Matt Hill?

Chest Rockwell

Chest Rockwell

1,000+ Posts
What's the deal with Matt Hill? I saw him see some PT earlier this year, but seems to be lost on our bench as of late. Is this related to an injury, or has Pittman/Chapman pretty much relegated him to the bench in close games?

(I don't have time to scour all the boards, so sorry if this topic has been discussed before.)
 
it does seem a little odd that he isn't playing more given these factors:

1 RB was playing him up a good bit in preseason interviews
2 He got playing time early.
3 Chappy is playing well but struggling to put the ball in hole.
4 Conner is playing not so well. (seems like early season soph CA-lack of confidence issues)
5 Wang is out. (which is a bummer b/c he was playing well to start the season).

a solid rotation of connor, gary, dex, chap and wang would be fantastically tough.

it will be interesting to see if matt gets reps against the weaker opponents.
 
Man, I just assumed he was injured. I guess he hasn't been playing/practicing hard enough for Barnes. Lets hope he doesn't become another Harrison (scholarship athlete who we never see play a minute).
 
ankle still a problem = slow lateral movement on defense = no PT from Barnes.

Chapman is coming around still trying hard on defense and his offense is a bit off, timing and reps needed.

If Wang's knee is not serious and just a slight sprain he would be getting a few minutes from Conner who is fading to his Soph. year playing level. Hill can not go due to his ankle and defense. Chapman is the only option as the second big off the bench after Johnson. May pay off during conference and tournament time for us.
We are 9 deep so we have a few options but hope Wang comes back strong.
 
I had a long post that was just lost to the ether, that I'm not going to bother to retype.

The only thing I'll repeat of that post is that Matt Hill's limited time is more due to recovery from his injury than anything else. They're determined to bring him along slowly. That is commensurate with how they've used him in practice at the beginning of the year. For all I know, he's now fully healed but still not showing what he needs to in order to earn playing time on the court, but that's not my opinion, based on what I knew about his health at the start of the season.

Oh, and at this point I'm going to be surprised if we see Wangmene before the start of the conference play due to the pain in his knee, and if we don't see him then, I'll assume the next time we see him on the court will be next season.
 
I had typed out a long something that failed to get to the "Continue" button. I"ll give a shorter version here.

I liked a lot of what I saw from Hill as a freshman, particularly being in position to play defense against opposing post players. I always thought he just needed a little more strength to hold better position.

What little he's played this year, I liked his activity on the offensive glass and his effort in screening on the perimeter, but his hesitation on defense has been pretty severe. Lots of times (at least for a guy with limited minutes on the floor) he's been caught in the middle when his guy set a screen for the ball handler, and Hill would seem to stay in the middle unsure of whether he was to stay with his guy or switch.

I hope the guy gets back on track, but we have to remember he's basically been out for two years, and he started this year coming off of new foot/ankle/leg problems. I suspect this year will be one mostly lost to getting back in playing rhythm, and I hope we get a chance to see him at full health, free of rust, and in tune with the system.
 
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