Until or unless Heise offers more offensively, I think the Heise/Watson usage rate will be more matchup and "hot hand" driven than anything else. Both are good defensively with Nate more suited to guard the perimeter and DWat more suited to guard inside. And both rebound well for their position.
Milan Rumors - Hand Injury
- Thread starter hobbsfan27
- Start date
Appreciate the context/info, but I think most fans understand that "8 man rotation" does not mean that ONLY 8 players actually play in any given game or during a season. It means that the vast majority of the minutes are getting absorbed by 8 guys. Pav last year was not a rotation player. Nor was Omaha. Watson wasn't a rotation player for MOST of the year. Did they sometimes play important minutes in certain games! Yep! doesn't mean they were part of TJ's regular/normal rotation.
Good point. Can’t run a 6 man rotation in a tournament setting where they’re going to have to play 3 games in 3 days. They’ll have to be in the rotation.
Let's hope for two weeks, three at the latest. Mainly to let him get back into rhythm, but his presence for @KU and @Houston would be important.
I'm not sure I understand. Playing in most of the Big 12 games, and playing 10% (4 minutes) or 20% (8 minutes) or more of the game isn't being part of the rotation? Sure, they might not be players that Otz expects to play in crunch time, but it's not like he's randomly throwing guys out there. He didn't just stumble into Pav playing 17 games in conference play, nor did he stumble into Watson playing every conference game and playing more than 25% of his available minutes in those games.
Anyway, if the discussion is about whether Watson could keep playing at all when MM comes back, then it's a question about whether Otz is willing to play more than 8 guys, not whether there's a main rotation of 8 guys.
if you look at numbers, there is little difference between Chatt, Watson, or Heise regarding scoring, rebounding, or free throws. They are 3 different positions: 3, 4, 5, but depending on fouls, fatigue, and fortitude they all 3 should get playing time. As for Jefferson, he is now shooting the same 3 pt% as either Gilbert or Lipsey. I like his smooth release.
Could be similar to how soccer clubs will sub into a more defensive formation when they get a lead and the game is winding down. In addition to offense/defense substitutions at the end of a game, Otz might just sub DWat into a defensive "closer" lineup to finish off a game when the Clones have a lead. Versatile defenders who can hit their FTs is a lethal combination when protecting a lead in the final minutes.
This is pretty much how I see it. Heise is going to be first off the bench in pretty much every game because of trust level and his defensive role.
Watson is completely a different player, yet he has a very similar impact to the game (overall) as Heise, just in a different way.
Based upon matchups and game flow, I think just having Watson in the mix brings a ton more flexibility to lineups that will make opponents crumble with our hockey line changes.
No, that last part is backwards. It is about whether Watson is in the main rotation.
He wasn’t before, having still played in less than half our games. In those 9 games he’s played in, he’s averaging less than 9 minutes.
There were blowouts in which he didn’t get a single minute.
That was odd, and going back to that when Milan returns makes even less sense now that we’ve been reminded that he can help this team
You actually think people are questioning whether Watson will play any minutes, aka “Otz is willing to play more than 8 guys”?
He played a little garbage time before, as did the walkons.
In my original post, I was responding to the comment, "He (Otz) runs 8 guys come hell or high water." To me, that was the poster saying that Otz won't play more than 8 guys. The data I posted was intended to show that, even in Big 12 play, Otz has done a lot more different things with rotations than I think many posters have realized.
I would say the "rotation" is all of the players who will play in a game where there isn't extreme foul trouble, basically the players the coach isn't forced to put in. By that definition, Watson is in the rotation as long as MM is out. Last season, he was in the rotation from January to the end of the year after not being in the rotation for most of non-conference play (as they were trying to get Biliew developed). As that and the data I posted show, the "rotation" has not been a constant group under Otz--it has adapted over the course of every season.
I don't know if Watson will keep playing when MM is back. If he doesn't, it won't be because Otz is only willing to play 8 guys (my original point, and what I thought the person I was responding to was saying), and it won't be because he wasn't in the rotation in non-conference play. If MM comes back and Watson gets put in for 5 minutes every game, to me, that means he's in the rotation. I'm not expecting it, but it would not surprise me.
I wonder where this team (the bottom seven men of the roster now) would end up on the KenPom or Torvik rankings if you went out and made them play like a Horizon or Summit schedule.
Nojus
Heise
Watson
Fish
Chatfield
---
Kelderman
Rock
Hopefully, Heise can pull a Hansford and hit 4 straight threes to break out of the slump.
This is a novel idea! Haha.
Seriously though, who does this? I do see the possibility of TJ using more reserves, 9-10 man rotation, come closer to tourney time, in games that we can, so that we might be more rested.
But TJ will do TJ and we will like it, even if we as fans don't always see the strategy.
Without looking at any analytics, I'd say that Heise better hit some shots and Watson better improve his handle. Rock could already be quite useful in one of those leagues though.
Not sure on team ratings, but if transferring from this hypothetical team, I’d bet 3 to 5 of them would get a lot more in NIL than now
Heise has already proven he can hit shots at that level. He was 47-132 (35%) from 3 last year at UNI. Not great but serviceable.
Houston winning at KU changed the urgency for sure. Have to get to 17-3 to have a chance to share the crown IMO. Maybe 18-2.
