It would have made no sense to no play KL and Lexi when they were freshman, and now it makes no sense to give them such long minutes.
No one is saying bench them outright, just balanced minutes. Let your junior class play leaders minutes, around 30-32 a game, but mix in the young players for the development of the program. We truly don't know what the ceiling is on Castro, Caylao-Do, or Carter and it accomplishes nothing to hinder their development chasing another 6-12 Pac-12 record.
JR Payne On Peyton Carter's performance
"Coming into this game, we knew what Peyton could give us. She exudes calm for a young kid, she doesn't get flustered and against Arizona State's defense. It's typically high pressure, so we knew if we needed it she could give us some calm. Kennedy was scoring the ball well early in the first half, so we thought we could bring Peyton in, keep the calm, move Ken over to the wing and it proved to be a pretty good thing for us offensively.
It made no sense to play Lex and KL as freshmen? One was first team All Freshman the other Honorable Mention. As far as production goes you may may want to do some research. KLs 2nd halfs particularly her q4s are her strongest from a production perspective historically.
Fake news. Clearly I said it would have made no sense to
NO[T] play KL and Lexi when they were freshman. I merely left off the "t" but it was clear what I was communicating. Representing anything else is just conflating and making crap up. Unless you want to explain what this means otherwise:
It would have made no sense to no play KL and Lexi when they were freshman
The only other PG on the roster our fab Juniors Freshman year was basically Brecca and she's more length challenged then diminutive Kennedy, and Kennedy isn't tall enough to be an effective Pac-12 defender, and really struggles at time with her shortness as it takes away her best asset, her aggressiveness driving to the basket. Too often Pac-12 defenders nullify KL's drives with defensive length, making her completely ineffective. Brecca isn't a viable full-time Pac-12 starter at PG. I've never believed a Pac-12 team needed a 5'5" starting PG. She's an energy role player off the bench.
There was no alternative to playing KL and Lexi when they were freshman, both needed to play. Arguably, Lexi was the better PG by the recruiting services, but KL's aggressiveness masked a lot of separation and variance between the two, and the Buffs needed Lexi's outside shot even though she was probably the better pure point. The opportunity cost of letting Lexi play PG was also just too high, as you don't put your best players on the floor, you put your best TEAM: Lexi at PG makes Kennedy a diminutive wing completely ineffective on perimeter defense (as we've seen for three years), where at the two or Wing her low percentage perimeter shot doesn't create defensive attention thus losing the needed floor spacing. So actually playing Lexi at PG, even IF, and its a big big IF, she actually was the better pure PG, would have left Linda with a Buffs team that wasn't as good as the team was with KL at PG, and Lexi at the two, even IF Lexi was the better one. With the IF upgrade at the one, you completely lose any effectiveness at the two with KL. Both NEEDED to play, and to play a ton, because they were two of the best two players on the team, because it was a non-competitive team.
So just as it would have made no sense to no[t] play KL and Lexi when they were Freshman, it makes no sense to no[t] give significant minutes to Caylao-Do, Castro and Carter now. Unless you believe that Lexi and KL are just such singular talents that the entire focus of the CU Program should be to forego any player development and have a day of reckoning after next season with inexperienced players. What would that get us? What does getting KL and Lexi 30 shots combined get the Buffs? A ton of games where KL goes 3-13 and the expected points per attempt effectively take the Buffs out of the game against ranked Pac-12 teams that are averaging 1.2 points per attempt on better players/schemes. We just saw Lexi put up her career best in a losing effort. Sometimes, more shots by good players when playing against great teams and great players is a losing recipe. The Buffs need more shots by Buffs players with higher shooting percentages. That's just basic basketball coaching. It isn't the points per game, but the expected-points-per-attempt.
