This team lacks a bench. Yes, Colvin played a decent game today and Heide has played better over the last few games, but these 2 players were non existent over 2 months. Berg showed today why we have him only been averaging 7 minutes a game. Burgess I think will be a good player, but right now Painter does not have much confidence in playing him meaningful minutes. Harris has shown times from time to time that he has the potential.
What am I saying? We have absolutely no depth or bench scoring.
Painter really only has confidence in his 5 starters right now, and that is it. I mean who can blame him with no one else showing up consistently over this season. Smith has played way too many minutes, and I believe that he is mentally and physically exhausted right now. I think Trey has also shown this over the last 2 to 3 games too. Who is going to relieve them when we don't have the bench to do it.
This team has always had a veteran like Jones over the last few years that was the 6th or 7th man in the rotation. We did not get that in the last Portal. This team really needs more reliable depth We don't have it. I hope that go after some big man depth in the off season in the portal. We could also use a backup athletic wing along with another shooter. You say how do we the roster size to do that. I am hoping that we have some players like Berg leave after this year to free up some needed roster spots.
Did Smith have a bad game today? Absolutely! Has his performance over the last few games been as strong as they were at the beginning of the season? Of course not, not even close! Don't put this on Smith's shoulders though. Just think where this team would have been without him this year. We wouldn't even make the tournament.
The frustration is starting to run deep with this team, and I understand that, but we need to pull together and not be putting blame where it should not fall.
