This last game doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the Cincinnati game. We were relatively healthy-ish I thought for the Cincy game and came out and punched them in the mouth. They made some adjustments, started mugging Kofi, and took our lunch money the rest of the game. That’s much more alarming than a game where three starters including two primary ball handlers are out entirely and other guys have to fill unfamiliar roles.
And if we’ve learned anything over the last 5-10 years it is that the gap between P5 schools and some of these directional schools has narrowed tremendously. You can’t just expect to throw in your guys who are 8-12 on the depth chart out there and expect to roll over another team’s primary rotation.
With the rise of the constant travel ball there are more players playing a lot more competitive basketball than the old days where it was just school ball and the playground. And the bigger programs only have so many cumulative rides to give out each year.
The small schools have less roster turnover and more continuity because they aren’t losing guys to the pros. Illinois played RGV without 5 of the 6 or 7 guys (Ayo, GB, Jake, TF, AC) who played the most minutes last season.
And I can’t stress the lack of ball handlers right now enough. We saw firsthand for years how impotent teams with decent wings and post players could look without a quality PG.
Obviously Plummer is getting comfortable which is huge but imo we are really behind the 8 ball for awhile.
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