And I thought JCT'S previews were great. They pale in comparison to your inaugural effort.

What I particularly liked was the absence of all those annoying names and numbers. I mean who has the time or patience to learn opposing team player names or their shooting percentages, assist/turnover ratios, etc.bla blah blah.

My only criticism (such as it is) was that you neglected to cite the source for the "It was the best of times..." quotation you used. As most literate Ramermaniacs will know, the source is from the television show Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 4 "The Soup Nazi".

Some Tate Hall shit talking always cheers me up

I'm very much looking forward to the game Monday night because the Sunday loss really left a bad feeling inside me.

If “starting is for high school,” as Porter says, and we are such a deep team, then why don’t we put our most productive players, based on recent merit, on the floor to start each game?

Tate Hall had 4 points, 4 fouls, a steal and a turnover in 30 minutes.

Uguak had 1 point, 1 turnover, 1 steal and 1 rebound in 20 minutes.

Norris went 2-12 from the field (although he did have 9 assists).

Meanwhile, you’ve got the 6th man of the year sitting on the bench getting 17 minutes, and you’ve got a guy that can finish under the basket and shoot the three, all while being forced to play center and defend the paint, practically by himself. He’s also getting all the other team’s firepower coming at him hoping to capitalize while Krut is on the bench - yet still pours in 18 points. You’ve got a point guard on the bench who started every game he was available for all least season.

Everyone on the bench that got in the game today played a decent game or better with the minutes they got. Nobody on our bench played more than 17, and yet of the 71 points we had, a whopping 40 came from THEM. The only one who didn’t score who played was Hutson, and that was only because in the last 3.2 seconds of the game, Porter told him, “Remember in grade school plays when the teacher always made you play the part of the tree? Well walk over to the baseline and do everything she taught you to do in Act II and make me proud!”

If Porter truly believes “starting is for high school” then, logically, I would think he believes starting is for your most productive players to be out there to build a lead and take control of the game. If that’s the case, he’s doing a bad job. Let’s not sugarcoat it - we are not 7-3... Lewis, Chicago State and St. Francis do not count in evaluating our team’s performance. You take those games out (which you should) and we are 4-3 against legitimate competition. That’s not where this team should be with the talent we have. We should have a close loss to Wisconsin, and that’s it.

In the 7 legit games we’ve played PORTER HAS NEVER CHANGED THE STARTING LINEUP. He’s made no adjustments. But-for Aher’s ridiculous individual performance last time, the team has not played well the last 2 games, and they haven’t come out of the gate well in either of them. So if starting is for high school, and he trots out Uguak and Hall tomorrow night to start, it’s foolish. Kennedy should start tomorrow, and Welch should start tomorrow. ISU couldn’t handle Welch on his own. They are certainly not going to handle Welch with Krutwig on the floor to deal with. If you want to preach “defense,” fine. Put your badass defensive team in for the second half when we have a 14-point lead built. We need to go in tomorrow and hit ISUb in the mouth on offense right out of the gate. Three point shooting is streaky, but we have the personnel to bully them down low, and we should. Let krut and Welch work their bigs, and let kennedy loose to drive at the basket and draw fouls. Even if he misses krut and Tom will be right there for put-backs.

We should start:
Norris
Kennedy
Williamson
Welch
Krutwig

But I’m sure we will start:
Norris
Hall
Williamson
Uguak
Krutwig

This isn’t like last year when we didn’t really have anyone else to go to if Uguak and Hall were struggling. I agree with the previous post on Porter’s coaching and program expectations. The Butlers and the Whichita states didn’t lose games like this. If you wanted to beat those teams, you needed to get lucky enough to beat them in the last minute. Is going down 10 was ridiculous.

First half - We don’t score until Welch comes in and makes a shot 3:08 into the game.

Second half - Williamson hit a few throw with 8:24 left in the game. We didn’t score again until Williamson hit a 3 with 1:25 left in the game. 7 minutes??? That’s insane.

It really does seem like Porter doesn’t practice what he preaches. If he really thinks starting is for HS then why hasn’t he made any adjustments to the starting lineup? He’s all talk so far, he doesn’t know how to handle a team this deep. I was afraid that he was going to just stick with the guys he was comfortable with, regardless of their output. Hall does not deserve to start and if anyone else is cold all game it’s seems idiotic not to sub them. Kennedy needs more minutes, and I really Hope Welch can get some time outside of the 5.

The fact that Hall and Uguak both had more minutes than Welch yesterday is upsetting. FIVE combined points between two starters (one of whom is supposed to be your second offensive threat) playing a combined 50 minutes is inexcusable.

As other have said, Porter's refusal to play Krut and Welch together is just mind-boggling. He is stubborn. Hall is having a really rough yeah. We know his potential, but so far, he isn't coming close to hitting it. In previous seasons, sure, it would have made sense to keep playing him as we didn't have the guns behind him (a la Custer in 2018-2019). However, with the talent we behind him, Hall should be surpassed in minutes by Welch and Quise until he shows he can get back to his level of last year.

Welch is:
shooting 72% from the floor (31-43)
shooting 57% from three (8-14)
shooting 82% from the line (8-11)
playing 12.6 minutes per game.

That’s staggering. These aren’t Jalen Pipkins numbers. At 10 games in, Porter needs to realize what he’s got. If you’re not playing Welch at least 20 minutes per game, you’re not using him right, and it’s bad management.

Good coaches make adjustments to their game management. If you need to cheat minutes at center to give Krut rests, don’t just relegate Welch to the back-up roll. There’s 40 minutes to cover at the center position for each game. Krut can give you at least 30. If you’re going to pull Krut for 10 for rests, you need to fill that role for 5 minutes in the first half, and 5 minutes in the second. You can do that by playing Hutson (or Frank, if or when he comes back) for 2 1/2 each half, and Welch for 2 1/2 each half at the 5. This frees up Welch to play 15 minutes of the game along side Krut to do damage down low. You have to figure out a way to get one of your most all-around efficient players in the game for 20 minutes, and that’s how you do it with Welch.

And you don’t have to do it by just benching Uguak if you love him so much. All you have to do is slightly taper Uguak and Hall’s minutes, which is completely warranted.

There’s 200 minutes of available playing time in a game.
40 = Clemons and Norris (however you divide it)
30 = Krutwig
30 = Williamson
21 = Hall
20 = Welch
19 = Kennedy
16 = Uguak
5 = Hutson
19 = Kaifes, Hebb, Wojcik combined

Those should be your guideline numbers, based on need at position, necessity to rest guys, merit and production, and consistency maintenance at each position.

If the type of system you run is so interchangeable, it can be done. Make that your baseline game plan and adjust accordingly in-game. But Krutwig playing only 22 minutes last night and sitting out 18 was just plain stupid! You played completely into ISU’s hands and did exactly what they would have begged you to do (keep Krut off the floor!

Toldeo Rambler:
Great analysis and spot on!

Ok but who are the Rabmlers?


Also, every one of my posts says Cigarboy sucks. Get on my level.

_________________
Cigarboy sucks!

Just who is this "Cigarboy" fellow we're hearing about recently?
And why does he "suck"?