People have been discussing "tired legs" with this position, so I looked up the guard minutes per game from CBS (2023-24 College Basketball Complete Stats - Scoring). I don't see anything out of the ordinary with how UF is using its guards. It's interesting that our usage looks exactly like Auburn's, maybe since Golden formerly coached with Pearl?
Thanks, iam. This is great data, and I agree with you that it suggests that we are not overusing our guards relative to our SEC counterparts.
I don't buy into the tired legs narrative, even before your post. Elite (heck, even strong recreational athletes) athletes recover physically in time for a game that's 3 days away. These guys have elite nutritional guidance so long as they are sleeping well, they are absolutely recovering physically. The science is not debatable on this. Now, mental and emotional fatigue is definitely a thing....the mental part of giving up large leads is definitely a thing. Those two things can "look" like physical fatigue when watching a game, but it's not.
I would just add that not all minutes are the same across teams and games. That game last night was played at a much higher tempo than say the Texas A&M game. I thought Aberdeen had quality minutes in limited action in the first half, but he didn't play at all in the 2nd. I wasn't jumping up and down asking where he was by any means, but after the game I was wondering if he could of stole some minutes once we got up 20. LSU made shots, and we went a little cold, I mean everything Clayton shot in the first half was pure. As a team we didn't really have the 3 ball most of the night, so idk if that was LSU contesting better than other teams, or if we were just not taking them and driving the ball more. 4/17 is one of our lower outputs on the year it feels like, and it was at home. On average we are about 7/23 from 3 per game. LSU was 11/21 from 3 which is a great shooting night for anyone.
Hopefully Aberdeen will learn when to speed up and when to slow down. He's mostly wide open all the time and appears to be looking for the big play a bit much. I hope he's learning from ZP.
People overreact and start inventing boogeymen after losses. That’s where this tired leg business came from. That, and Patric Young made a comment about it so now if you argue against it logically, you are a nobody scrub who is going against what a legendary Gator athlete said. /thread
He'll get minutes if he just plays hard on defense, doesn't turn the ball over, and waits for opportunities to score without forcing the issue.
Pullin is playing too many minutes. You also have to look at how active he is in those minutes. He creates the offense. He dribbles the ball down, dribbles from one side to the other and into the lane and then back out on many possessions. I swear if we were counting steps he would always have the most. Also when a team presses us, it takes that much more out of him just to get the ball into the half court set. I believe he is worn down at the end of games and just doesn't have the energy to penetrate and hit his little runners in the lane that he is so good at. Also here is the top avg minutes for guards in the SEC. PLAYER MPG Matthew Murrell G MISS 34.1 Ta'Lon Cooper G SC 33.5 Sean East II G MIZZOU 33.5 Zyon Pullin G FLA 32.6 But Pullin wasn't starting his first few games which skewed his minutes. Everyone above him has started every game. Also in SEC play Pullin has played less than 34 minutes only vs Arkansas which was a blowout and he still played 33 minutes. Golden has to limit his minutes in the first half even if it means we can't build a lead. We need a fresh ZP at the end of games and at the end of the season.
Zyon is still our best player down the stretch of games, but the push in (pun intended) Pullin’s legs is not quite there on his shots.
Well, I connected with your bestie, Headband Jr. and got his opinion which was . . . Spoiler: What Headband Jr. Said About Murph ...that you are a nobody scrub that goes against the Gator legends . . . (kidding my brother)
Funny thing is in polite conversation when meeting people and where I went to college comes up I’ve been asked many times if I played ball (football or basketball) for UF. I’m like look at me man… I’m 5’10” 180 lbs. I had an academic scholarship. lol
Funny story. I was once on a National Science Foundation panel in DC to evaluate some proposals about university and community college math instruction and how to update it with the availability of hand held calculators. It was in March during The Dance and at a coffee break I happened to mention that when I was a grad student at Illinois I played a lot of pick-up and a few times there were varsity players in the game. You know how rumors go. That evening I was asked about my time playing on the varsity team. LOL. Well, I am 6' 2" but never played on the Illini varsity.
We are a different team in the second half of games that can’t be argued. Whether coaching, aggressiveness, shot selection or fatigue, needs to be addressed
Right. What the hell does Patrick know about basketball? On a minute serious note, his comment was just in the moment. It has been taken as a program wide long term issue by some.
Not every two professional basketball players agree on everything. Just because Patric was a high level player does not mean we have to agree with him. I have played basketball much longer than Patric… albeit at a lower level. Does my opinion mean nothing? Logically, what I said makes more sense than what he said.
I was 50/50 on whether you were with me or against me so I chose violence to be safe. You gotta be clear about it man!