Starting Line Up and Player Evaluations

Montlake Madness posted this interesting article on a purely statistical look at what our starting line up should be as well as bench order in terms of efficiency.
http://www.montlakemadness.com/the-analytical-line-up/

This got me thinking about who I would like to see in our line up, where the subs would come in, and why. I'm a stat junky and I would love to see that line up on the court. I even suggested a line up almost exactly like the predicted starting line up only I had switched I.T. and Gaddy for his leadership, something you can't put a stat on. I just don't see it happening though. It will be hard to convince Romar that Aziz AND Matthew Bryan-Amaning should start and I.T. should ride the pine so C.J. can start. I'm not sure how well I.T. would handle that. Hopefully he would have the know how to understand the benefits for the team versus his own good. He seems like a team player, but I feel as though his ego would have a hard time with not starting after two straight years of it.


PG - Abdul Gaddy

No surprises there. Abdul is our best point guard. He is much more efficient at running the offense than either I.T. or Overton. Overton is way too turnover prone at this point and I.T. is too offensively minded to make a point guards decision. This showed against TAMU when I.T. missed an opportunity to pass to an open Gant and forced a shot despite having some time remaining, enough time to pass and shoot at least. Abdul is also one of our most efficient offensive players with one of the highest FG and 3PT shot percentages on the team. He has the highest basketball IQ on the team in my opinion and is the best passer we have. His tear drop shot is unstoppable and his slash and drive ability is really improving. My favorite play so far has to be the in bound pass he received resulting in a lay in where not a single opposing player knew where he was and the entire other team was facing 180 degrees the wrong way. Embarrassing. Abdul needs to be seeing 30 minutes a game. He has earned it, he is good enough, and we need him on the court.

SG - Isaiah Thomas

I.T. may frustrate the crap out of me at times, but when he is rolling, boy is he something to watch. He still has some maturing to do when it comes to his basketball IQ. He needs to learn when the lane just isn't opening up for him and the pass out is the best option. To his credit, he does appear to be getting less fouls called in his favor than in years previous. Whether this is due to the refs not giving them to IT anymore or if the opposition is finally learning how to cope with him is up for debates. The only thing that matters is the lane just isn't as open as it has been in years previous. I.T. has done a fabulous job turning his free throw shooting around. He has two perfect outings thus far, both of which came after he received heavy criticism for his sub par performances. 6-6 and 8-8 are fabulous nights. It's too bad he didn't force the foul against TAMU as I have the utmost confidence that he would have made one, if not both, of his free throws to tie or win the game for the Huskies. It's in the past so no point in worry about what could have been.

He is still developing as a basketball player and this season is needed less as an offensive weapon and more as a team leader and point guard. This is likely hard for Thomas to swallow after his huge offensive years leading up to this season. He is still averaging 15 points a game, a great number. His 3 point game has been inconsistent this year, which is unfortunate as he gets on a roll once the first one or two drop. He needs to start getting hot outside due to his inside game becoming a tight operation.

SF - Justin Holiday

 No questions here. Holiday has been the team MVP. The most consistent, the most outstanding on both offense and defense, and my favorite player. We felt his presence, or lack there of, against TAMU. His rebounding, defense, and offensive efficiency was needed to win the game against TAMU. He only tallied 4 points in his foul out 15 minutes. He, like Abdul, needs 30 a game. Rather, we need him to get 30 a game. His gets open, he takes good shots and passes out of the bad, he drives solidly, and he plays shut down defense like no other. I fully expect to see him put on a show against San Francisco after having to painfully watch his team struggle against an inferior team they should have beat. This is much like last season when Holiday was forced to watch the team play two games on the road without him. He came out the next week and made himself a starter.

PF - Matthew Bryan-Amaning

I debated this one for a while. To start Gant or not. Personally it's a flip of a coin. If we are playing a big team, no question put MBA in the starting line up. Against a smaller team, put Gant in. MBA at his natural 4 position could do wonders for the team. The biggest problem with starting MBA at the 4 means Aziz is in at the 5 and both MBA and Aziz are foul prone. We don't have the frontcourt depth to get both our bigs in foul trouble early in the game. MBA has played pretty well off the bench. His rebounding still leaves a lot to be desired, but give him time under Romar to develop some more toughness down low and we may be singing his praises again come March. A lot of his criticism stems from the fact that we don't have Quincy anymore to rebound the ball and it now falls on MBA's shoulders to grab the big boards. He has yet to play a big game against a solid post player and until he does his critics will remain loud and vocal. His first opportunity to step up comes against USC and UCLA during the Pac-10 opening weekend. What will we see from him? I'm not sure. When he plays big, he dominates, when he plays soft, he gets destroyed. He needs to get tough if we want to go deep in March.

C - Aziz N'Diaye

Regardless of the Gant/MBA issue, Aziz needs to be in our starting 5. He grabs 6 to 7 rebounds a game in only 12 to 15 minutes. Very impressive, just imagine what he could do with 15 to 20 minutes. He could probably grab 10 or 12 boards a game. Yes, he averages 7.8 fouls per 40 minutes (absurd), but he has some of the highest offensive and defensive board percentages in the nation. His offensive shot is still quite raw. He needs to learn a better put back move or to just dunk the damn ball. At 7 feet tall he has the size to score down low whenever he wants. At least if he doesn't dunk, use the glass. Too many times already, Aziz has missed easy shots from close due to simply undershooting the ball. With all his size and strength it's rather ironic he always rims on the front instead of out the back. A few more weeks and he should be rocking and rolling. He should be a superstar next year for the Huskies.

