IMHO: Kyle is playing too many minutes

[Cdog923]

I really think we need to find some more minutes for Lance, Miles, and even Dave at the 4. I know Kyle bulked up over the summer, and is more capable to handle the load this year, but I really think we need to take his minutes down, just to save his wheels for March. Same goes for Jon and Gerald. I don't want to see the shots start falling short in March.

[wisteria]

why is everyone all so particularly concerned about kyle's minutes, when Jon is actually playing as many, if not more, minutes?

I wonder if it's because kyle just has that look.

edit: OP does mention Jon. But overall it seems that only kyle gets the concern.

[DevilCastDownfromDurham]

Personally, I think the minutes argument is overblown. But I think Kyle is getting so much attention because he and K explicitly said that he was worn out last season and his performance dropped significantly as a result. FWIW, I've actually been very happy with our use of depth and substitution patterns. /Shrug.

[FireOgilvie]

I'm not concerned with the minutes Kyle is getting. We do a lot of standing around on offense anyway. We aren't exactly running like UNC...

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Kyle tends to look pale and not particularly strong, but his appearance is deceiving. He plays like he's in a hockey match. I'm with Coach K on what's best in managing the players' minutes in the game.

[Cell-R]

I'm not too worried about Kyle. I do worry a little about Scheyer. We hear almost every game about those 20 pounds that Kyle added over the summer, but how many did Scheyer add? I could see a similar end of season situation with him.

If you factor in the depth of this years team, I can also see everybody ending healthy and strong.

Don't forget that our team was wrecked by the flu last year. It seems as if they have their shots this year (knock on wood).

[Bob Green]

The "Kyle Singler plays too many minutes" theory is very popular but fortunately it does not hold water when subjected to statistical analysis. Simply stated, the best player on the best teams in the nation play similar minutes. I took a look at the current Top 10:

1. Pittsburgh - Levance Fields - 30.8 mpg
2. Wake Forest - Jeff Teague - 30.7 mpg
3. Duke - Jon Scheyer - 30.4 mpg
4. UConn - Jeff Adrien - 33.8 mpg
5. UNC - Tyler Hansbrough - 28.6 mpg
6. Oklahoma - Blake Griffin - 32.8 mpg
7. Michigan State - Kailin Lucas - 30.6 mpg
8. Syracuse - Jonny Flynn - 34.7 mpg
9. UCLA - Darren Collison - 30.5 mpg
10. Clemson - K.C. Rivers - 29.8 mpg

So for starters, Kyle Singler doesn't even play the most minutes-per-game on Duke, Jon Scheyer does. Now, comparing this year's team to our National Championship teams:

1991 - Bobby Hurley - 34.7 mpg
Christian Laettner - 30.2 mpg

1992 - Bobby Hurley - 33.6 mpg
Christian Laettner - 32.2 mpg

2001 - Jason Williams - 31.8 mpg
Shane Battier - 31.8 mpg

Kyle Singler will be fine playing the number of minutes he is playing. We may or may not make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament (who knows we may win the whole enchilada) but the number of minutes Kyle Singler averages per game will be irrelevant to the end result.

[Jumbo]

I'm not too worried about Kyle. I do worry a little about Scheyer. We hear almost every game about those 20 pounds that Kyle added over the summer, but how many did Scheyer add? I could see a similar end of season situation with him.

If you factor in the depth of this years team, I can also see everybody ending healthy and strong.

Don't forget that our team was wrecked by the flu last year. It seems as if they have their shots this year (knock on wood).

We don't need 17 different threads talking about minutes played. Going forward, we will beging combining them. Also, certain posters should refer to the guidelines and the defintion of "repetitive rant." We will be enforcing it.

FYI, no one is worried about Scheyer's minutes because he plays on the perimeter, had that ridiculous VO2 max score and has better stats when he plays a lot (check the numbers I posted in another thread). The concern was with Singler repeating last year. But last year ... he was a freshman. This year, not only has he added weight, not only is he spending less time guarding fives, he's also a sophomore. You don't grab 16 rebounds and hit a big late three when you're playing "too many minutes."

