Start Edwards

[markchal]

Outside of a couple games, Freemantle has been a massive disappointment this year. Hunter is fine off the bench.

After the effort he played with tonight, why not give Edwards a chance for more playing time going forward? Why is Steele obsessed with putting Freemantle in the starting lineup when he does nothing to warrant it?

I feel bad for Scruggs and Nunge, who are the only thing close to consistent players we have.

[Hink]

While I think that might be a bit extreme, I definitely think he deserves some extended minutes going forward. He played with confidence and scored 8 points in what, 10 minutes of play max? The 3 might have been a bit aggressive but beyond that, no complaints at all about his run tonight.

How has he not played until now though?

[xuphan]

Outside of a couple games, Freemantle has been a massive disappointment this year. Hunter is fine off the bench.

After the effort he played with tonight, why not give Edwards a chance for more playing time going forward? Why is Steele obsessed with putting Freemantle in the starting lineup when he does nothing to warrant it?

I feel bad for Scruggs and Nunge, who are the only thing close to consistent players we have.

I think Edwards cashed in all of his practice points to play the minutes he did today. He will need to spend a few more weeks collecting practice points before he can cash them in to play.

[Double Down]

More playing time. Hail Caesar!

[drudy23]

I think Edwards cashed in all of his practice points to play the minutes he did today. He will need to spend a few more weeks collecting practice points before he can cash them in to play.

All I can think of is saving all of those video game tickets for the Big Bear!

[boozehound]

Edwards’ good play makes me even more pissed at Travis for being a shitty coach. Start him over Free, at least for UConn to send Zach a message. All Freemantle does is talk shit to the other team and bitch at the refs, all while turning in generally shit performances. Talk less, play more.

[drudy23]

Steele loves his guys.....man

[Lloyd Braun]

Start Edwards!? LOLOLOL WTF are you guys smoking

Nice handful of minutes but this MAY be a bit of an overreaction here. Appreciate the enthusiasm though

[Xavier]

I thought Travis should’ve benched Freemantle at halftime. Do something that shakes it up. It’s the same thing every game. I would strongly consider starting him next game. He won’t, and don’t be surprised if he sees less than 4 minutes

[ArizonaXUGrad]

Start no, but he has earned some run. There are a few guys on that bench that should be played a some at least to rest some of these poor performances.

[boozehound]

Start Edwards!? LOLOLOL WTF are you guys smoking

Nice handful of minutes but this MAY be a bit of an overreaction here. Appreciate the enthusiasm though

Start anyone over Freemantle. I don’t really care who. Zach needs to get a message about his play, his effort, and his attitude. He didn’t even seem to give a shit that he fouled out today being a tough guy. Those technical FT’s might have been the game. Steele tolerates way too much.

[XUGRAD80]

I’m not going to blame Freemantle for that loss, but he certainly owns a large part of the responsibility for it. Considering the size that UConn can throw at anyone, I’d consider playing Edwards in place of Johnson though. A frontline of Nunge, Free, Edwards, with Scruggs and Jones at the guards gives X a BIG team on the floor. It reduces the outside shooting potential of X, but they have been pretty much sucking at that most of the season anyway. They got out rebounded last night by a dozen. Edwards showed me that he understands blocking out and not just trying to out jump the opposition. X needs more of that.

But since they only have 1 day to prepare for UConn, I doubt that they will make any changes at all. Nor do I see any change to the result. :(

[sgarcia]

Start Edwards!? LOLOLOL WTF are you guys smoking

Nice handful of minutes but this MAY be a bit of an overreaction here. Appreciate the enthusiasm though

Agreed. Edwards should get a 4 minute war somewhere in the 1st half to see if he can hang like he did last night. If he can then give him 10-15 minutes for the game.

[Xville]

We are talking about Steele here guys..it will be the same lineup, same result. Lather rinse and repeat. He doesn’t want to upset our fake tough guy and hurt his man’s feelings.

Not saying Edwards should necessarily start from here on out but he needs more minutes and a shakeup in the lineup is needed for this particular game with the one day turnaround. Start Odom with Scruggs and let Johnson watch the game for a few minutes… something. It’s a one day turnaround against one of the toughest teams in the league…really have nothing to lose with this one.

[XUMIOH12]

He obviously needs some minutes at least. Makes me wonder why he's barely played all season. Guess he just needs to practice harder, who cares what he can do in a game!