Bench (in order they should come off)

 C.J. Wilcox

The best offensive weapon the Huskies have, bar none. When C.J. is feeling his shot he is ruthless. Just watch the Virginia game again to see what kind of sweet shot he has. Despite missing late shots that were potential game winners I have extreme confidence in his ability to put away games. The freshman jitters will go away soon enough and after C.J. hits his first game winner, he won't be missing much again. His defense is excellent, tenacious and in your face. He gets low and gets after it. He could be starting in Holiday's spot next season. At 6'5'' he isn't small, but he isn't the biggest 3 out there. What he lacks in size he makes up for in skill and heart. He could be the number one 3 point shooter in the nation at the end of the season. Something I don't know if any freshman in recent history has done. He is going to get even better as the season progresses and next year....I can't even imagine what kind of player he is going to be after another year in the program.

Venoy Overton

Our defensive mastermind, but turnover prone point guard. He can make great plays then turn around and make you scratch your head. He can be great and he can be a detriment to our team. He has a season and presumably career high 8 assists in a game. A beautiful number. His turnovers have been better this season, but still some room for improvement. His offensive game has been looking pretty good and he has been playing better and better since his tailbone injury. His lateral quickness looked much slower than last season the past few games, but that is likely due to his hamstring and tailbone problems. Once he gets healthy his quickness will not be an issue. He is the fastest guy on the team. He looks to be an unsung hero and leader of the team this season. He is a very important 6th man, that like Gant/MBA and C.J. will be very critical in our journey through March Madness. Having 8 starting line up worthy players is a great problem to have. If Overton can develop his outside shot a little more and not force as many drives through the middle, he will become a potential NBA draft pick.

Darnell Gant

A possible starter against smaller line ups or teams with a very skilled 4 man. Gant has been killer on defense and his 3 ball has been brilliant. He is 7 for 10, not a large number, but he has been smart on his shot selection and made the open shots he has created. I want to see him create more opportunities for himself or at least have Romar create some plays to open him up. His rebounding is once aspect of his game he needs to step up. As a 4 man, he should be grabbing 4 to 6 boards a game. He is nearly there at 3 boards per game. I would like to seem him get to 6 to compliment Holiday. With Darnell being a senior next season and the Huskies losing both Holiday and MBA to graduation, rebounding will be a bigger issue than ever. Someone will need to step up and Darnell is primed for that to be him.

Scott Suggs

He is another guy who really rounded out his game over the summer. He hasn't had all the opportunities to prove it with most of his minutes coming in garbage time, but his experience and talent could really lend itself to our quest for a shot at the title. Having a 9th player is nice, having a talented 9th player is brilliant. He doesn't have the strongest drive, but he does well underneath. His outside shot is killer. He dropped a few big ones against Portland to stop their run and create our own. Sadly, he has been overshadowed by C.J. and goes unnoticed for the most part. He was given a starting role to start the season, but once Darnell got healthy he lost his position. Against Oregon and a few other Pac-10 schools I could see him starting again. He is talented and his defense isn't bad by any means. He does struggle some off the screen, but he is long enough that he can catch some of the guys who start to get out of his reach. I am not sure what Romar will do with him, but it appears he will be getting more minutes than Ross, but falling behind C.J. in the rotation. He still has this year and his senior season to take over.

Terrence Ross

The most athletic and talented player on the team in terms of raw ability. Words straight from Romar, a man who knows the players better than we do. Ross has had some great games, he has also gone unnoticed in others. With such a talented team, some players are bound to fall out and not get as many minutes as they may like and we may like him to. There are only 200 minutes to go around. Feasible all 10 players could get 20 minutes, but our talent isn't that level to justify it. Abdul, Holiday, maybe even I.T. should be seeing 30 a game. This means 3 players will see 10 or less. Ross is another player like C.J. or Suggs who could take over Holiday's 3 spot after graduation. He plays tough and dirty and rebounds pretty damn well. I am sort of sad to see his minutes dwindle due to his play making ability and confidence to shoot the ball even with a defender in his face. I respect Romar a ton and believe he puts Suggs in front of Ross for a reason. Ross still has three more years after this season and even so he will likely see some major minutes during blowouts and in close games where the Huskies need a play maker. Ross will find his place and make a huge impact.

Brendan Scherrer and Antoine Hosley

The two walk-ons will only see time during 20+ point wins and in extreme foul and injury situations. A lot of heart and their efforts are hardly rewarded, but they aren't talented enough to compete at the D1 level, at least major conference D1 level. I hope they see tons of time because it will mean we are up in games and are playing the dominant style of play we should always play. I would give anything to take their place.


Edit: Additional thoughts from Scott

I'm supposed to be studying for a final right now but I just want to throw out a few of my lineup thoughts.

Gaddy has got to play/shoot more. When he is on the floor he should be the one bringing the ball up and Romar should tell him to try and drive more or to shoot it if he is open. With both him and CJ, they can keep shooting three's until they are shooting below 50%.

MBA has to be on the court for us to have any post offense. Aziz just doesn't cut it on the offensive end right now. Hopefully he can get it figured out in practice.

I actually think our starting line up is the right one, even though I would say we should go back to MBA. I think that CJ should come off the bench before Suggs. If CJ is hot we need to find out as early as possible and feed him the ball.

Romar has a difficult coaching job this year. When you have Nate Robinson and B-Roy it is easy to figure out who to start, not this year. I'm still super pumped about this team, I just need to take breaks from thinking about it after every loss. Hopefully there won't be too many more of those.