Anyone think Jahvon Blair earned a starting spot yet?

[blueandgray]

When I suggested that the kid start at the beginning of the year, I was almost laughed off this board. He's now a candidate for BE POW averaging darn near 24ppg as a starter in league play.

Interested to see how the board spins this one. Go for it!!

[jctnhoya4ever]

No Mac is the starter they need Blair off the bench when mac is healthy you don’t loose starting job because of injury. Plus Blair is better suited off the bench they need that scoring to help when rotation is only 6-7 players in my opinion anyway. Good win.

[madgesiq92]

Feb 8, 2020 14:08:57 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

When I suggested that the kid start at the beginning of the year, I was almost laughed off this board. He's now a candidate for BE POW averaging darn near 24ppg as a starter in league play.

Interested to see how the board spins this one. Go for it!!

Yes he has.

[blueandgray]

Feb 8, 2020 14:15:18 GMT -5 jctnhoya4ever said:

No Mac is the starter they need Blair off the bench when mac is healthy you don’t loose starting job because of injury. Plus Blair is better suited off the bench they need that scoring to help when rotation is only 6-7 players in my opinion anyway. Good win.

Why can't we go with Mac, Allen and Blair as a 3 guard line up? I don't get the rigidity. We have to do something to start games faster....why not this?? Further, I don't get blanket statements like "you don't lose your starting job because of injury". That's not a reason.

[FrazierFanatic]

Yes.

The question is, who sits? I have slogged through the Juggy vs. Mac debate - but especially if the opponent does not have a scoring threat at guard at small forward, any chance it would be Jagan? Playing both Jahvon and Mac gives us more scoring options on offense, while sacrificing defense, but depends on how important that defense is. And that also would give us no offensive spark off the bench - although with our already paper-thin bench maybe we have to forego worrying about that.

[kettlehill]

Who would have thought when Blair and Pickett were freshmen, that it would be Blair that turned out to be the stud. I don’t agree with players losing their starting spot due to injuries, but I do agree that Blair should get 30 minutes every night, somehow. With Blair playing like this, Mac might just corral some of his shot hunting instincts.

[RockawayHoya]

With Pickett's struggles the last 2 weeks, he would be my obvious choice to sit. I know that lineup would struggle mightily to rebound and defend at the 3/4, but we can't continue to allow someone that big of an offensive liability heavy minutes if hes going to let those offensive struggles impact his defensive intensity. First time I saw that this year from him, and that was a big eye opener for me.

I would add, if Yurt is out, Hoyas can't afford to not have another offensive threat out on the floor. Q has made strides and is useful in spurts, but hard for me to think we can ride him offensively just yet.

[Deleted]

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys, and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts lol everybody is going to play over 30 minutes.

[FrazierFanatic]

Feb 8, 2020 14:34:18 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts.

It is certainly the case that with the Mac injury, the other guards have been doing yeoman duty; when Mac is back there needs to be a frequent substitution rotation.

[drquigley]

Feb 8, 2020 14:34:18 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys, and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts lol everybody is going to play over 30 minutes.

Exactly.

[SDHoya]

Given how thin the rotation is, I don't think it really makes much of a difference whether he starts or comes off the bench. He has shown he should be getting the same minutes as the other guards. Blair's coming out party these last few games hopefully means that when Mac is back and healthy, we'll have more scoring options, and there will be less a need for Mac and others to hunt for shots when we need a bucket.

The issue in terms of Blair's playing time is that his skill set is most similar to Mac's--whereas Allen (PG play), Moseley (defense and veteran leadership) and Pickett (tallness? rebounding) bring different things to the table. Taking one of those other guys off does effect the team balance unfortunately. That being said, I assume Ewing will feel more comfortable playing Mac and Blair together moving forward.

If Mac and Yurt are back in time for the Butler game next weekend, I feel pretty good about our chances.

[blueandgray]

Feb 8, 2020 14:34:18 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys, and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts lol everybody is going to play over 30 minutes.