[XUGRAD80]

We are talking about Steele here guys..it will be the same lineup, same result. Lather rinse and repeat. He doesn’t want to upset our fake tough guy and hurt his man’s feelings.

Agree for the most part, but it also wouldn’t surprise me to see the Odom for Johnson change you propose.

One point I’ll make……Steele seems to really worry about the players having confidence. He has said many times that the players lack it and that’s the problem. Therefore he seems reluctant to change a players role when they are struggling. To that I say….sometimes a player needs a kick in the A$$ more than they need to be stroked. A good coach knows when they need the former and not the latter. I think that a lot of us agree that Freemantle needs that KITA right now.

[boozehound]

Agree for the most part, but it also wouldn’t surprise me to see the Odom for Johnson change you propose.

One point I’ll make……Steele seems to really worry about the players having confidence. He has said many times that the players lack it and that’s the problem. Therefore he seems reluctant to change a players role when they are struggling. To that I say….sometimes a player needs a kick in the A$$ more than they need to be stroked. A good coach knows when they need the former and not the latter. I think that a lot of us agree that Freemantle needs that KITA right now.

If a bunch of the players are lacking confidence it seems like it becomes a coaching issue at that point. The coaches aren't putting the players in the position to be confident, by coaching them on how to attempt and execute high percentage plays.

[markchal]

I start Edwards simply because he played hard (and OK, well enough) in the last game and we need a shakeup. He shouldn't be coaching Freemantle's "effort and attitude". Guy is a veteran player and supposed to be one of the team leaders. He seems far more interested in talking than in making the winning plays the team needs from him.

[Masterofreality]

I'm still pissed at this:

We played much better without Freemantle in there….which is also what happened earlier in the year with our big wins. Free played 19 first half minutes and we were down by 10. He didn’t play the last 13 minutes, because he’s an idiot, and we almost came back. Steele needs to sit his Coaches Pet. (But he won’t)

[boozehound]

I'm still pissed at this:

We played much better without Freemantle in there….which is also what happened earlier in the year with our big wins. Free played 19 first half minutes and we were down by 10. He didn’t play the last 13 minutes, because he’s an idiot, and we almost came back. Steele needs to sit his Coaches Pet. (But he won’t)

I think Freemantle spent way too much time reading his press clippings in the offseason. Most improved LY and 1st team all Big East. He kind of seemed to just assume that he would coast through the season and dominate, which very clearly hasn't happened.

[Xavier]

He was just as bad a defender last year. I think he put up numbers because he was one of very few options, but he was also just better. Maybe the foot injury held him back but it doesn’t matter right now. MOR is right, we were better to start year without him and often play better when he is on bench. Don’t bench him but make him earn minutes again. Give Edwards a shot at those minutes too. See who earns it through practice.


*practice part is just a joke

[IM4X]

I think Freemantle spent way too much time reading his press clippings in the offseason. Most improved LY and 1st team all Big East. He kind of seemed to just assume that he would coast through the season and dominate, which very clearly hasn't happened.

This may be the case. Also, let’s remember that he was out with an injury for the first part of the season and had to figure out how to slide into the rotation that had already kind of gelled. It has been far from seamless. He has to know he is not playing up to his potential. I don’t believe he is a fake tough guy. I do think he has let his “tough guy” attitude sneak out at the wrong time, probably partly because he is underperforming. He needs to show more toughness in the paint for sure. Dunk more. Fight for rebounds more.

I am not against him sitting a little. He does need to understand what is expected of him, though, I have to believe Zach floating around shooting jumpers instead of concentrating on gong to work in the paint has to do with how hands-off Steele is with his players. These kids need their coach to better set them up for success by making sure they are in position to help the team and choosing the higher percentage shots.

[noteggs]

Trying to figure out where I’ve seen this movie before? Let’s start with D James or E Harden. Now, Edwards has a lot more potential overall, but may be a bit early to make this happen. Let’s give him more minutes and see what happens.

[UCGRAD4X]

Zack needs a pair
https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.tjsnaJmD6ugNjgldZUtWEAHaHa&pid=Api&P=0&w=156&h=156

[Lloyd Braun]

Looks like he earned a minute in yesterday’s game. I actually missed that part of the game so I didn’t see him check in.

[Xuperman]

This thread is so "Back to the Future". I can't believe how some here fail to acknowledge where we are calendar wise....every minute is precious. Does he look good and deserve some run? Yes, but only in clean up duty......if there is any. Buckle up folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride.
:popcorn: