There has been a lot of discussions about who might step up next year and how "deep" we are. I think a discussion of how many minutes there are to be had in a game and to whom they might go to is warranted. I am going to make some assumptions right from the beginning.
Woltman starts at center and plays 20-30 minutes a night. The more the better IMO simply for defense and rebounding purposes.
Terry, Ellis, and Layden all start and average around 30 minutes a night. That is about what Ellis and Terry averaged last year and a reduction of five minutes a night for Layden, which I think would be good for her overall game and keep her fresher for the end of the season.
That is 110-120 minutes of the possible 200 a game without addressing the 4 spot. Everything after this is guesswork and supposition mostly with how I think the team would play the best.
I would like to see Harper start at the PF spot and get 20-25 minutes a night backed up by Learn getting 15-20. Learn got 12 a night in BT play and led the team in shooting percentage and second in points per minute played.
That puts us up to 150-160 minutes a night spoken for.
I am hopeful Stoddard can play the backup center role for 10-20 minutes a night. That frees up Learn and Harper to only play PF which I think will help Learn's development and keep Harper where she can do the most good.
That takes us to 170 minutes a game taken.
That leaves 30 minutes a game for Smith (14 mpg last season), Potts, Williams, Hardin, and Petree to split. Any more they get comes from Ellis, Terry, and Layden. Terry led us in rebounding, assists, and steals. limiting her minutes seems counter productive unless someone else can replace those stats. Scoring is not Terry's strong point obviously, but she hit 2 of 3 last second game winners she attempted. Ellis and Layden were virtually tied for leading scorer, 11.5 and 11.6 points per game played. Any minutes from them needs to be someone putting up points at a good clip. That could definitely be Petree or Potts, but I just don't see enough minutes for everyone to contribute as much as some fans would like for some of the new players.
I am not going to speculate on those last 30 minutes because we have yet to see 3 of those 5 players play. I could see them going to one player, three players, or maybe all five, but I think if you play all five, you won't get any consistency and team cohesion will suffer. I believe playing more than 10 players double digit minutes makes a team that struggles to be consistent from night to night.
I would like to hear what others think on this, please keep it civil.
Woltman starts at center and plays 20-30 minutes a night. The more the better IMO simply for defense and rebounding purposes.
Terry, Ellis, and Layden all start and average around 30 minutes a night. That is about what Ellis and Terry averaged last year and a reduction of five minutes a night for Layden, which I think would be good for her overall game and keep her fresher for the end of the season.
That is 110-120 minutes of the possible 200 a game without addressing the 4 spot. Everything after this is guesswork and supposition mostly with how I think the team would play the best.
I would like to see Harper start at the PF spot and get 20-25 minutes a night backed up by Learn getting 15-20. Learn got 12 a night in BT play and led the team in shooting percentage and second in points per minute played.
That puts us up to 150-160 minutes a night spoken for.
I am hopeful Stoddard can play the backup center role for 10-20 minutes a night. That frees up Learn and Harper to only play PF which I think will help Learn's development and keep Harper where she can do the most good.
That takes us to 170 minutes a game taken.
That leaves 30 minutes a game for Smith (14 mpg last season), Potts, Williams, Hardin, and Petree to split. Any more they get comes from Ellis, Terry, and Layden. Terry led us in rebounding, assists, and steals. limiting her minutes seems counter productive unless someone else can replace those stats. Scoring is not Terry's strong point obviously, but she hit 2 of 3 last second game winners she attempted. Ellis and Layden were virtually tied for leading scorer, 11.5 and 11.6 points per game played. Any minutes from them needs to be someone putting up points at a good clip. That could definitely be Petree or Potts, but I just don't see enough minutes for everyone to contribute as much as some fans would like for some of the new players.
I am not going to speculate on those last 30 minutes because we have yet to see 3 of those 5 players play. I could see them going to one player, three players, or maybe all five, but I think if you play all five, you won't get any consistency and team cohesion will suffer. I believe playing more than 10 players double digit minutes makes a team that struggles to be consistent from night to night.
I would like to hear what others think on this, please keep it civil.