So you are saying “who cares...just play him!”. I am saying, we can’t afford to dig ourselves a double digit deficit within the first minutes of each game. I am saying ...start him and play him darn near 40 minutes as he has been.

Everyone is so scared to take a stand.

[RockawayHoya]

Feb 8, 2020 14:46:19 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Feb 8, 2020 14:34:18 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys, and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts lol everybody is going to play over 30 minutes.

So you are saying “who cares...just play him!”. I am saying, we can’t afford to dig ourselves a double digit deficit within the first minutes of each game. I am saying ...start him and play him darn near 40 minutes as he has been.

Everyone is so scared to take a stand.

Know this thread is about Blair, but at the risk of derailing it... need to comment about those bad early starts.

Problem with these huge early deficits is not who's on the floor, but what we continue to choose to focus on. Every game, our first look is to pound it into Yurt and hope it'll be a good day for him. More than often it's not.

Because we have been barely hitting the 3 (outside of Blair) the last few games, when we finally decide to go away from Yurt and try something else, option #2 typically has not been working either.

Unfortunately, this team isn't good enough to keep mid level BE teams at bay early in games simply on the strength of their defense. So, if we don't score early, we're going to be down by a sizable margin.

Would really like to see Ewing try to catch Butler by surprise on Saturday with either a defensive wrinkle to start (zone? press?). If Yurt is out, I'd like to our perimeter guys try to heat up early instead of forcing it into Q and trying to make him something he's not yet.

[saxagael]

Feb 8, 2020 14:33:33 GMT -5 RockawayHoya said:

With Pickett's struggles the last 2 weeks, he would be my obvious choice to sit. I know that lineup would struggle mightily to rebound and defend at the 3/4, but we can't continue to allow someone that big of an offensive liability heavy minutes if hes going to let those offensive struggles impact his defensive intensity. First time I saw that this year from him, and that was a big eye opener for me.

I would add, if Yurt is out, Hoyas can't afford to not have another offensive threat out on the floor. Q has made strides and is useful in spurts, but hard for me to think we can ride him offensively just yet.

Agreed. If Q can keep out of foul trouble like he did today and rock it defensively and add points, he with Allen, Mac, Mosely, and Blair could be a good starting 5. See who is working or not and rotate Pickett and Timmy in.

Allen is a really good point guard, Mac is one of the few players who can create for himself as well as create for others, Mosely is tough and is the best defender out there as well as bringing needed scoring and kick outs to open shooters, Blair with his shooting and passing as well as his ability now to do a bit driving to the hoop is a great asset. Against longer teams, this may be a tough starting rotation, but certainly could be good for buckets.

[hoyainla]

Feb 8, 2020 14:08:57 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

When I suggested that the kid start at the beginning of the year, I was almost laughed off this board. He's now a candidate for BE POW averaging darn near 24ppg as a starter in league play.

Interested to see how the board spins this one. Go for it!!

Do t worry I get laughed at a lot on here and then when the suggestion happens people just credit Pat for being forced into it.

Jahvon has played about 21/game in BE games that Mac was healthy. He has now put played Mac for 1 2/3 seasons. I doubt he ever gets a starting spot. This year it doesn’t matter as long as he really does get his 30 minutes. The problem is it’s a him or Mac thing. There is no way you can bench Jagan. Pickett deserves the bench but we can’t start a 6’3 guard at PF in the BE and expect to succeed.

[saxagael]

Feb 8, 2020 14:53:09 GMT -5 RockawayHoya said:

Feb 8, 2020 14:46:19 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

So you are saying “who cares...just play him!”. I am saying, we can’t afford to dig ourselves a double digit deficit within the first minutes of each game. I am saying ...start him and play him darn near 40 minutes as he has been.

Everyone is so scared to take a stand.

Know this thread is about Blair, but at the risk of derailing it... need to comment about those bad early starts.

Problem with these huge early deficits is not who's on the floor, but what we continue to choose to focus on. Every game, our first look is to pound it into Yurt and hope it'll be a good day for him. More than often it's not.

