Can someone tell me why Blake Smith is in the game?

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I've gotta disagree about the Smith thing - and I was raging at him on those last three fouls

You have to rid yourself of this objectivity. No matter what happens it was 100% the right move and the best we could do. If it didn't work, we were very unlucky. Most importantly if something doesn't work, there was no way to foresee this happening. If it does work, well, you know, the man's a genius....

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

Thank you! Of course Smith deserved a scholarship. Not on his ability, but as a reward for his significant contribution last year. At least some sort of monetary award, I don't know what, if anything, was worked out.

But what in the name of Collins does that have to do with who subs in for Leach? Its just asinine to conflate those two things.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

regarding Clayton—> hasn’t played a minute? Injured? Expect him to transfer?

If I were Jordan Clayton, Sr, I would say to my son "The only way you're transferring is if you can get a full ride at a better school."

It looks like he is redshirting.

 

[DaCat]

If I were Jordan Clayton, Sr, I would say to my son "The only way you're transferring is if you can get a full ride at a better school."

It looks like he is redshirting.

They announced at the beginning of the season that he is redshirting. He’s got a great attitude on the bench, he’s very engaged and supports his teammates, no sulking. That’s impressive in this day and age.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

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:

• 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.

Thank you for adding your insight to the discussion. Even-handed and thoughtful as always. Well, very close to always.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Wow, just wow. Imagine all the criticism of CCC’s rotations when we lose a game.

Someone is going to have to score with Barney and Jalen out. Maybe KJ or Gelo can show some offense that has been missing all season. Smith will play if Jalen doesn’t because understands the defense. KJ should be able to get 10 points or so driving and hitting an occasional 3 against Washington.

 

[SDakaGordie]

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:

• 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.

To say this is not about Smith’s decision making is ultimately quite out of the ordinary. Collins went with a “seasoned” guy because seasoned means Collins has seen him in action before and trusts him. Things didn’t turn out the way anyone wanted, but it’s on Smith (and I’m sure he believes that himself).

 

[GatoLouco]

To say this is not about Smith’s decision making is ultimately quite out of the ordinary. Collins went with a “seasoned” guy because seasoned means Collins has seen him in action before and trusts him. Things didn’t turn out the way anyone wanted, but it’s on Smith (and I’m sure he believes that himself).

That's not my point, of course you foul or not based on decision making. That's obvious and factual. I can see how it can get confusing.

My point is that deciding to not having him out there should not be argued on the basis of his decision making. Because on paper, he was more likely than others to make good decisions.

 

[ThatkidfromHolland]

That's not my point, of course you foul or not based on decision making. That's obvious and factual. I can see how it can get confusing.

My point is that deciding to not having him out there should not be argued on the basis of his decision making. Because on paper, he was more likely than others to make good decisions.

Expected Pros Smith in: Seasoned, not expected to make offensive or defensive mistakes. Solid defender and long, so should help prevent 3’s.

Expected Cons Smith in: Doesn’t space the floor, isn’t a great ball-handler when they will be pressing.

Unexpected: Ended up making glaring defensive mistakes and you can’t/don’t expect that from a Junior. He ended up getting to line a few times and doing something offensively despite allowing them to press the perimeter.

On paper this move made sense to me. Protect the lead, Gello had been turning the ball over. KJ/Gello are not the defenders Smith is yet. 3 whistles later and you’re wondering what the heck is going on. Saw an offensive sub late that yanked Smith out.

 

[TXnumbCAT]

regarding Clayton—> hasn’t played a minute? Injured? Expect him to transfer?

I thought they announced he's redshirting this year. Or that was just assumed...

 

[GatoLouco]

Expected Pros Smith in: Seasoned, not expected to make offensive or defensive mistakes. Solid defender and long, so should help prevent 3’s.

Expected Cons Smith in: Doesn’t space the floor, isn’t a great ball-handler when they will be pressing.

Unexpected: Ended up making glaring defensive mistakes and you can’t/don’t expect that from a Junior. He ended up getting to line a few times and doing something offensively despite allowing them to press the perimeter.

On paper this move made sense to me. Protect the lead, Gello had been turning the ball over. KJ/Gello are not the defenders Smith is yet. 3 whistles later and you’re wondering what the heck is going on. Saw an offensive sub late that yanked Smith out.

I agree. My only question was how much we wanted to take risks in beating the press. We were fine, maybe coach knew USC did not press particularly well. We ended up being fine beating the press with Martinelli and Mullins.

I am guessing were we playing Penn State, KJ would have been playing once Leach went down.

 

[AdamOnFirst]

Expected Pros Smith in: Seasoned, not expected to make offensive or defensive mistakes. Solid defender and long, so should help prevent 3’s.

Expected Cons Smith in: Doesn’t space the floor, isn’t a great ball-handler when they will be pressing.

Unexpected: Ended up making glaring defensive mistakes and you can’t/don’t expect that from a Junior. He ended up getting to line a few times and doing something offensively despite allowing them to press the perimeter.

On paper this move made sense to me. Protect the lead, Gello had been turning the ball over. KJ/Gello are not the defenders Smith is yet. 3 whistles later and you’re wondering what the heck is going on. Saw an offensive sub late that yanked Smith out.

The unexpected is the big thing going forward. If your role is to be an offensive liability whose value is to play blue collar defense and be a veteran glue spark plug then you absolutely cannot period ever no matter what for any reason ever make catastrophic basic mental lapses, much less several in a row. Nobody can make lapses that bad, it a guy who is supposed to be a non-stat type contributor off the bench simply can’t do that ever. Ever!

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I agree. My only question was how much we wanted to take risks in beating the press. We were fine, maybe coach knew USC did not press particularly well. We ended up being fine beating the press with Martinelli and Mullins.

I am guessing were we playing Penn State, KJ would have been playing once Leach went down.

I doubt it.
I think Collins played Smith because he didn't trust Windham. (Windham is better at basketball than Smith)
We may never know.
I suspect we know our team better than the USC coach did - but Collins would assume Musselman knew our ballhandling problems.
In other words, USC missed an opportunity defensively.
Double Martinelli and make somebody else handle the ball, then take it from them.

 

[SDakaGordie]

That's not my point, of course you foul or not based on decision making. That's obvious and factual. I can see how it can get confusing.

My point is that deciding to not having him out there should not be argued on the basis of his decision making. Because on paper, he was more likely than others to make good decisions.

I admit this second paragraph still confuses me…Deciding not on the basis of his decision making? No need to reply…