I'll Say It

Dude was highly recruited out of high school. I have said it here before. He must have turded in Barnes' punch bowl his first week here, because Barnes has put him in the dog house and left him to whither away. Give him a shot. This team needs another shooter.
 
He isnt very polished on Defense. Going 2-5 from three and having a few hustle points doesnt put you in the starting lineup.

He might hit a couple of 3's, but he will give the points right back on D. Do I think he should be given more time and minutes to prove himself? Sure, he seems to have a little fire under him that the rest of the team lacks. But moving him straight into the starting lineup is a bit of a stretch at this point.

I think our best 5 is:

Dogus
AJ
Connor
James
Pittman

And obviously Gary gets Connor's spot when he is back. Connor is sucking shooting the ball, but he still plays good D and blocks shots. Mason sucks on O and he needs something to light the fire under him, but he is still capable of being a starter and shutting down a guard on the other team.
 
The defensive end is what has had Harrison on the bench. Mason is our best defender and our best slasher, but for some reason has stopped taking the ball to the hole. Smith had a good game and he is one of the few options on the team for a 3 point shot. He deserves more playing time. If Barnes played Chapman as much as he did for what Clint did in the Tech game, then Harrison should get some pt against Baylor.
 
At least Smith isn't scared to shoot an open shot. As far as I'm concerned, that's half the battle.

Now, the way Baylor plays defense, I don't think Smith necessarily will be the asset that he was today.
 
Smith does deserve more PT. The way OSU was playing D, or not playing D on Dogus, someone w/ Harrison's shooting ability is needed. They should have at least have Damian or AJ feed the post and not Dogus. He should have passed the ball to the wing and run away so his defender doesn't clog up the middle...

Aside from Smith probably being in Barnes' doghouse, the reason he probably doesn't play much is apparent lack of D. But he doesn't seem to be that bad. I don't see why he didn't play him earlier in the season and give him a short leash like he has with some of the big men.
 
At this point, let the kid play & see how it pans out.

This team is not going very far so why not. Atchley & Mason have been extremely disappointing this year! We need more offense, not defense & its not like Atchley & Mason are all world defenders so let's not kid ourselves.
 
Here's hoping Smith earned PT with his hustle plays today, like the diving on the floor to get the ball, his getting 4 offensive rebounds, etc.

This team has to (HAS TO!) have a second shooter on the floor. Watching OSU pack everyone into the paint on defense except the guy chasing Abrams and daring Balbay to shoot (from as little as 12 feet away) has to make that finally obvious, as if it wasn't before.
 
Imagine, if from the get-go, this lineup had fully developed:
Balbay
AJ
James
Dex or Johnson
Smith

Then (Dex or Johnson), Conner, Mason, freely rotated in and out. I honestly don't know how Chapman contributes in a crunch.

But starting now, I'd work on that lineup for Baylor and tell Smith to just loosen up and go for it.
 
Mason has stopped going to the hoop because the defense sags way back due to his horrible outside shot, as has been mentioned. The sub-50% FT shooting is another big reason not go to the basket. One tends to actually draw fouls and have to shoot freethrows when doing so.
 
As long as Harrison takes Varez's minutes, then I'm happy. Someone please tell me one thing Varez brings to this team that HS couldn't?
 
Ward is supposedly a better defender than Smith. But, seriously, a weakness of this team all year has been defending the 3 point line, and who is supposed to defend the 3 point line - Dogus, Abrams, Mason, and Ward. So, like the other poster said, these guys have not necessarily been all world defenders this year. They are good on the ball, but seriously lack something when there guy does not have the ball and is trying to get open. Or maybe it is help defense and getting back to their assignments that is the issue. I am not sure. But something is up.

Bottom line, Smith opens up the offensive end for others and does not allow them to clog the lane with Dogus, Mason and/or Ward's defenders. It makes their five guys have to defend our five guys, not five versus three, like it is when Mason and Dogus are on the court. And Smith's defense is no worse then what we have out there right now. Give the kid a shot.
 
I think Balbay makes Mason a little redundant. Balbay defends as well as Mason and makes a lot more things happen on offense, but you just can't have two guards that shoot that badly playing at the same time. I'm down with Smith getting a lot more burn.
 
The reason Harrison Smith doesnt play more is because of his on ball defense. He even said so himself with the interview with Craig after the game.

I agree he deserves more PT.

But remember like the past tourneys, our last bench guy always plays a huge role. Craig Winder, JD Lewis, ect.

Harry will get his.
 
Looks like Harrison's extensive playing time against OSU lit a fire under Mason, as he had a very solid effort tonight against Baylor. And again, Harrison had a good effort. Hopefully he'll continue to get a lot of minutes as he looks to be the only other shooter on this team besides A.J. Even the shots he missed tonight looked good compared to the crap our other guards throw up there.
 
We have got to get another 3 point shooter.

Remember back to the teams with Sydmill Harris, Kenny Taylor, and Kenton Paulino, they were all 3 point shooters and THEY ALL CAME OFF THE BENCH
 
As long as Barnes is a defense first guy, then HS's PT could be limited. But I have to think at this point having another shooter to at least keep defenses honest, outweighs the need for an experienced defender. Our D hasn't really been all that sharp anyway. Get the kid in there.
 
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