What other team without 5-star recruits has had 30% of minutes played by freshmen and been successful? We have 5 freshmen averaging 10+ MPG but only Sissoko has played in all 13, Zimi 11, and after that is Mustapha at 8--and he didn't even join the team until the last few days of December. (Also Brea at 8 but half the total minutes as Mustapha.) That means a lot of these guys have played 10 minutes in the games where they've played, but have missed so many games they're actually playing 5 minutes per game in total. Run in one freshman, run out another, no consistency.
Only 5 guys have appeared in double-digit number of games out of 13 (77% of games). Last year by the 13th game the lineup was set and it didn't change all year. Obi / Trey / Mikesell / Crutcher / Chatman, with Ibi off the bench, every game (12 out of 13, Crutcher missed 1 meaningless game). Cohill, Matos, Jordy filling in minutes, the only variable was Chase leaving the team and he was playing minor minutes. 9 guys played basically every game. This year, only 5 have played in over 75%. THAT MATTERS.
Mustapha just recently became the 4th player start over HALF of the games we've played. The 5th player on the team to start over half of our total games will be Weaver, which won't happen until February 9th (God willing).
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