Such a provocative thread title, right?
I don't have time to write a full Thoughts thread today, but I have been thinking a lot about the next 3 weeks after watching the TCU game yesterday.
I didn't watch the game Saturday night. But I watched it yesterday and was pretty impressed with Mike McGuirl in his supporting role. Quite simply, he helps spread the floor offensively.
So here is my question: How does Bruce handle the lineup when Selton returns? I think he has a problem. McGuirl provides an offensive threat that Miguel simply doesn't. Teams can not over help on Nowell when McGuirl is in the game because he is at least a threat to knock down a shot.
From the point that Miguel went down, things have really opened up for Mark Smith. Team can't lay off of McGuirl like they have been off of Miguel and that opens up one on one lanes for Smith. When Miguel is out there, they can still shade to Nowell to try and limit his attacking the rim and take away a lot of Smith's driving lanes. It's almost the opposite of a box and 1. They are playing 4 guys in man and 1 guy in basically a zone.
The problem is similar to what Mark Adams has with Terrence Shannon and Adonis Arms. In the games that Shannon has missed, Arms has been a first team All-Big 12 type of performer. Every time Shannon comes back, Arms minutes get cut in half and Tech struggles on the offensive end. It happened Saturday against WVU. Texas Tech has been better when Shannon is injured.
So, the problem becomes, can Bruce significantly limit the minutes of arguably the best perimeter defender on the team for the good of the offense?
I don't have time to write a full Thoughts thread today, but I have been thinking a lot about the next 3 weeks after watching the TCU game yesterday.
I didn't watch the game Saturday night. But I watched it yesterday and was pretty impressed with Mike McGuirl in his supporting role. Quite simply, he helps spread the floor offensively.
So here is my question: How does Bruce handle the lineup when Selton returns? I think he has a problem. McGuirl provides an offensive threat that Miguel simply doesn't. Teams can not over help on Nowell when McGuirl is in the game because he is at least a threat to knock down a shot.
From the point that Miguel went down, things have really opened up for Mark Smith. Team can't lay off of McGuirl like they have been off of Miguel and that opens up one on one lanes for Smith. When Miguel is out there, they can still shade to Nowell to try and limit his attacking the rim and take away a lot of Smith's driving lanes. It's almost the opposite of a box and 1. They are playing 4 guys in man and 1 guy in basically a zone.
The problem is similar to what Mark Adams has with Terrence Shannon and Adonis Arms. In the games that Shannon has missed, Arms has been a first team All-Big 12 type of performer. Every time Shannon comes back, Arms minutes get cut in half and Tech struggles on the offensive end. It happened Saturday against WVU. Texas Tech has been better when Shannon is injured.
So, the problem becomes, can Bruce significantly limit the minutes of arguably the best perimeter defender on the team for the good of the offense?
