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
- Start date
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.
Last edited:
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.
Agree to disagree Smith was not there for defense. The other way to look at this - if KJ was in there, the stached dude would very likely have had wide open 3s like he had earlier when KJ was in (which might have been better, haha, but not what you want as far as an expectation).
There is a young guy at work with the same stache. Apparently it's a thing. I'll pass
Impossible to know, Collins would be the only one able to answer.
But the KJ thing... I don't know he'd give up open 3's. Maybe he would, maybe he is more naive in general, maybe he'd be more intimidated, even if that is a part he excels and surprises as a fan... anyway...
As a rule of thumb, shorter players close out better on 3's than taller ones, because they are faster. Of course if the speed is the same a longer wingspan is better. Taller players tend to keep more of a distance on shooters because of being more easily beaten off the dribble, again speed. What taller players do better is denying the shorter range game, because of height. So, I think stache could more easily finish on a penetration vs KJ than vs Smith, but not so much have an advantage on the 3's.
Of course this is all complicated by the switches, we switch on everyone anyway, sometimes even 1-5, so who was on whom to start the plays matter. Should Mullins have had the assignments Smith did? Would USC run different sets for the switches they wanted? Was it all random? Possible. But the switches play a huge roll, we won the home game against IL because Martinelli feasted on the switches.
I've gotta disagree about the Smith thing - and I was raging at him on those last three fouls - but from what my inexperienced eye could see, Collins had him in at the end specifically to guard and stop stache guy, who at that point in the game was basically USC's entire offense and was going to shoot the ball. I think Collins told Smith to face guard him and stop him, and Smith tried way too hard to do his assignment.
Earlier in the game when he was playing in the flow of the team, he had zero fouls, got some stops, an assist, and took the ball to the rim twice when he saw the opportunity. He's tall, skinny, and reasonably quick so worth playing when the matchups are there. But he was definitely not ready to go one on one against the guy on fire (9-11, 4-4 from three) for the other team.
In the moment it reminded me of those times in years past when Chase would over-agressively foul a three point shooter in the closing minute of a close game. He didn't do it three times in a row, tho.
Earlier in the game when he was playing in the flow of the team, he had zero fouls, got some stops, an assist, and took the ball to the rim twice when he saw the opportunity. He's tall, skinny, and reasonably quick so worth playing when the matchups are there. But he was definitely not ready to go one on one against the guy on fire (9-11, 4-4 from three) for the other team.
In the moment it reminded me of those times in years past when Chase would over-agressively foul a three point shooter in the closing minute of a close game. He didn't do it three times in a row, tho.
There is no justification for multiple fouls on threes, but from my vantage point the switching put him on the porn star. I thought he was in to try and stop Agbo from hitting the 3. He is 6’7 and Smith had the brain cramp with him too. The stasche 3 was a bomb. Will have to rewatch the ending to see if I mis-remembered what I think we were trying to do. Felt awful for the kid, he has to know better.
I like Blake Smith and am one of those who said we should have given him a scholarship. Doesn’t change the fact that he should have been swapped out for KJ given the defensive mistakes he made and that he was such a liability on offense that we were playing 4 on 5 with them doubling off of him to Martinelli, Ty Berry, whoever had the ball. He looked good at times earlier in the game but mentally he got shook and lost his confidence so we should have gone with someone else. Sure we still won the game but jeez we blew a 15 point lead.
Separate topic - the only nice part about Brooks being out is it has led to Chris adapting the offense and freeing up other people to make plays. Ty made a couple mistakes he’s all of a sudden attacking off the dribble, and Mullins had I think his best game as a Wildcat. Even Keenan is developing. Ty and Mullins were largely reduced to catch and shoot options and Keenan just a screener when our offense was primarily Brooks or Martinelli going iso after running through a token off ball motion and then an on ball screen to get a desired switch. They now have the opportunity to not just get more minutes, but also develop new parts of their game.
Smith also drove to the basket and was fouled at least 3 times. Made most of his free throws. Collins praised him for this after the game (he could probably hear all the murmuring about Smith playing too much)
I agree emphatically.
The last two fouls, USC's play (to my eyes) was bring the ball down and peel Smith off at the point, breaking right for an open three. Same play both times.
The last one was a super brain fart. Let the guy take the three, the worst case is we have a one point lead and the ball with 12 seconds left. They have to foul on the inbound - put Ty on the line to keep the lead at three. Heck if we have to do it, foul the guy coming down the court and make them shoot two free throws. We can win by one point as well as by two.
I agree he almost cost us a win with his defense. However, it doesn’t matter who he puts in, NU is playing generously 4 against 5 when we have the ball.
IMO Smith made two bad mental mistakes (second foul was phantom to my eyes), the one with the four point lead was the sort of thing that gets you benched for awhile so we will see what next game holds as far as playing time.
But we keep saying “his defense” hurt us - he was rotating correctly and getting through screens as he should have. He rebounds ok and gets his nose in the mix. He has good size and wingspan and, for a walk-on thrust into random minutes in the best college hoops league, his ball skills are shockingly good. He had three takes where if the layup fell when he got hacked suddenly he has three and-ones and it completely changes the complexion of the game and how he is perceived.
His game overall did not and does not hurt us on either end in the macro sense. To say it is 4v5 with him on the floor is just wrong from what I saw last night and that six game stretch last year.
If we get really bad news on Leach then he needs to play 15-20 minutes a game and I think he will prove haters wrong.
But we keep saying “his defense” hurt us - he was rotating correctly and getting through screens as he should have. He rebounds ok and gets his nose in the mix. He has good size and wingspan and, for a walk-on thrust into random minutes in the best college hoops league, his ball skills are shockingly good. He had three takes where if the layup fell when he got hacked suddenly he has three and-ones and it completely changes the complexion of the game and how he is perceived.
His game overall did not and does not hurt us on either end in the macro sense. To say it is 4v5 with him on the floor is just wrong from what I saw last night and that six game stretch last year.
If we get really bad news on Leach then he needs to play 15-20 minutes a game and I think he will prove haters wrong.
Agreed 100%. Feels icky to say on some level but Brooks was so beat up that we were stuck. Too awesome to bench, but too injured to help.
We saw rotations last night we have never seen before and I thought the offense looked better than it has in awhile.
Experience and D in critical period in game and it was a game we needed to win Not sure about the fouls on 3 pt shots but otherwise. Chello had only been in for couple minutes and had a couple fouls. Wyndam not much experience in that position
