Small Ball

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CoffeyTime

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Why doesn't Pitino ever use a small ball lineup (Nate, Dupree, Akeem, Amir, and Reggie)? I thought he should've used it against Maryland. It was clear Murphy couldn't defend Jackson.
 

I guess it depends on how many second chance opportunities you want the other team to have.
 

MennoSota said:
I guess it depends on how many second chance opportunities you want the other team to have.
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you're right. letting the other team take wide open 3s and take Murphy off the dribble nearly every time down the floor is a better strategy. Murphy needs a wake up call.
 

CoffeyTime said:
you're right. letting the other team take wide open 3s and taking Murphy off the dribble nearly every time down the floor is a better strategy. Murphy needs a wake up call.
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Murphy has been out of sync since he has been moved farther out of the paint. That does not account for his lazy D and not boxing out on rebounds. Pitino's description of slow motor Murphy seems like it is the norm for him this season. Maybe getting put on the bench will help in the long run.
 

Late in the game against Maryland when the Terps were clearly attacking Murphy, Lynch had fouled out. I thought about suggesting a small ball lineup in the "liabilities" thread, but at the point in the game it likely would have had to have been Nate/Dupree/Amir/Akeem/Eric or Nate/Akeem/Amir/Michael/Eric. I don't believe we've seen either lineup all season and its probably unrealistic to just trot it out there in crunch time.
 


GringaGopher said:
Murphy has been out of sync since he has been moved farther out of the paint. That does not account for his lazy D and not boxing out on rebounds. Pitino's description of slow motor Murphy seems like it is the norm for him this season. Maybe getting put on the bench will help in the long run.
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Like it or not even Pitino knows if Murph wants to become a better player or go further he needs to improve his game further away from the bucket.


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#coacheslivesmatter
 

I like the idea. Gotta change something up.

How about Murphy is a pure backup for Lynch. They can't share the floor. No minutes for Konate. SMALL BALL

c - Lynch - Murphy
PF - Curry - Hurt
SF - Coffey - Gilbert
SG - Springs - McBrayer
PG - Mason - McBrayer
 

I like the small ball idea in theory. The problem is that all 4 guards are already stretched pretty thin when it comes to playing time. Mason plays 32 minutes per game. McBrayer plays 30. Springs is playing more than 30 since he started starting. And Coffey plays 33-34 as it is.

These guys rotate four guys for three spots. Put all four of them on the floor at once and you start running them into the ground.

If Hurt could give you more than 4 or 5 minutes and Gilbert could play then you could probably do some of that. Or if Fitz hadn't gotten hurt I'm sure they would run some small ball lineups out. But with four guys playing three spots, minutes are already high.
 

Late in games they go 3 guards and sometimes Coffey. Coffey looks to be about 195lbs so its a tough matchup to have him trying to rebound against pf's. Jackson is 6-7 225. Yes at that time he was killing us from outside.
 



Best lineup when Gophers go small should be Coffey, Curry, Mason, McBrayer, and Springs. To the point now where I trust Curry more than Lynch, definitely more than Murphy. Obviously wouldn't be ideal for rebounding, but there's some height (Curry & Coffey) and guards that are decent enough rebounders, especially Springs.
 

Disagree with wanting Curry in there in that theoretical small-ball lineup.

Put Lynch in there and let him bang inside and protect the basket. Offensively just throw him in the short corner and let him catch dump offs for dunks. Don't even activate him in ball-screen actions, just keep him out of the way and use him as a finisher.
 

Biggsohnasty said:
Disagree with wanting Curry in there in that theoretical small-ball lineup.

Put Lynch in there and let him bang inside and protect the basket. Offensively just throw him in the short corner and let him catch dump offs for dunks. Don't even activate him in ball-screen actions, just keep him out of the way and use him as a finisher.
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Thats not the point of a small ball lineup. The reason to play small ball would be to try and create mismatches on the offensive side and force them to get out of the paint. Lynch makes the entire team better when he is not in foul trouble, but he has proven that he can't be reliable to stay in. Curry would have to be the 5 if we went small ball since he is the quickest big that we have.
 

I like that lineup overall, but it depends on the matchup. Coffey (or someone) would need to be able to guard the 4 effectively without tiring out on offense to make it work. The Warriors have/had the best "small ball" lineup because Draymond is able to guard the 5 really well and Harrison Barnes was able to guard the 4. For the Gophers, Lynch would have no problems with centers, but Coffey would get destroyed by a 4 most likely. I'd much rather Pitino play line ups that excel defensively than offensively. Murphy isn't playing great, but he's still got a better shot on D than Coffey would. Replacing him with Curry would also be a little better on D too.


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