How much did losing Varez Ward hurt?

B

borna_horn

1,000+ Posts
I heard that RB was high on him as the starting PG before the season.

Reading all the obituaries this morning about our lack of an offensive floor leader makes me wonder - could Varez have been that guy?
 
I said it in another thread and i'll say it again on this thread. Varez Ward was really coming into his own during the tournament last year and i think you would have seen vast improvements out of him this year compared to last. his injury is causing JaCovan Brown IMO to play about 10 per game more than he should.....and Jai Lucas wouldnt play a minute if Ward was healthy. Nobody made a big deal out of it before because of "how deep we are" but its becoming a big deal no question.
 
NOT MUCH.

Ward is OK, but this team lacks a coach. He plays too many players and although Ward is decent, he is not good. Would have been just one more guy not getting enough minutes and taking minutes from a better player.
 
We don't know how much losing Ward has affected the team. The team won 14 straight games with Ward out before going into the current 2-5 stretch.

What is it specifically that anyone believes Ward can do that others can't? He wasn't shooting particularly well. His assist-turnover ratio was crappy for a point guard (1:1). He wasn't adept at shooting 3's, was piss poor at it as a freshman and greatly improved to hit less than 20% this year before his injury.

His biggest stat contribution was . . .

Steals. Ward was getting them faster than even Balbay, and a lot faster.

So, I don't see Ward as much of a solution to offensive problems. He's a better shooter than Balbay or Mason, but questionable whether he's a better shooter than Bradley.

What I wonder is whether Texas would be more likely to play some kind of non-stop pressure defense if Ward were available. When your advantage is in athletes and not necessarily basketball skills, maybe you should turn every game into a track meet for as much as possible.
 
Yes, but saying Ward is a better shooter than Balbay or Mason isn't saying much is it? Couple Ward's unproven shooting with his assist-turnover ratio of 1.17 to 1, all you have is pure speculation that Ward would be a complete point guard for Texas.

I like Ward, I miss him, and I tend to think he might possibly be someone who can best integrate ball handling, defense, and shooting of all the guards on the team, even if he doesn't appear to excel in some areas and maybe doesn't stand out as the best in any one area. I hated seeing him go down in warmups against Pitt and felt at the time that Texas would feel his loss; however, claiming his absence is the cause of Texas's present problems on offense is a bit of a reach.
 
We have too many point guards as it is. If Varez stayed healthy we would have even more problems because we can't figure out a solid rotation because we have too many players. I was bummed when he got hurt but thought it would make things easier for Barnes. Apparently it hasn't.
 
Brown, Mason, and Ward started the first two games. Bradley, Mason, and Ward started the game against Iowa.

Balbay's first start was against USC.

Balbay was pretty much the primary ball handler whenever he was on the floot early in the year, except late in games in obvious fouling situations.
 
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