Interesting board starting to take shape over here . . .
I have to wonder about Greene’s inability to crack the rotation as noted several times above. The eye test doesn’t seem to coincide with the minutes the kid is getting but there are things that I’m not privy to that assuredly go into Coach’s decision making.
However, I think it’s crazy to start putting together your arguments for the eventual revisionist history if this team fails to live up to our lofty expectations come March. I doubt it will be because BG or AW3 didn’t get rotation minutes now. And to many people’s dismay, I will use the last few season finales as examples.
2010 - yes, a monumental upset and heart breaker. Sherron and Ty couldn’t throw it in the ocean. They were a combined 4 for 21 - ouch. X only scored 8 but was a respectable 3-6 doing it. Tyrel was 3-6 off the bench in 26 minutes and Brady played 8 minutes. I can only assume looking at the roster that the player we “should have developed” was Freshman EJ. For the year, EJ shot 28% from three and had the highest TO rate per 40 minutes of any guard on the team by a LONG WAY. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m riding Sherron and X right out of the gym when the chips are not falling our way. Unfortunately, our studs laid an egg and UNI played out of their mind. Game over. But, let’s stay with the argument that EJ wasn’t ready because he didn’t get any time. So, that leads us to
2011 - Again, the VCU loss sucked. Brady scored 2 lousy points. Contrary to revisionist history, though, Brady had a GREAT year. 27 minutes a game, 49% FG with a fantastic 41% from 3 and 74% from the line. He had 3.3 assists per every 1.2 TO. During the Big XII season he was even better! 1st in 3 Point % at an amazing 53%, 1st in Assist to TO with a 4.43 ratio, 7th in Assists, 7th in Steals, 7th in Steal Percentage. Brady was acknowledged to be a very good on-ball defender by Self regardless of anyone’s personal opinion. The rotation that year included Selby with 20 minutes a game and EJ with 14 minutes. To be fair, Selby got more time than EJ but there was no statistical evidence to suggest that he should have gotten more minutes than EJ and CERTAINLY not more than Brady. You could argue that EJ had more potential and could have performed better with more time. But, Brady had a fantastic conference season statistically and there’s no evidence to suggest that his minutes should have went to EJ. During the VCU loss, again, I’m playing the odds with the guy who was statistically the better player all year long. Imagine, the backlash Self would have gotten by riding EJ instead of Brady during that game if we would have still lost. Oh, boy!
2012 - now EJ is the man alongside Tyshawn. Playing at his “natural” position. What did all of this potential and development do with the extra minutes? 10 points a game, 43% from the field, 34% from 3, 3 assists and 3 boards. During conference play, EJ did finish 7th in assists, 3rd in assists to TO ratio, and 5th in steals. EJ was solid, maybe good, but not near the efficient productivity that Brady had the year before. Even with another year of development under his belt, there’s no real argument that EJ was better than Brady in 2011. NONE. But, what did EJ do when he had time to develop some more? Let’s go to
2013 - well maybe not. EJ regressed to 9.9 points and 38% from the field with 33% from 3. He had 4.6 assists to every 3.1 TO. He had some HUGE moments during the year - hello, Iowa State - but in his biggest moment, when all of our chips were in the middle, he didn’t play his best. So, in the most important game of the year, EJ in 2013 played like TY and Sherron in 2010 and Brady in 2011. Usually, when you lose, you don’t play well and that’s just the way it is.
Bottom line for me: I want Self playing the guys who gave me the best chance to win based on year long performance, not hypothetical potential because some guy can go between the legs and dunk. Even if they are playing poorly during the game, I want to stick with them rather than “trying” some unproven bench guy.
BTW, Brady did bounce around the D-League for a couple of seasons which certainly should be indicative of the skills he had. Maybe “glue” type skills, but the type of skills that were important to a winning program.
I appreciate all that EJ did during his 4 years here and was a HUGE fan. Same with Selby during his 1 year here, But, I was a HUGE fan of Brady Morningstar, too, and totally disagree that EJ was a better option during the 2011 season. A healthy Selby, maybe. But not EJ.
Which brings us full circle to 2014. Why isn’t Greene getting more time? I have to admit, I don’t know, but Self has my confidence that he knows more than me.
Happy New Year.