We'll see what happens on Saturday when a team has time to scout us down MM...but this team didn't miss a beat.
Can't say enough about the minutes Watson gave us.
Can't say enough about the minutes Watson gave us.
Milan Rumors - Hand Injury
- Thread starter hobbsfan27
- Start date
has there been any timeline for the injury? does a broken hand mean he can still stay in cardio-shape and just needs the broken bone to heal well enough. Is that 4-5 weeks?
I'm looking at the game at WV as a 'nothing to lose' type of game.
I know the team doesn't see it that way (someone will tell me that I'm sure) but I sit in a chair and watch.
CBS guy asked TJ how much longer and TJ said he is on schedule and it will be 2-4 weeks. Just passing the info
Would be great to get him back to go to Houston 2/22
That's good news! Either one of those (2 or 4 weeks) would be pretty good!
If we can get Milan back and into the flow again, by very early March, at the latest, it's big plus for us.
We've got the guys, and depth, that can weather this storm. Hopefully.
Now that Watson has proven he can contribute, with Milan back, we can run 9 deep. That's big for keeping our guys fresh to keep us well rested for the tournament.
Need Milan to heal and be 100% by the tournament. This is a national championship roster and we need to have all of our options available.
I was at The Palace in March 2000. Despite Sparty’s home court advantage, the blarge and other calls that went against us in that game, I will go to my grave believing that Martin Rancik’s foot injury cost that team the natty. Their 6’8 white guy very similar to Martin came off the bench and hit a couple huge 3s in their comeback. AJ something. Not only would Martin have been guarding him with his length, he would have been making shots like that of his own. Ugh, sorry to open this wound…..
I was at The Palace in March 2000. Despite Sparty’s home court advantage, the blarge and other calls that went against us in that game, I will go to my grave believing that Martin Rancik’s foot injury cost that team the natty. Their 6’8 white guy very similar to Martin came off the bench and hit a couple huge 3s in their comeback. AJ something. Not only would Martin have been guarding him with his length, he would have been making shots like that of his own. Ugh, sorry to open this wound…..
I'm honestly hoping it's 4 just so it's not rushed. Obviously I trust the staff, trainers, etc. to not rush it at the same time.
Things are a grind without him but ISU can still win plenty of games in the mean time.
Things are a grind without him but ISU can still win plenty of games in the mean time.
one thing to watch is when someone gets hurt it takes a while to gel and get rotations settled in. I see we are doing that with a few guys now. When Milan comes back, I would expect it to take a bit to gel also.
Hope we can get him back by the end of Feb so we get a couple weeks to get that "rotation" flow again heading in to the tournament.
Hope we can get him back by the end of Feb so we get a couple weeks to get that "rotation" flow again heading in to the tournament.
I'd guess Milan comes off the bench when he returns for that reason. Unless we're playing really bad by then. That's the only way I see them changing the starting lineup.
That makes sense - but I don't see TJ doing it. He runs 8 guys come hell or high water.
I'm hoping Milan returns for the 2/22 game @ Houston. It's the first game we really "need" him - as he's the X-factor Houston doesn't match up with well. He scored 27 pts and had 11 boards, 3 assists and zero turnovers in the two Houston games last year.
Milan is the one guy on our roster you can kind of clear out the side and give him the ball (in the mid-range) with his back to the basket. Tough to defend when he can step out and hit a three or a fade-away jumper. Jefferson is sort-of becoming that guy when you need to manufacture some offense (outside of letting Cujo fire away). You can run a lot of action through those types of guys against pressure defenses.
AJ Granger. I think he started and he's still setting illegal screens. This is your fault. You opened the wound.
Watson fits a run 'n' gun offense better and gives you way more on defense -- see the Arizona St. game at the end where they trotted out the "switch everything" defense with Lipsey, Gilbert, Jones, Watson, and Jefferson. Arizona St. had no idea what to do against it. The switches didn't generate favorable matchups for them, and the switching prevented them from segueing their offense into motion. The only points the Sun Devils scored in the last 5:30 of that game was the run-out three after the bad turnover from Jefferson.
In a grinding, half-court game, though, Watson's lack of offensive skill in the half-court hurts you (though still useful on defense and the boards). That situation is what Houston is going to want to force, and the half-court is where Milan's shooting and ability to break guys down one-on-one significantly helps. The half-court offensive lately has been something like "give it to Curt and let him do whatevs." It's worked okay, but I would want an option to be more dynamic against a team as formidable on defense as the Cougars.
Need to go deeper. I want TJ to just sit the starting 6 for the Big12 tournament and rest for the NCAA. With the way that tournament is going to be a war, I’d like to avoid more injuries. Too many memories of guys missing off teams that had a chance to go far.
Watson
Nojus
Heise
Chatfield
Rock
Hawley coming off the bench
I'm not quite sure where the whole "Otz always has an 8-man rotation" idea came from (it's not just you; pretty much everyone says it), but I don't think it's very accurate. Here are some of the top-line minutes numbers in Big 12 play from the Otz era:
2021-22: 8 guys played in 16 or more games, all averaging 12+ minutes a game. Tre Jackson played in 11 games, averaging 13 minutes, and Jaden Walker played in 10, averaging 10 minutes.
2022-23: Injuries and Grill's situation made this one odd, but 8 guys played in 14+ games, all averaging 10+ minutes (Grill at 15 games and Watson at 14 games). Kunc played in 9, averaging 23 minutes in those games, and Ward played in 8, averaging 4 minutes in those games.
2023-24: Much more straightforward; 9 guys played in 17+ games, with Pav the only one below 10 minutes a game (Pav was at 7 minutes).
Last season was the first that didn't have 10 guys play in at least half of Big 12 games, though it had 9 guys play in almost every game of Big 12 play.
I think it's possible that Otz is moving towards limiting the rotation more now that the team is better skilled and less reliant on hustle and defensive effort. But, history shows that Otz is definitely willing to play more than 8 guys, especially while tinkering at the edges of the rotation. This is really the first season where it was clear before Big 12 play what his preferred rotation was.
I don't think there should be a question that Watson has capitalized on this opportunity well enough that he's going to get spot minutes at the minimum when Milan comes back. It might be situation or matchup dependent, but I expect he's going to see the court for at least a few minutes each game the rest of the way.
Using today (1-27) as starting point:
Two weeks: Feb. 10 … games without MM: at Arizona, Kansas State, at Kansas, TCU.
Four weeks: Feb. 24 … games without MM (in addition to first list): at UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado, at Houston.
Two weeks: Feb. 10 … games without MM: at Arizona, Kansas State, at Kansas, TCU.
Four weeks: Feb. 24 … games without MM (in addition to first list): at UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado, at Houston.
