MBB: Lineup changes going forward?

It cannot hurt.

And here I was thinking this was info about actual changes. Title is very misleading.

He's a defensive liability and always looks shaken when on the court. I dunno man, I still can't see him cracking the top 12.

I dunno man.  To me Vogrich = Stauskas and Stauskas = Vogrich.  Both get lost on defense (remember the game where Vogrich was on the court for about 3 seconds, lost his man and got screamed at by Hardaway?)  Stauskas has a much better handle than Vogrich (although not as good as HE thinks it is) and has pretty good ups....at least when we're on offense.  Haven't seen him use his elevation skills much on the defensive side of the ball.

Wanna make a change and shake things up?  Start playing more zone.  I wish we'd try that a bit more frequently and would stay with it longer than two possessions.

Just kidding... I agree though, I'd like to switch up defenses. It's becoming more clear each and every game that we just don't play solid man to man defense.

Maybe start LeVert and bring Stauskas off the bench.  This team seems to play best when it's defense leads to transition offense and LeVert has seemed to be the better defender.  While he may not provide the same shooting threat on offense, this move would allow Burke and Hardaway to get into transition more often.  It might prevent some of those early 10 point deficits we often seem to find ourselves in.  Being able to bring McGary and Stausaks off of the bench would also allow consistent scoring threats.

I think the OP is wrong in saying Vogrich plays "significantly better defense" than Stauskas. I think he player WORSE defense.



As far as possible lineup changes I see two options:



1. Play two bigs (big)

2. Play Spike and Burke together (small)



Both of those options have had their ups and downs this year. It depends on their matchups. In general I like the small lineup because Albrecht seems to be a calming presence and he can bring the ball up the court to help keep Trey a little more fresh at the end of the game.

If anyone I was thinking starting Lavert over Stauskas.  To at least see what happens.  My other thought was and this would only be for Sunday is to Start Morgan and Horford to help deal with payne and nix.

Stauskus is more than just a three point shooter.

I have no inside info, but I have confidence that we're not going to undo what had us as the #4 team in the country. 

Nik has shot 36% in B1G play (including 2 of 4 @PSU), while garnering a ton of attention out there.

JB has also addressed the zone issue a whole bunch of times.

So here's what I say: we have to play better, with more focus, on defense.  If we do, we'll be just fine.  But no lineup change will solve whatever problems we've been having without creating new ones.  Perhaps Caris will get some more minutes, perhaps we'll throw out some zones -- but mostly we just have to play a bit better on one end. 

While what this team needs is obviously some better leadership, Vogrich is not Zach Novak. There's only so much leading you can do when you've been on the bench the whole season. There's a reason the guy is barely playing anymore. And as far as the small lineup with Burke and Spike, I really don't like it. They're both pure point guards. Burke is one of the biggest threats in the country with the ball in his hands, and Spike is purely a distributor. You might as well play with 4 guys. I have not liked that lineup one bit.

I had hoped that Vogrich would add value this year since he had small contributions in the past, but he's been awful in his limited minutes this year, not even hitting 3s consistently.  He's not the answer. 

I also think the coaches need to be careful to avoid desperation moves like totally shaking up the starting lineup and risking losing the focus of one of these freshmen even more than they already have. 

The things you might see are as follows:

• More zone defense for limited possessions just to shake things up.  But zone relies on mental strength and that's harder to do with freshmen.
• Quicker hook for players who are struggling (looking at you Stauskas/GR3). 
• More 2-post situations against appropriate teams (like MSU).  This might also lead to more play from Bielfeldt if he's healthy.  He plays hard all the time and is a good rebounder. 

If you think about it, 6 of our 10 rotation players are freshmen.  So even with changes to the rotation you're still dealing with kids who are probably fatigued both physically and mentally.  They are also more easily rattled when things go poorly. 

I want a jim harbaugh/mike hart moment from one of the team's leaders.  This team's biggest problem is confidence right now...I'm really worried that the freshmen in particular are going to come out so tentative and afraid on Sunday.  I'd like someone to guarantee a win.  Rally the troops.

is showing, only time will help the young guys.  

ADD: defense, heart, toughness, an offense



Bench: self-pity, lack of intensity, leaving shooters open

Well we were undefeated with Vogrich in the starting lineup...

Put Pee Wee Pipkens in to clog the middle.

I agree that neither Spike, Max, or Caris can play extended minutes.  We're not going to win by giving them a ton of GR3 or Stauskas minutes.  But what about these thoughts:

• Have a quicker hook with GR3 and Stauskas when they look flustered or get beat on D.  You only have to sit them for a couple of possessions, but send the message and give them a chance to talk to the coaches.  Keep the back-up minutes limited but use them more strategically.
• When Caris comes on the floor, have him defend the other team's point guard.  Give Burke a break from that responsibility and maybe let Burke guard someone with a worse handle and maybe pick his pocket.  Caris isn't a great defender yet, but just giving the PG a different look and Burke a rest seems to have some value.

As for the commenter Bluefantn who blamed Beilein for not recruiting B10 players......really?  REALLY?  Wow.  I guess top-ten recruiting classes with NBA players isn't the right strategy.  We should recruit slow, unathletic bruisers I guess.  I'm not sure what a B10 player is, but I'd rather have exciting players that are fun to watch and will grow under good coaching. 

With that being said, I would concede that for some reason our team seems to get pushed around a lot and gets no help from the refs.  Part of that is youth and style of play.  But I do wonder if we need to knock someone on their butt now and then or if Beilein needs to take a T or get harder on the refs.  I feel like Izzo, Ryan, Creen, and Matta go absolutely nuts on the refs and get a lot more calls.  Maybe that's correlation and not causation.....

I vote No on the concept of more Vogrich in favor of less Stauskas.

I'd like to see a lot more of:

Lineup A - Starting lineup:

1 - Spike

2- Trey

3- Hardaway

4- Robinson

5- Morgan

Lineup B:

1- Spike

2- Trey

3- Hardaway

4- Morgan

5- Horford

...He would not play on most MAC teams due to the fact he is turnover prone and cannot shoot nearly as well as he was suppose to be able to coming out of high school. We need to play our bigs more, otherwise the same ole story will continue to happen and we will lose another 1st round game in the big dance