A few thoughts from BTO

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Oh okay. So only Gillispie , Carey, and Abrams are the true transfers? I thought Burg played pro overseas? I just figured that experience would give him an advantage.

And Okpara. Only Carey has another year after the current one.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

I’d bet certain promises were made to the Ament camp. JMO

Sure, about $3.5m of them probably

 

[wtmvol]

I think neither probably should play much going forward, I think trimming the rotation needs to happen at some point

I think we're witnessing the overdue trimming of the rotation.

In the non-conference games against power conference teams, Burg, Henderson, and Abram averaged a combined 26.3 minutes per game. Against Arkansas, Henderson didn't play and Burg only logged 5 minutes. Abram only played 11. So that trio was 11 minutes under their previous average.

 

[orangemadam]

as far as bench players, I would be happy with the two posts, Evans, and Abrams to be it totally and minutes allocated in that order.

 

[Lefteye]

I think we're witnessing the overdue trimming of the rotation.

In the non-conference games against power conference teams, Burg, Henderson, and Abram averaged a combined 26.3 minutes per game. Against Arkansas, Henderson didn't play and Burg only logged 5 minutes. Abram only played 11. So that trio was 11 minutes under their previous average.

Agree.. it’s time to trim the rotation but also think CRB sees something in Burg we don’t yet. There was a heated but seemingly productive exchange when Burg got yanked in the 2nd half and it reminded me of the exchanges Izzo has with his players at times. He gets hot and makes his point, but allows the player to give his. And then Burg came back in late after that exchange.
Not sure my preferred 1-2 rotation but think Abrams might be physical enough to get some at the 3 as well. And let Boswell spell Gillespie at the 1 at times. Then slide G to the 2. One thing I’m sure about is, if you’re going to play 10+ guys, they all need to be more aggressive on both ends.

 

[walkenvol]

Agree.. it’s time to trim the rotation but also think CRB sees something in Burg we don’t yet. There was a heated but seemingly productive exchange when Burg got yanked in the 2nd half and it reminded me of the exchanges Izzo has with his players at times. He gets hot and makes his point, but allows the player to give his. And then Burg came back in late after that exchange.
Not sure my preferred 1-2 rotation but think Abrams might be physical enough to get some at the 3 as well. And let Boswell spell Gillespie at the 1 at times. Then slide G to the 2. One thing I’m sure about is, if you’re going to play 10+ guys, they all need to be more aggressive on both ends.

I don’t see anyone besides Ament & Evan’s playing the 3. JMO

 

[StickMan]

What a waste of a 7-7 FG performance by Amari Evans. Won’t get a game like that from him the rest of the year and we squandered it.

Disappointing loss, but not a surprising one. I’m less concerned with the result than I am with HOW the result happened. Racked up 4 losses already and done so on the backs of being very undisciplined and lacking the fundamentals we’re used to in a Barnes’ team.

Free throws and turnovers. Basic stuff we can’t get right.

Mostly I’m disappointed that this team has had to be as reliant on Brown and Evans as we have been because of some poor evaluations by the staff. Burg and Abrams are mostly a waste of space, and because of that we’re asking a lot of Evans (who has really been a huge surprise). I can’t be too hard on Brown, because he’s young and he’s only playing as much as he has because his experienced peers aren’t performing, but that just felt like a game that was too big for him. Still don’t love him starting, but when you get that type of performance from Carey it’s not surprising why.

Gillespie and Okpara have also just been huge disappointments. With Okpara, I thought we’d see another step from him this year, and it just hasn’t materialized. Missed layups (where he should have dunked) and a step back on defense it feels like. 3 points from him is not going to cut it. And Gillespie….he’s been a sieve on defense and hasn’t offset it with lighting up the scoreboard. He can’t be 5-15 from the field if he’s not assisting on more buckets. Ament obviously is struggling a lot, but I would think he’d get some easier buckets if Gillespie was more of a threat to score at a high level, which he hasn’t been.

Still very early in the year, and that’s a road game against one of the best teams in the conference, but we have a lot of issues to correct and really need to see someone step up and become an alpha on offense or we aren’t making any noise in March. Moving forward, would like to see more minutes from Evans, fewer from Abrams, very few from Burg, and swap Brown and Estrella in the lineup.

