Is this team tired? Does TJ need to ease up the rest of the way?

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Actually when you look around college hoops you see quite a few teams this time of year tired and with the tank on "E". Purdue comes to mind. Illinois is another whose play and stock have tumbled. KU as well.

Really every team in the P-4 is fatigued right now. It's a long season and now even longer with the bigger conferences.

But this is where you find out who put in the work before the season in getting in elite shape. Those teams tend to play well in their conference tourneys and beyond. I'm not worried about a late season game or 2 where we look a little fatigued having some starters out. What would worry me is if we look gassed in the Big XII Tourney and 1st Rd NCAA Tourney game. That's when I'd panic.

But I think our guys are probably in better shape than a lot of teams because of our demanding style of play. And I think that'll pay off in the post season provided we have everyone available and fairly close to 100%.

Just my opinion but I feel like the issues with this team are more related to being out of our normal rotations than fatigue. We don't have Duke depth so when you lose one of our key players it throws everything off. IMO Heise is probably hit hardest by this. His contributions/minutes have been all over the board between the Milan injury and Cujo and and Gilbert being out. Heise is playing pretty well last night but he was passing up open looks at times and he was having a good shooting night. I would rather see Heise shoot 7 three's in a half than Lipsey. I know we were missing two scoring guards but Lipsey was pressing way too hard Tuesday night.

 

[madguy30]

Just my opinion but I feel like the issues with this team are more related to being out of our normal rotations than fatigue. We don't have Duke depth so when you lose one of our key players it throws everything off. IMO Heise is probably hit hardest by this. His contributions/minutes have been all over the board between the Milan injury and Cujo and and Gilbert being out. Heise is playing pretty well last night but he was passing up open looks at times and he was having a good shooting night. I would rather see Heise shoot 7 three's in a half than Lipsey. I know we were missing two scoring guards but Lipsey was pressing way too hard Tuesday night.

To add to this, I try to think of the Cato/Willoughby etc. team without Pratt or someone, or even the 99-00 team without Horton or Nurse.

Different teams, different era (99/00 all three guards were imo better at the handle for starters) but the dynamics would be very different even with Fizer.

All that said, valuing the ball should be that much more important to keep things simple.

 

[clonehome]

100% this. I’m not sure why people want to try and justify why we are 6-6 with tiredness (all teams are tired and play the same # of games), injuries (we lost our 5th best player for a month and people have been using that as a reason why we went 3-4), etc.

We aren’t going to win the conference, we can still get a decent seed, and we’ll now put all of our eggs into March. We can still have a super successful season. So I don’t know why it’s so taboo to talk about this team’s struggles or why TJ’a teams are very mediocre in February.

It isn’t taboo. This thread is doing just that from many angles. Across all the cyfan forums there is a small percentage of threads where we debate something as impactful as the mental and physical state of the men’s basketball team heading into the NCAA tournament. I enjoy the insights and range of opinions being posted here.

 

[clonehome]

Not even sure what the title means... just rest everyone the rest of the way and play our bench? Essentially forfeit 3 games? I mean that could work but then you get a harder bracket. This team's ceiling is a sweet sixteen anyway

No. It means shortening practices and giving a day off here and there to let the guys rest their bodies, recuperate from injuries, get a mental break. And if we do have a seemingly insurmountable lead then give some late game minutes to Watson, Nojus, whomever. Earlier in the season I think TJ was playing the metrics game so he stuck to his 8 man rotation the whole game even when we were up big.

Each game the rest of the way the goal is the same — kick their ass.

 

[Dannynoonan]

TJ knows what he’s doing. These fooking guys are young and could play a game every other day and be fine. I do wonder if the basketball team has access to the same technology the football team does with the thing they wear during practice. ? Basketball is a grind for sure and yea we would love to see more players with more time, but I feel TJ will adjust.

 

[cycloneML]

I think the intensity wears us out

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Definitely not tired. But Keshon might still be broken.

 

[IceCyIce]

Didn't read the thread but it's alot on 8 guy rotation.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Didn't read the thread but it's alot on 8 guy rotation.

You won't find many good teams playing more than 8 guys regular minutes this time of year

 

[FinalFourCy]

You won't find many good teams playing more than 8 guys regular minutes this time of year

Which is easier to do when you did good load management earlier, and your best attribute isn’t effort

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Which is easier to do when you did good load management earlier, and your best attribute isn’t effort

Load management doesn't fix illness or a broken wrist though.. This team has lost on a last second tip in, a 3/4 court heave, and has played the majority of the conference slate not at full strength. Quite honestly, it's been a season of bad luck.