For an article by an undergraduate, this guy sounds like a dinosaur.
"Wigginton should have played more!"
He played more minutes than Horton-Tucker in the Big 12. He played a lot more minutes in Kansas City and the game in Tulsa. What more do you want?
THT was streaky as heck on the offensive end, but Prohm was quick about yanking him if he was not feeling it that night. Seeing what you have with your streakiest guy early on any given night is good information to have. THT at least tried to keep guys in front of him and could match up with bigger guys, though. Wigginton got blown by constantly.
The only statistical evidence on offer are volume metrics and scoring. Come on, KenPom is cheap, and Barttorvik has basically the same stuff for free. Do your homework.
Who goes to the bench in his stead?
Nick? ...your fifth-year senior and a very good college PG, when nobody else proved they could run the offense, especially Lindell? nope
NWB career ATR = 358/138 = 2.59
Wigginton career ATR = 141/141 = 1.00
Who do you want playing PG again?
Haliburton? ...your best shooter, best passer, and an excellent perimeter defender? nope... plus, bad idea to have three volume chuckers on the floor at once
Haliburton freshman ATR = 125/28 = 4.46
Morris freshman ATR = 134/28 = 4.79
Shayok? ...the guy was first-team all-Big 12 for a reason... if volume scoring is all you care about, Shayok had it, and he was more efficient than LW or THT... the guy had a very legitimate shot at conference player of the year if we did not have our slump in Feburary
Shayok and Wigginton both had a usage of 26.9%
Shayok had an offensive rating of 111.9, Wigginton was 107.2
Horton-Tucker? ...already been over this, Wigginton played more than him in the Big 12 by minutes, even if THT was a better defender but less consistent on offense... I know "starter" confers status, but Wigginton was ahead of him in the rotation by minutes
The idea that the lineup or rotations were grossly mismanaged this season somehow is laughable. Trying to have three volume wings out there at once would have been a bad idea, and Prohm made the smart decision of going with Shayok and one of Wigginton or Horton-Tucker, riding the hot hand on any given night. We lost because of flaws in the roster, the defensive slump/loss of team cohesiveness in February, and the simple randomness that can happen in college basketball, not because the wrong guys were on the court to any significant degree.
We had our best men out there on any given night.
I really hate this "Iowa's best player is always their backup QB" kind of stuff.