In my opinion, your words are a bit harsh regarding Abrams and Burg. Sure, they need to be more consistent, but both will contribute to big wins this year. Not really a waste of space. And to call Gillespie a huge disappointment is also a bit much. I seem to recall him being named SEC player of the week recently. I would agree that they all need to be more consistent, and I predict that they will. I would say the biggest disappointment by far has been the atrocious free throw shooting. Almost impossible to beat a very good team on the road when you leave that many points at the charity stripe.

 

[Hbg]

Right now, Gillespie is shooting a career low in FG% and the worst 3P% since his freshman year. Just another data point that I am hoping can correct itself as the season goes on.

Seems to contradict the OP take on Gillespie

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

Burg needs to go to a dribbling skills camp.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Burg needs to go to a dribbling skills camp.

And take a mild beta blocker

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Seems to contradict the OP take on Gillespie

 

[walkenvol]

Some on here have been calling for it and Coach tried to give Henderson minutes but he just didn’t produce.

 

[vols 30]

Some on here have been calling for it and Coach tried to give Henderson minutes but he just didn’t produce.

But he had zero turnovers.

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Some on here have been calling for it and Coach tried to give Henderson minutes but he just didn’t produce.

Barnes is trying, at some point it’s go time though. Gillespie got 38 minutes tonight and that’ll probably be the norm going forward, we just don’t have a good backup option to him. Burg didn’t see the floor tonight, Abram and Henderson kinda split the halves as to who got more minutes but both were under 8, Ament also saw his minutes cut a bit. Pretty clear 8 man rotation imo…

Gillespie
Boswell
Ament/Evans
Brown/Carey
Okpara/Estrella


1 of those 3 guards will see minutes, I think Barnes is trying everything for 1 of them to emerge, but just hasn’t happened. Boswell & Evans foul too much to think they’ll consistently be able to give you big minutes.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Barnes is trying, at some point it’s go time though. Gillespie got 38 minutes tonight and that’ll probably be the norm going forward, we just don’t have a good backup option to him. Burg didn’t see the floor tonight, Abram and Henderson kinda split the halves as to who got more minutes but both were under 8, Ament also saw his minutes cut a bit. Pretty clear 8 man rotation imo…

Gillespie
Boswell
Ament/Evans
Brown/Carey
Okpara/Estrella


1 of those 3 guards will see minutes, I think Barnes is trying everything for 1 of them to emerge, but just hasn’t happened. Boswell & Evans foul too much to think they’ll consistently be able to give you big minutes.

I think Henderson may be a good player with time, but if I had to guess Abrams will be the one to carve out a role based on experience alone. He plays solid defense and is a bit more consistent on providing a scoring punch, but it sucks that of all our bench guards only Amari Evans has emerged and shown any consistency. I would say “If Ament figures it out, this won’t matter” except…..yeah.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Barnes is trying, at some point it’s go time though. Gillespie got 38 minutes tonight and that’ll probably be the norm going forward, we just don’t have a good backup option to him. Burg didn’t see the floor tonight, Abram and Henderson kinda split the halves as to who got more minutes but both were under 8, Ament also saw his minutes cut a bit. Pretty clear 8 man rotation imo…

Gillespie
Boswell
Ament/Evans
Brown/Carey
Okpara/Estrella


1 of those 3 guards will see minutes, I think Barnes is trying everything for 1 of them to emerge, but just hasn’t happened. Boswell & Evans foul too much to think they’ll consistently be able to give you big minutes.

Do you think Burg not playing had anything to do with him screaming at Barnes during the Arkansas game or was it purely his play?

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Do you think Burg not playing had anything to do with him screaming at Barnes during the Arkansas game or was it purely his play?

I definitely didn’t see him scream at Barnes, I saw them converse, maybe our definitions of screaming are different…that or I missed it completely. So yea, I think it had to do more with his play and Barnes making a concerted effort to play Henderson.

 

[ColinS]

Barnes is trying, at some point it’s go time though. Gillespie got 38 minutes tonight and that’ll probably be the norm going forward, we just don’t have a good backup option to him. Burg didn’t see the floor tonight, Abram and Henderson kinda split the halves as to who got more minutes but both were under 8, Ament also saw his minutes cut a bit. Pretty clear 8 man rotation imo…

Gillespie
Boswell
Ament/Evans
Brown/Carey
Okpara/Estrella


1 of those 3 guards will see minutes, I think Barnes is trying everything for 1 of them to emerge, but just hasn’t happened. Boswell & Evans foul too much to think they’ll consistently be able to give you big minutes.