Because we have been barely hitting the 3 (outside of Blair) the last few games, when we finally decide to go away from Yurt and try something else, option #2 typically has not been working either.

Unfortunately, this team isn't good enough to keep mid level BE teams at bay early in games simply on the strength of their defense. So, if we don't score early, we're going to be down by a sizable margin.

Would really like to see Ewing try to catch Butler by surprise on Saturday with either a defensive wrinkle to start (zone? press?). If Yurt is out, I'd like to our perimeter guys try to heat up early instead of forcing it into Q and trying to make him something he's not yet.

The pounding into Yurt helps open up outside opportunities later. Yurt starts cold (I'm guessing he isn't drinking Turkish coffee pre-game, needs to love the homeland more) shooting and distributing out. Opposing teams start defending well outside and then about 6 to 10 minutes in start hedging and helping inside, which opens up outside shots.

It will be interesting if Q starts if Yurt is out next game how the games start and if Q can get that protecting in start earlier, but also kick out a bit better. Q and Yurt together are working a lot better offensively, but still a bit tough defending wings on defense. Q, Yurt, and Pickett on the back line defensively seems to be working, but is more problematic on the offensive end.

[RockawayHoya]

In the 3 recent games Mac has been out, Hoyas are 18-67 (26.9%) from 3.

Blair is 10-30 (33.3%). Rest of team is 8-37 (21.6%).

Mcclung in BE play is shooting 22% from 3.

Bottom line: even after Mac comes back, we HAVE to have guys step up and hit open 3's. And not just one guy, all 3-4 of them that take them in considerable volume. There is no other way to beat good teams in this league. The ball movement and quality of looks have improved as of late. It's up to guys to hit them when they're there.

[saxagael]

The slow starts is also players playing timidly on defense and not wanting to get into early foul trouble as there really isn't a bench. Players keeping to one or two fouls in the first half opens up more aggressive defense in the second half, which has been good to see. The more aggressive defense also opens up more transition play.

[SDHoya]

Feb 8, 2020 14:46:19 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Feb 8, 2020 14:34:18 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

We literally have 6 maybe 7 guys, and 2 of those are centers. Who cares who starts lol everybody is going to play over 30 minutes.

So you are saying “who cares...just play him!”. I am saying, we can’t afford to dig ourselves a double digit deficit within the first minutes of each game. I am saying ...start him and play him darn near 40 minutes as he has been.

Everyone is so scared to take a stand.

It bears pointing out that Blair started each of the last two games in which we went down early. If the point is that both Mac and Blair should be starting, then the question is who do you sit? I know a lot of people feel that Pickett is the obvious choice, but is he? Does it really make sense to start the game with 4 players on the floor 6'3" or smaller?

[RockawayHoya]

Feb 8, 2020 15:00:31 GMT -5 SDHoya said:

Feb 8, 2020 14:46:19 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

So you are saying “who cares...just play him!”. I am saying, we can’t afford to dig ourselves a double digit deficit within the first minutes of each game. I am saying ...start him and play him darn near 40 minutes as he has been.

Everyone is so scared to take a stand.

It bears pointing out that Blair started each of the last two games in which we went down early. If the point is that both Mac and Blair should be starting, then the question is who do you sit? I know a lot of people feel that Pickett is the obvious choice, but is he? Does it really make sense to start the game with 4 players on the floor 6'3" or smaller?

While I'm in a stats mood:

Since Mac went out, Pickett is 5-29 (17.2%) from the field, 2-13 from 3 (15.4%).

He hasn't had a single game shooting 50% or better from the field since UMBC. That was nearly 2 months ago.

Maybe the above isn't as big a deal if: a) he was a low volume shooter, or b) he was a shutdown defender. But he's averaging 10.3 FGA in conference play and has been victimized a lot as the primary on-the-ball defender or situations where he overhelps off shooter that he shouldn't.

Yes the rebounding generally is a positive, but he needs to do more than that to justify his minutes, even with a short rotation.