I don't think anyone is arguing that Sefo Liufau could have an incredible ceiling to grow into if an NFL team wants to develop him as a starter. He could potentially be a dynamic and capable backup in the NFL though. I don't think anyone is arguing that KL and Lexi have much more ceiling to give. They are still good players (at least for us, if not for Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, ASU, USC, Cal, UCLA etc.) These two have played their hearts out, and were put in a tough situation with an effectively non-competitive team, and asked to play significant minutes, and basically carry a bad team from Game 1 of their Freshman year. That was unfair to them, but they were good enough players to handle it. I just don't see the ceiling and upside. Immediately we saw the greatness and the limitations. KL hasn't improved sophomore year to junior, and against ASU we actually saw JR Payne give Peyton Carter the most minutes she's seen all year (23 I think). KL was actually moved to Wing where she could calm down a bit, and just try to contribute shooting on the perimeter and driving to the basket. However, the +/- is always going to be rough with her at off guard because of how many times per game a legitimate Pac-12 two guard is going to knock down a legitimate Pac-12 three point attempt in her face. Listing her at 5'8" in the program does not help her defend against twos in the Pac-12, let alone a Wing/combo three. Its tough not to be a turnstile for ANY perimeter defender in the Pac-12 and not have amazingly athletic and aggressive offensive players blow past you like a turnstile. The trick is to outscore them or funnel them to defensive help. You don't win games in basketball losing the +/-
There is no argument that can reasonably be made that letting KL play 37 minutes a night makes CU a better team. KL is exhausted, and has lost her defensive effectiveness (steals and rebounds just missing from the box score) and her already minus perimeter defense loses another step. KL is a better more effective player with fewer minutes! Fewer Turnovers! More Steals! More rebounds! Better shooting efficacy! CU is a better team with KL playing fewer minutes! No one is saying CU is a better team if KL is playing no minutes. CU doesn't have a player like Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Pac-12 All-Tournament team, NCAA All-Regional team, ESPNW Freshman of the Year, US Basketball writers Freshman of the Year, Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu. However, almost every other Pac-12 team has a PG that is that almost that good if not better (Jordin Canada-UCLA, Kianna Smith-Cal, Minyon Moore-USC, Mikayla Pivec-Oregon State) KL can still be one of the best PG to ever play for the Buffs, and that still isn't good enough to compete in the Pac-12. These players are incredible women's basketball players. The Buffs have really been struggling with some of these inexplicable turnovers because opposing PGs don't have the same defensive limitations. As 630AM said on the broadcast, KL is trying to make the perfect pass and its leading to turnovers. She's pressing. Strangely, the Buffs were a better team when other players were running the point in the ASU game.
No one is saying that KL shouldn't play 30-32 minutes a night. No one is saying that KL shouldn't be the starting PG and heart and soul of this team. No one is saying that KL shouldn't be the scoring leader of this team. The only argument I think I've made is that KL's attempts need to balance with team attempts or the Buffs lose on paper due to expected-points-per-attempt. I've said that Caylao-Do's, Carter's and Castro's upside and potential is unknown. We know the potential of KL and Lexi. It's high, but its not competitive in the Pac-12. Those two can get the Buffs to the third round of the WNIT. They are good basketball players and that's an accomplishment. The problem is the Buffs won't even get to play in the WNIT this year, with a better team, because the Pac-12 is that good. The Buffs can't find six wins, still losing twelve other conference games, to finish with a winning record to qualify for an invite.
So what exactly is the reason to play Lexi and Kennedy long minutes, and NOT develop younger players, if they aren't good enough to win games in the Pac-12 and thus the team digs itself a bigger hole for next season and thereafter? No one said that Kennedy and Lexi shouldn't have played their FR and SO seasons, but can you imagine how bad this Buffs team would actually be if they hadn't played all those monster minutes the past two years? That is the mistake JR Payne is making IMO, in that she is throwing good minutes after bad, and the cost of playing KL (or Lexi) more than 30-32 minutes a night is that it sabotages the development of the program, it limits the actual effectiveness of KL competitively in the games, and it doesn't actually help CU win now. It only hinders CU winning in the future. The only thing it accomplishes is it drives KL's scoring average.
We've got to have something to cheer for. However, let's just be honest that long minutes by KL (over 30-32) a game means the Buffs give up more points in games due to diminishing defensive effectivness, and thus having a negative impact on +/- even if her Points Scored increases. I don't see ANY players on this Buffs team that are singularly that much better than just everyone else where the team goals and team/program development need to be put aside for individual goals. I don't believe JR Payne thinks that either. Which is why it begged the question as to why ~37 minutes per game.