Evans has done nothing but give big minutes lately. The guy just makes effort play after effort play. Boswell has given consistant solid minutes all season. That last comment didn't make sense. I guess it comes down to your definition of "big minutes". These are both first year rotation guys. What did you expect from them?

 

[NighthawkVol]

I definitely didn’t see him scream at Barnes, I saw them converse, maybe our definitions of screaming are different…that or I missed it completely. So yea, I think it had to do more with his play and Barnes making a concerted effort to play Henderson.

The incident I'm talking about definitely looked like he was screaming at Barnes. But I wasn't there, so maybe he was just animated.

Also, I'm going to be a grammar Nazi....that's not what "concerted" means. I'm sorry! I can't help it!

 

[MinisterofDef#92]

The incident I'm talking about definitely looked like he was screaming at Barnes. But I wasn't there, so maybe he was just animated.

Also, I'm going to be a grammar Nazi....that's not what "concerted" means. I'm sorry! I can't help it!

I saw that too but I took as Burg just being very emotional and trying to plead his case with the staff and CRB - I think he knew that was likely going to put him in a hole as far as playing time going forward. And then, CRB goes public with his apology to Henderson and I knew the Burg experiment was effectively over. Maybe he can find a way back into the rotation as the season progresses or, more likely, when we are forced to due to foul trouble...seems like a good kid but he just doesn't have the skill to play at this level.

 

[DCharVol]

I saw that too but I took as Burg just being very emotional and trying to plead his case with the staff and CRB - I think he knew that was likely going to put him in a hole as far as playing time going forward. And then, CRB goes public with his apology to Henderson and I knew the Burg experiment was effectively over. Maybe he can find a way back into the rotation as the season progresses or, more likely, when we are forced to due to foul trouble...seems like a good kid but he just doesn't have the skill to play at this level.

Think people forget that Henderson is a freshman. He'll improve with experience. Unfortunate for him, he won't get the same minutes as Ament since he wasn't as highly rated. He's got good size for a guard. Hopefully, he develops this year like Boswell did on bench last year!

 

[bleedingTNorange]

Evans has done nothing but give big minutes lately. The guy just makes effort play after effort play. Boswell has given consistant solid minutes all season. That last comment didn't make sense. I guess it comes down to your definition of "big minutes". These are both first year rotation guys. What did you expect from them?

They’ve exceeded expectations, I’m saying we need a guard to step up (Henderson, Burg, Abram) because you likely can’t get 30+mpg from Boswell & Evans which is what you’d need to not need one of those guards. Ideally our best rotation imo would probably be…

Gillespie 35/Boswell 5
Boswell 25/Evans 15
Ament 30/Evans 10
Brown 15/Carey 25
Okpara 20/Estrella 20

But I don’t think Evans and Boswell can play that many minutes without hitting foul trouble

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Wouldn’t the staff decide which players to make available for media interviews?

Burg was at the podium speaking to the media a court of days after the loss at Arkansas.

If Burg was in the doghouse, why would the staff select him to speak to the media before the Rexas game?

 

[orangemadam]

They’ve exceeded expectations, I’m saying we need a guard to step up (Henderson, Burg, Abram) because you likely can’t get 30+mpg from Boswell & Evans which is what you’d need to not need one of those guards. Ideally our best rotation imo would probably be…

Gillespie 35/Boswell 5
Boswell 25/Evans 15
Ament 30/Evans 10
Brown 15/Carey 25
Okpara 20/Estrella 20

But I don’t think Evans and Boswell can play that many minutes without hitting foul trouble

Agree with all this but I would probably have Henderson relieving Gillespie 5-10 min. and maybe have Gillespie at the 2 for some minutes.

 

[cncchris33]

I saw that too but I took as Burg just being very emotional and trying to plead his case with the staff and CRB - I think he knew that was likely going to put him in a hole as far as playing time going forward. And then, CRB goes public with his apology to Henderson and I knew the Burg experiment was effectively over. Maybe he can find a way back into the rotation as the season progresses or, more likely, when we are forced to due to foul trouble...seems like a good kid but he just doesn't have the skill to play at this level.

Ethan Burg is a worse version of Tyreke Key. Identical size, streaky shooters, questionable ball-handling, poor defenders. Probably room for Burg to improve as he was a late addition and is perhaps still adjusting, but he's also 23 years old. How much better can he really get?