Head Coach Steve Lutz

So much for “Drake hasn’t played anybody”. Just knocked off big, bad SEC. McCollum is a REALLY good coach.
I will die on the hill that SEC was and is over rated this year. Their top tier teams are good, but teams like Mizzou, Ou, Texas, Ole Miss etc aren’t. Any better than K State, WVU, or other mid tier Big 12 schools. Drake winning a tourney game is impressive. But let’s not over react because they beat Mizzou. I agree McCollum
Is a great coach, but I also agree it’ll be very interesting to see if he can recreate his style at a P4 school.
 
I still don't like Lutz' minute distribution. Only one person averaged more than 25 minutes (26.7 Bryce Thompson). Eddie always gave his best 3-4 players 30+ minutes (75%). That is part of the reason they peaked at the end of the season.

The only time Eddie didn't do that was when he had injuries and those seasons didn't turn out well.

I'm sure someone can find an example where this isn't true, but typically if you have 3-4 core players averaging 30+ minutes per game, they are a more consistent team and perform better under pressure. The best coaches use a core set of players.
 
I still don't like Lutz' minute distribution. Only one person averaged more than 25 minutes (26.7 Bryce Thompson). Eddie always gave his best 3-4 players 30+ minutes (75%). That is part of the reason they peaked at the end of the season.

The only time Eddie didn't do that was when he had injuries and those seasons didn't turn out well.

I'm sure someone can find an example where this isn't true, but typically if you have 3-4 core players averaging 30+ minutes per game, they are a more consistent team and perform better under pressure. The best coaches use a core set of players.
Litz has talked about this. He basically said there wasn’t a big talent disparity with our roster, lots of parity. He basically didn’t have a 30+ minute guy on the roster. So he gave minutes based on matchups, hot hand, foul trouble, and to maximize rest, etc.
 
I still don't like Lutz' minute distribution. Only one person averaged more than 25 minutes (26.7 Bryce Thompson). Eddie always gave his best 3-4 players 30+ minutes (75%). That is part of the reason they peaked at the end of the season.

The only time Eddie didn't do that was when he had injuries and those seasons didn't turn out well.

I'm sure someone can find an example where this isn't true, but typically if you have 3-4 core players averaging 30+ minutes per game, they are a more consistent team and perform better under pressure. The best coaches use a core set of players.
I remember reviewing stats for his teams over the past three years and observing that he plays a lot more guys for fewer minutes. I can understand your point but an argument also could be made for the value of having fresh legs at the end of the season. Each of Lutz's first 3 teams won their conference tournament I believe. Might have been somewhat due to the team having a lower level of fatigue overall.
 
Litz has talked about this. He basically said there wasn’t a big talent disparity with our roster, lots of parity. He basically didn’t have a 30+ minute guy on the roster. So he gave minutes based on matchups, hot hand, foul trouble, and to maximize rest, etc.
He has never had a player average more than 30 minutes in his 4 seasons as a head coach. It isn't talent, that is just who he is.
 
I remember reviewing stats for his teams over the past three years and observing that he plays a lot more guys for fewer minutes. I can understand your point but an argument also could be made for the value of having fresh legs at the end of the season. Each of Lutz's first 3 teams won their conference tournament I believe. Might have been somewhat due to the team having a lower level of fatigue overall.
His history of how he manages his player minutes was why he was 4th or so on my list. Boynton burnt me out on the YMCA everyone gets to play half the game strategy.

I think on-court chemistry and knowing how to play with each other is more important especially in critical game situations and anticipating your teammates actions (cuts, defensive help, screens, etc.).

I'm not worried about fresh legs for 18-22 olds that have been playing non-stop AAU basketball since they were 10. Plus all the practicing that they do.
 
He has never had a player average more than 30 minutes in his 4 seasons as a head coach. It isn't talent, that is just who he is.
At WKU last year he had a guy average 28 minutes and two others right at 26 (Newman was one of those 2).
At A&MCorpus 22-23 year he had three guys average over 27+ minutes a game and another at almost 26.
The 21-22 he had a guy average 28 and 3 other guys average over 24 minutes.

So you’re right, he’s never had a guy average 30 minutes. But we’re literally talking about one minute of each half of a basketball game difference. It’s not like his teams have 12 guys averaging 12 minutes a game.

This year Thompson averaged 27 minutes. Dean was the next highest at 24. So this year, based on Lutz’s historical average, it does in fact seem like an outlier based on not having top tier guys that are better than the rest of the roster. Usually it looks like he has 4 top guys and the rest of the minutes balance out. This year he only had one, maybe two guys and the rest balanced out.

If you wanna be a hater, just own it. No need to come up with these not well thought out, almost made up narratives. If you wanna compare Lutz to Boynton again on minutes played, at give us some stats to back it up.
 
At WKU last year he had a guy average 28 minutes and two others right at 26 (Newman was one of those 2).
At A&MCorpus 22-23 year he had three guys average over 27+ minutes a game and another at almost 26.
The 21-22 he had a guy average 28 and 3 other guys average over 24 minutes.

So you’re right, he’s never had a guy average 30 minutes. But we’re literally talking about one minute of each half of a basketball game difference. It’s not like his teams have 12 guys averaging 12 minutes a game.

This year Thompson averaged 27 minutes. Dean was the next highest at 24. So this year, based on Lutz’s historical average, it does in fact seem like an outlier based on not having top tier guys that are better than the rest of the roster. Usually it looks like he has 4 top guys and the rest of the minutes balance out. This year he only had one, maybe two guys and the rest balanced out.

If you wanna be a hater, just own it. No need to come up with these not well thought out, almost made up narratives. If you wanna compare Lutz to Boynton again on minutes played, at give us some stats to back it up.
I consider 10 minutes as a threshold. To play 25% of the game on average means that player is getting time to perform and not just the end of the game or when a key player is in foul trouble.

Eddie Sutton typically only had 7-8 players average more than 10 minutes.
Boynton and Lutz typically have 9-10 players average more than 10 minutes. This year it was 10.

When it is only 7-8 players, those bottom 2-3 players are getting a lot more game time to develop.

Bill Self:
24-25: 9 this year, but one of them was injured and didn't finish the season. Had 4 players with 30+ min per game
23-24: 7 players, 4 players with 30+
22-23: 7 players, 4 players with 30+
21-22: 7 players, 2 players with 30+ plus 2 with 29+

Kelvin Sampson:
24-25: 8 players, 3 players with 30+. A 9th player only played 8 games
23-24: 9 players, 2 players with 30+. A 10th player only played 11 games. 2 of the 9 players played 27, 28 games missed 10-11 games not sure how that influenced the overall minute distribution.
22-23: 9 players, 2 players with 30+. A 10th player only played 10 games.
21-22: 8 players, 3 players with 30+. A 10th and 11th player only played 7 and 12 (Marcus Sasser season ending in December) games.

Even when Sampson went a little deeper, there was a large separation in minutes between the main players and depth/roll players.

McCasland:
24-25: 8 this year, 4 players with 30+ 2 players not counted because they played 6 and 8 games each.
23-24: 8 players, 3 players with 30+

I realize things can change during the season with development and injuries, but I think it shows indecisiveness when you keep looking for the hot hand. I want him to be successful, but I think we went with the low-cost hire and are hoping that we found a diamond in the rough.
 
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