Mullins got abused for weeks here questioning his value. That doesn’t look too smart either. Gelo literally ****ed up badly 3 of the first possessions in the game. He tries hard, but he has been passed in the rotation by Mullins and maybe even Smith. I can’t remember the last time he scored, maybe he hit a bucket in the last couple games, yet Smith gets accused of being scared. Who scored more points today? Which one went to the hoop at least once? Pretty sure if he put up a shot in the last few sequences, he would have been crucified by everyone.
It’s the same thing every year. Freshman flash and then people want to see them more. Barney, Nick, and Big Matt famously went through the learning curve. They weren’t ready either and that turned out pretty good. Maybe just maybe CCC and the staff know what’s best in bringing along the Freshmsn. History says they do.
It’s the same thing every year. Freshman flash and then people want to see them more. Barney, Nick, and Big Matt famously went through the learning curve. They weren’t ready either and that turned out pretty good. Maybe just maybe CCC and the staff know what’s best in bringing along the Freshmsn. History says they do.
In fairness, I’m not sure the first 2 were fouls. But he shouldn’t have been that close to the shooter. 3rd one was crazy dumb.
Yep, second one especially was not a good call, though you wouldn’t know it from Brian Butch’s color commentary. Never wished harder for Robbie Hummell on the call.
The mental mistakes were bad for Smith no doubt, but he looked confident and aggressive on offense. I did not see egregiously bad offense at all. He drew six free throws! If only Martinelli got that respect from the zebras!
About midway through the second half Windham got pinned on a screen halfway down the lane while his man hit an uncontested three. I don't think he saw the floor again. He flashes an explosiveness on both ends that we might not have ever seen in a Wildcat uniform, but the fundamentals just aren't there. Yet. He is going to be a heckuva player and we need that to happen now, especially if Leach is down. But Smith was clearly the better option process-wise (outcomes may be a different story, but we won so learn from it) and is light years more under control with the ball and switching on defense.
This entire offseason, there was a lot of buzz about how Smith deserved a scholarship based on his performance last season. Yes, he made some key mistakes, but two out of those three were questionable calls. At some point, you'd expect a player with that much time in the program to adjust and realize how the refs are calling it. That said, he still found his way to the line when NU's offense was stagnant, especially during those dead possessions, something the freshmen and anyone outside of Martinelli weren't doing late.
Gelo, on the other hand, struggled from the jump. He had turnovers on two of the first few possessions, and defensively, both he and KJ were getting exploited. Honestly, the argument that Gelo is a better defender than Mullins still baffles me. Smith is generally a solid defender and doesn’t force things offensively, which is a good thing. Those fouls will serve as a learning experience.
Collins made the choice to start the guy who's been in his defensive system for three years over players with just part of a season under their belt, who were getting torched on screens, drives, and switches. I don't have an issue with that decision, it makes sense. As for Smith’s fouls, I’m not bothered by the first two. It’s that third one that was really tough, and then we saw Gelo subbed in for offense soon after.
Yes, Smith’s lack of an outside shot allowed defenses to sag off him, but at least he wasn’t turning the ball over in crunch time and got to the line a few times. NU got the win, and at the end of the day, Collins is still the best coach this program has had. I’m going to trust he knows the game and his players better than anyone else in this fanbase.
Gelo, on the other hand, struggled from the jump. He had turnovers on two of the first few possessions, and defensively, both he and KJ were getting exploited. Honestly, the argument that Gelo is a better defender than Mullins still baffles me. Smith is generally a solid defender and doesn’t force things offensively, which is a good thing. Those fouls will serve as a learning experience.
Collins made the choice to start the guy who's been in his defensive system for three years over players with just part of a season under their belt, who were getting torched on screens, drives, and switches. I don't have an issue with that decision, it makes sense. As for Smith’s fouls, I’m not bothered by the first two. It’s that third one that was really tough, and then we saw Gelo subbed in for offense soon after.
Yes, Smith’s lack of an outside shot allowed defenses to sag off him, but at least he wasn’t turning the ball over in crunch time and got to the line a few times. NU got the win, and at the end of the day, Collins is still the best coach this program has had. I’m going to trust he knows the game and his players better than anyone else in this fanbase.
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I get it we want to point blame, but let's not make this about Smith's decision making. This can be an argument about other things, about strategy, but about decision making, I don't know, who knows if one of the freshmen would have committed 4 turnovers? What happened was very, very out of the ordinary.
I don't agree that Smith was there for defense, or any other reason other than he was, on paper, more seasoned. To me Collins went with the more seasoned players he had on hand. We can argue that minutes wise Smith is not seasoned, which is true, but he's been with the team for longer than the freshmen.
Here's what, in my mind we can question, without knowing if alternatives would have turned out better:
I don't agree that Smith was there for defense, or any other reason other than he was, on paper, more seasoned. To me Collins went with the more seasoned players he had on hand. We can argue that minutes wise Smith is not seasoned, which is true, but he's been with the team for longer than the freshmen.
Here's what, in my mind we can question, without knowing if alternatives would have turned out better:
- USC was pressing, double teaming full court and 1/2 court on Nick. When Leach was out it was risky to not put another better ball handler in. That would be KJ. Anyway, we did not suffer from it because USC could not figure out they needed to take the ball off of Nick's hands (or simply could not do it) in the full court press. We saw what happened when the ball was in Mullins' hands, we were lucky to not have a turnover and had to call timeout.
- Smith made a lot of mistakes and was not yanked (I am not counting the last 12 seconds). I get it, each mistake looked so dumb and exceptional you think no way it happens again, but it did! Maybe he should have been pulled? There's often a double standard on the leash players have, with the youngin having a very short one. We saw how quickly Ciaravino was benched 2 minutes into the game. We see how badly he gets yelled at compared to others: growing pains.
- Should KJ have been in for the last 120 to 90 seconds based on free throw ability? Smith is a 75% shooter, Mullins is a 67%. KJ is 83%. The others, FT% or not, Berry, Nicholson, Martinelli, you are not benching them unless it's defense/offense.
