Playing Time

[Goose85]

Last year MU was deep and Buzz played a lot of guys, but down the stretch Vander was getting in the upper 30's for minutes every game. Junior and Lockett were next in line with most minutes played.

I see this year's team being just as deep as last years squad with many players getting minutes. The difference for this year may be that nobody gets the huge minutes like Vander did last season. Jamil W could be the only one close to getting such minutes.

Looking at minutes in conference play, MU will be replacing;

2G - Vander's 34 min per game.
PG - Junior's 29 min per game.
SF - Lockett's 28 min per game.

With the exception of Gardner and Outle who played 22 and 18 minutes per game, the rest of the spots have a lot of time available.

Jamil Wilson played 25 min per game, but after that, nobody averaged 15 min per game.

PG - De Wilson played 12 min per game.
SG - Mayo averaged 14 min per game. Thomas 3 min per game.
SF - Anderson averaged 12 min per game.
PF - Taylor averaged 9 min per game.

Playing time at a lot of positions will be up for grabs. The frosh need to come in ready to play non-froshlike defense.

[Nukem2]

Will be very interesting to see how the rotation settles out this year. This is a truly deep team and the newcomers look ready to contribute ( harkening back to the days of the 3 amigos ). Practices should be something else.

[BLT]

For those who didn't like Buzz's hockey line substitutions last past season, they should buy a can of WD40 for next as our necks will be on a swivel.

[Phantom Warrior]

It seems like a majority of people are skeptical that next year's frosh will see much playing time, or at least more playing time than some of our returning back-ups from this year, especially Derrick and Todd, but I could also include Juan. Yes, these players have more experience than the incoming freshmen, but look back to the 2005-2006 season.

In 2004-2005 Joe Chapman was MU's fourth leading scorer (8.1 ppg), and he ranked fifth in playing time at 25.1 mpg. Yet the next year, as a senior with three year's experience at MU, he played fewer minutes than both Jerel and Wesley, and had WM not been injured and missed seven games - allowing JC to move into the starting line up - JC would not have averaged even 20 mpg as a senior.

Meanwhile, Jerel averaged 27.5 mpg as a frosh, and Wesley averaged 23.9 mpg, and that number would have been higher, but it took awhile for him to get back into form after returing from his injury.

I see that situation as analagous to the situations this coming year at the point and at the 2 guard. Last year, neither Derrick (13.1 mpg), nor Todd (14.0 mpg) averaged anywhere near Chapman's 25.1 mpg his junior year.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Derrick's mpg remain roughly the same, maybe a tad higher than his 13.1 mpg, with Duane getting 24-26 mpg at point. I'm not saying that will happen, but I think it definitely could happen.

At the 2, I could also see JaJuan ending up averaging more mpg than Todd. TM will certainly have first shot at starting, but I would not be the least bit surprised if by the start of conference play, JJ passes TM in terms of minutes.

It will be harder for Deonte to get significant mpg because Jamil will almost certainly average between 25-30 mpg, primarily or exclusively at the 3. But there are back-up minutes available. Deonte will battle Juan for those minutes, but I would not automatically assume Juan will get them, despite his edge in experience.

A lot of people also tend to forget that besides the Amigos, there was another "new" player that earned major minutes on the 2005-2006 team - Fitzgerald. In fact, he averaged basically 20 mpg (19.9). Most fans, I think, expected Amoroso to increase his minutes from the previous year (15.2 mpg), but that didn't happen. His minutes stayed virtually the same (15.0 mpg).

Add to that the fact that Grimm's minutes dropped from 13.3 mpg as a junior to 7.7 mpg as a senior, partially due to another new face in Lott, who averaged 11.0 mpg.

My point is simple: veterans don't always get increased minutes, or even the same minutes, from one year to the next. Sometimes newcomers enter a program and end up with more playing time than returning players because they are more talented than the returnees.

Now, maybe Duane and JaJuan will end up as back-ups to Derrick and Todd. And maybe Deonte hardly sees the court playing behind Jamil and Juan. (And I haven't even included Dawson into the picture.) But I will be surprised if Duane does not average around 24-26 mpg. I also think the odds of JaJuan ending up getting at least as many mpg as Todd in league/post-season play are at least 50-50.

It is going to be extremely interesting to see how mpg plays out next year. In the end, I expect 10 players on next year's team to average double-digit mpg.

[ValiantSailor]

How do those numbers work with Buzz as our coach?

VS

[MUMac]

How do those numbers work with Buzz as our coach?

VS

I keep hearing this comment. Buzz has never had a class or need like this. His Freshman classes are as follows:

Chris Otule - injured and not a high recruit
Jeronne Maymon - had decent playing time, but transferred early in the season
Junior Cadougan - missed most of the season with an injury
Youssapha Mbao - a project
Erik Williams - Spot player
Vander Blue - Played in all games, started 12, averaged 19 minutes
Reggie Smith - transferred early, started 5 of 8 games and was averaging 10 minutes
Devante Gardner - A bit out of condition to start. Averaged 9 minutes
Jamail Jones - Spot Player
Juan Anderson - battled an injury for most of the season after being suspended early. Averaged just under 5 minutes
Todd Mayo - averaged 21+ minutes, started 2 games
Derrick Williams - averaged 8.8 minutes, started 2 games
Jamal Fegusson - Seldom used
Steve Taylor, Jr - was starting to see increased minutes, but I wonder much the knee injury impacted those minutes. Averaged 8.9 minutes

So, Buzz has given solid minutes to Frosh. I have no doubt Maymon's would have increased, had he stayed. The highest rated Frosh was Vander and he had significant minutes.

I believe that the Frosh will see good minutes. I have a gut feel right now who see's the most, but I will let them get on campus first.

[ValiantSailor]

I agree that the freshmen will see the floor, and most will have significant minutes. I think Vander's freshman year could be a hint of what Buzz will do with the best in this class: started 1/3 of the time and played 1/2 of the minutes.

VS

[Phantom Warrior]

And Vander got those minutes even though DJ-O and Buycks - as well as Junior - were returning.