Starters and Minutes

Other than Pingree and Johnston, everyone on the roster got 8 or more minutes tonight. That is a good thing for the present and the future. There has been a ton of noise about who should start and who should get all of whose minutes - almost like they are all interchangeable, nobody gets tired, nobody gets in foul trouble, match-ups do not matter, fresh legs to take out an opponent do not matter, etc. Strategy to avoid early fouls or to take pressure off a player. Not considered. Development for future. Same.



Tell me who the starters really were tonight.



Player Minutes(Portland / Gonzaga / Stanford / Texas Games)



Haws 34/32/35/37

Collinsworth 28/31/36/35

Carlino 27/31/22/34

Winder 24/26/21/13

Austin 23/26/26/26

Mika 20/24/26/22

Worthington 12/10/11/5

Bartley 11/3/11/26

Halford 9/10/8/2

Sharp 8/7/4/0

Pingree 2/0/0/0

Johnston 2/0/0/0



Portland had 3 starters with 33, 31, and 30 minutes and it dropped quickly off from there and was spread across the roster.



Zags had 39 Pangos, 32, 30, 22, 20 and the other minutes were spread across 4 other Gonzaga players with 8-19 minutes each including Special K-arnowski.



Stanford 39, 38, 33, 32, and 12 for their starters. Bench 17, 18, 6, and 5.



Texas 38, 31, 29, 23, and 17 for their starters. Bench 35, 12, 10, 3, and 2.



That is how it works.

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I added Gonzaga, Stanford, and Texas data to the OP. Those were 3 big wins. Those are good teams. Like BYU, they spread significant minutes across 7 or more players.



BYU looked good in those games. BYU won those games. This is how BYU wins big games - 7 or more players sharing significant minutes. Balance.



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Cougarbib wrote:
I added Gonzaga, Stanford, and Texas data to the OP. Those were 3 big wins. Those are good teams. Like BYU, they spread significant minutes across 7 or more players.



BYU looked good in those games. BYU won those games. This is how BYU wins big games - 7 or more players sharing significant minutes. Balance.



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Is the key balanced minutes or balanced scoring? My bet is that the important stat is more balanced scoring with 4+ guys in double figures.

BYULV wrote:

I added Gonzaga, Stanford, and Texas data to the OP. Those were 3 big wins. Those are good teams. Like BYU, they spread significant minutes across 7 or more players.



BYU looked good in those games. BYU won those games. This is how BYU wins big games - 7 or more players sharing significant minutes. Balance.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Is the key balanced minutes or balanced scoring? My bet is that the important stat is more balanced scoring with 4+ guys in double figures.

The balanced minutes provided balanced scoring, match ups to take advantage of offensively and defensively, fresh legs, foul diffusion, etc. We had 5 or 6 players in double figures in some of the early games. Then some of the guys lost confidence especially starting with U game. Confidence seems to be returning.



It remains to be seen if that holds up away from Provo. Unless we go NIT, this team just played it's last game in Provo.



I have a theory why BYU disappoints so often away from Provo. It is basically that home court is such a huge advantage for BYU - maybe 15 point Avg swing in WCC for home vs away - that BYU is nearly invincible in Provo - making them look better than they actually are - and they suffer when altitude, somewhat challenging travel logistics, loss of 17,000 fans, and jet lag work against them instead of in their favor.



I was watching the special on Nancy Kerrigan last night. Tanya Harding showed up 3 dats before the event instead of a week early and complained to her coach about feeling a little out of synch in practice sessions and warm-ups. Lost. Coach told her - jet lag. That is part of why 1st round games are tough for teams that have to cross time zones. They cannot usually go a week early. On a neutral site - depending how far both teams travel, especially east or west, that may wash. But home vs road to their house - big factor. That is why MWC Tourney in Las Vegas was so unfair and why UNLV almost always won it.



This is why I hate it when NCAA seeds BYU in the eastern time zone vs an eastern team. It is why NIT could give us advantage if early rounds are at our place.

More to the point - I looked at Wichita State - loss.



Carlino 39 minutes

Haws 38 minutes

Collinsworth 31 minutes

Austin 29 minutes - no points - tons of rebounds

Mika 25 minutes



Only Bartley got big bench minutes - 20 or so - played mostly poorly. He went 3 of 8 for 37%. Others got a few minutes, but bench failed to step up and went 0-3. Halford got the only FT attempts and went 1-1 from FT line. So weary starters tried and came up short.



Glad to see that the bench is back. I think PG play is a big part of what brought the bench back after selfish PG play early had several players jacking up shots whenever they touched the ball. Now they get the ball in the flow for good shots.