Front Court Rotation and Production

[BUBalum05]

Thanks to ShaunGuth's points per 40 thread, and after some number crunching, I'm wondering what's happening with our front court rotation and consequently their production right now (ignoring NW) since WE is back and settled in as the #1 big man again. I am including JE in the rotation since he gets lots of boards and matches up with some big men as needed. DSE and WL have been incredibly solid and also playing lots of minutes at the two guard positions, so there isn't much to analyze with the back court production.

I wanted to compare the front court's season totals and the last 3 games in Points and Rebounds per 40 min, then the minutes per foul and actual min per game to provide some context.

After 19 games:
Points per 40min / Rebounds per 40min / Min per Foul / Actual Min per Game
TP 17.4/9.4/8.4/25.2
WE 14.6/9.2/6.8/24.4
JP 13.4/8.3/14.7/21.6
SS 10.4/6.6/6.6/8.3
JE 10.1/5.3/16.3/30.9

Last 3 games (Northern Iowa, SIU, Missouri St.):
Points per 40min / Rebounds per 40min / Min per Foul /Actual Min per Game
TP 17.2/4.9/6.5/21.7
WE 19.1/7.8/7.7/15.3
JP 3.6/5.7/11.2/18.7
SS 8.8/4.9/10.3/13.7
JE 9.7/4.6/13.6/31.7

I understand there are lots of factors behind the playing time and the individual match ups that 3 games stat's won??™t exactly correspond to the aggregate numbers on the season, but there are a few items that stick out to me:

1. I??™m wondering why SS is seeing more of the court than JP recently when SS isn??™t showing any significant increases in production with the increased playing time, meanwhile JP??™s numbers show a significant decrease in production with less minutes. I??™ll admit, I??™ve been wanting SS to get involved more, but I??™m not sure what GF is seeing to warrant it.
2. Our overall rebounding production lately has been very poor from the front court, down by 10.9 rebounds per 40. Is that the opponents of the last 3? Is it just the egg we laid against UNI? I'd like to see an emphasis on crashing the boards harder again.
3. WE and TP foul way too much, not just in the last three games either. I understand it comes with physical play, but foul trouble is really keeping them off the court.
4. Not necessarily front court related, but JE has been very consistent all year long.

Feel free to note any other trends you see with the front court stats or any general observations.

[SFP]

Thanks for the write up! On SS its easy to see why he has more minutes of late. The first reason was because WE was sitting and second there have been foul issues on the starters. SS has of late been playing better and most probably doing things that GF likes. Against MSU GF went with a smaller lineup at one point for match up reason and again WE and TP were in foul trouble. JP was also I heard under the weather and has has also not been playing so well on the offensive side as of late. I'm also suspecting that GF knows if we are going to have a late season push it is essential that we can get quality minutes from SS. I would not say that JE is as a front court player because essentially he is playing the 3. One thing about this team is that they rebound as a team.

[shaunguth]

JP was also I heard under the weather and has has also not been playing so well on the offensive side as of late.

That's an understatement. In the last three games (56 minutes), he is 1 of 4 from the field! Virtually non-existent. A total of 5 points and 8 rebounds in that span.

[SFP]

That's an understatement. In the last three games (56 minutes), he is 1 of 4 from the field! Virtually non-existent. A total of 5 points and 8 rebounds in that span.

OK I was trying to be kind.

What I've noticed is that JP is forcing his shots and not letting the game come to him or when doubled up he's not passing it out again. The same is true with TP. Both those players should be scoring at least 4-6 points a game on getting weak side rebounds and hitting layups.

[tornado]

Because of his missed games Will Egolf does not qualify officially for any "Conference only" stats..

..but since returning from suspension Will's numbers would place him high among the leaders in several categories among the league's big men..

Will's averages since returning... (and where he'd be among the league's low post players on teams other than BU - so TP not included)
- I hope he keeps these numbers up!
- 11 ppg on 8-14 (Will would be 4th behind McDermott-25.7ppg, Carmichael-17ppg, & Tuttle-12.4ppg)
- 57% FG shooting (Will would be 4th behind Tuttle, Echenique, & McDermott)
- 60.0% 3-pt shooting (Will would be 1st overall in the entire league, big men & otherwise included)
- 4.5 rpg (Will would be 8th)
- 2.5 blocks (Will would be 2nd behind Orupke)
- 1.5 steals (Will would be 2nd behind Drake's Jordan Clarke at 1.7)
- 1.5 assists (3rd behind only McDermott & UNI's Jake Koch)

[BUBalum05]

OK I was trying to be kind.

What I've noticed is that JP is forcing his shots and not letting the game come to him or when doubled up he's not passing it out again. The same is true with TP. Both those players should be scoring at least 4-6 points a game on getting weak side rebounds and hitting layups.

That's an understatement. In the last three games (56 minutes), he is 1 of 4 from the field! Virtually non-existent. A total of 5 points and 8 rebounds in that span.

I meant to ask if JP was sick because it hasn't seemed like he's done anything to warrant less playing time leading into the last few games.

I'm also suspecting that GF knows if we are going to have a late season push it is essential that we can get quality minutes from SS.

Totally agree SS needs to be a key player down the stretch with WE and TP getting whistled so often. I only saw the MoSt game, but it looked like SS wasn't being pushed around as much, so hopefully that weight training is starting to pay off.