Hey there

It's been a little while since I posted here, but figured I'd post something I just wrote on Doyle re-injuring his ankle. Don't know if you guys heard/read what Moser said after the SIU loss, but he said he's "got to sit him" because of the ankle.
Anyway, here's my take on it. Basically saying Porter should follow through on sitting Doyle and not bring him back until he's 100% because it's worth sacrificing a few games in Jan./Feb. to have the team at full strength in March.

http://thecatchandshoot.com/opinion-bet ... it-counts/

Thanks for the update, Jesse. I doubt many here will be surprised to hear this. We've seen enough of Doyle over the last year and a half to know that something isn't right. It's pretty incredible that even with a bum wheel he has 13 assists in 2 games. I'd imagine Porter will indeed rest him, 3 games in 8 days coming up.

Not too surprising. It will be tough to beat Evansville without him, but it's more important to beat them in St. Louis than tomorrow. #SixthOrBetter #NoThursday

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How do we beat them without Milt ?? Do not know for sure of course but--

--Play our usual defense but even better
--Christian and Devon must get at least thirty-forty between them--Big order but can be done at home.
--Our JC guys get twenty between them
--Whomever brings ball up MUST do so smart-like and dish
--Knuth could be the difference--

Four out of the above five should do it. BUT we all must dig deep--We DO have a good bench so let's prove it.

Milt cannot board well with that ankle so the rest must--

Wishful thinking, I know , but can be done.

Despite what Jesse reports, I think Doyle is going to be a game time decision against Evansville. In the MVC weekly coach teleconference on Monday, Moser said "you can't really sit him for a week because there are games every three or four days" or something to that effect. He said that he's going easy in practice, acknowledged he was "hindered," but didn't say he was out definitely.

Looking at our schedule, Evansville is an important game because of the chance to nail down a tiebreaker with a team we seem to be even with. After that, we go to Indiana State-- another team we should be able to beat, even on the road. The game at Wichita State is the one where he should rest, if you ask me. Winning on their court is a longshot, even with a perfectly healthy Doyle. Keep him home, and see what the young guys can do. He would have a full week from Indiana State to Illinois State at home.

Here's the real question: What are we playing for right now, and what are the risks/rewards?

1. We want to stay out of Thursday.
2. We really, really, really want to stay out of Thursday.
3. There's not really a difference between a 4 and 5 seed, but the difference between a 5 and Thursday could be a tiebreaker.
4. A cynical argument could be made that a 6 seed is actually better than a 4/5, because you stay out of (presumably) Wichita State's side of the bracket... but that could change if UNI makes up a game on WSU and/or beats them out on the strength of schedule tiebreaker.
5. We would like to be in the running for an NIT at large... but we're on the bubble now with the SIU loss. We need to put ourselves in a position to win the games we can/should, and if we're going to rest guys, it should be against the teams we wouldn't get penalized for losing to anyway.
6. There's not really a guarantee that Doyle (or any other player) pops back to full strength by sitting out 1 or 2 games. If it doesn't happen, you've just dug yourself a deeper hole.

Can we win without Doyle? Yes, especially against weaker teams and at home. Can we win without Doyle, while fighting whatever kept Montel James from playing the last 17 minutes of the SIU game, with Earl Peterson only scoring two points in his last two games, and with Knuth and Ingram only scoring 11 points between them over the last two games? Almost certainly not.

JCT - Your schedule is logical, but I think the biggest question Porter should be asking himself is whether we are a better team with the injured Doyle we've seen for the past two games or are we better without him?

Put it this way: We played much better in the game he missed than we have in the last two. It's possible that Peterson, Knuth, Ingram, et al. haven't done as much because Milt hasn't been able to create for them due to the ankle.

I'd make the case that we should get him healthy now, take our chances against Evansville and Indiana State, and see if he's ready to play against Wichita. We should be able to win one of the two without him. If, like you suggest, we want to essentially punt Wichita (which Porter will never do), then he should be back for Illinois State and ready to take us on a five game win streak leading into UNI.

If you rest him and get him healthy, the worst case scenario is we lose the next three games, and we are still 3-6 with seven extremely winnable games remaining.

If you keep pushing him, the worst case is that we struggle all year and end up losing on Thursday in St. Louis because the ankle never has the time to heal.

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As an economist would say or as they would say in geometry, "assume that Doyle can't play and that James is limited", what would your line up and rotation be.

I would start
Crisman
White
Thomas
Turk
Ingram

off the bench would be
James (limited)
Knuth
Peterson
Richardson
& Rajala

I would add Ingram because of his athleticism and rebounding.

I agree with AHunte here. Rest him til he's healthy and can be a top-tier contributor.

Sometimes you see guys play in games and hardly practice when they're dinged up. I'll tell you that in my opinion this rarely works out well. You might feel pretty good come game day, but rhythm is so important and hard to maintain when you're not practicing.

Here I go whining again !! Woe is us--Again we have key hurts !! Over and over again--Other teams suffer injuries BUT it appears that we get more than our share.
--Milton's being hurt has SLOWED the entire team down--This must NOT occur again--Rest him til he is ready--Kiki will now take over and RUN the ball up-court when he can.
--Hopefully James is ready to go NOW--He and Ingram can help Chrsitian down low--AND must do so.
--We have a good bench--Bring them on--- My guess is KiKi will be the key --He Turk and Thomas !!

Play Defense go on offense IN A HURRY !!--We beat Evansville this way

I'm good with resting him and I'm also good with Porter not letting on whether he is going to play him to opposing coaches. Let THEM worry whether Doyle will be playing against them or not.