And the team didn't have the flu last year. I think that was debunked on the boards about six months ago.

[duketaylor]

I'll take a different opinion here, Bob. I look at the minutes Kyle's getting in these conference games and it's elevated quite a bit from the earlier somewhat softer schedule. Recently, K has pared down minutes for non-starters as the season has gone along and we've seen the better players staying on the court longer. As long as Kyle's not inside all the time banging with the other bigs I'm OK with elevated minutes, but only to a degree. I'd still like to see more Miles, Lance and Zoubs, even McClure.
In my perfect little Duke world nobody plays more than about 32 minutes per game; these games where guys are playing 37 minutes is just too wearing, IMO. Just my .02

[ACCBBallFan]

Good thing Kyle was tired or he might have gotten 20 rebounds today.

Duke really has no alternative other than foul trouble to cause K to want to exchange someone else at the 4/5, whichever Kylke is playing at the moment.

Jon on the other hand may get a bit more rest if Greg continues to play well. Coach K seems to like pairing Marty with Greg which is surprising and also Nolan with Greg.

The difference this year is not only more weight, but also that Zoubs or even McClure are banging with the biggest guy and Kyle is just having fun from the perimeter.

Miles Plumlee's decent performance in 7 minutes of action is encouraging, and waiting to hear why Lance played so little, doghouse or minor injury or bad practices the past week on top of non sterling games.

It's understandable why Z cannot match up with Monroe and Summers but that is when Lance normally gets the call, as does Dave., and now maybe Miles.

[77devil]

I look at the minutes Kyle's getting in these conference games and it's elevated quite a bit from the earlier somewhat softer schedule.

This is correct. Kyle and Jon are averaging 36 minutes for the 3 conference games plus Georgetown. Gerald has averaged 34 for the last 4 games. I am not taking a position that it is good or bad, just reporting the data.

I was surprised that Coach K did not take Kyle out after his 3rd foul with a 16 point lead in the second half. Kyle had played the entire game to that point.

[DukeCO2009]

The physical play of college ball makes its 35 or so games a lot more physically taxing than the 35 high school games players are used to. Accordingly, minutes are somethimes an issue with freshmen who have play heavy time and are simply not in good enough shape to handle the rigors of the college game for five months. We saw this with Jon a couple years ago, but he was fine last season; all signs point to Kyle being similarly well-prepared to handle the stretch run this year. No need to worry.

[quickgtp]

We don't need 17 different threads talking about minutes played. Going forward, we will beging combining them. Also, certain posters should refer to the guidelines and the defintion of "repetitive rant." We will be enforcing it.

FYI, no one is worried about Scheyer's minutes because he plays on the perimeter, had that ridiculous VO2 max score and has better stats when he plays a lot (check the numbers I posted in another thread). The concern was with Singler repeating last year. But last year ... he was a freshman. This year, not only has he added weight, not only is he spending less time guarding fives, he's also a sophomore. You don't grab 16 rebounds and hit a big late three when you're playing "too many minutes."

And the team didn't have the flu last year. I think that was debunked on the boards about six months ago.

I don't know if it was the "flu" last March but I can tell you at least 3 players appeared to have had an upper respiratory issue of some sort.

[_Gary]

And the team didn't have the flu last year. I think that was debunked on the boards about six months ago.

Hold the bus, for me please. Are you telling me that all the stuff I read on here about several members of the team having the flu (or some variation) during that first round of the tourney last year was just bunk? I really want to know because it definitely colors how I view the close call and subsequent loss last year in the Big Dance.


Gary

[DukeUsul]

We don't need 17 different threads talking about minutes played. Going forward, we will beging combining them. Also, certain posters should refer to the guidelines and the defintion of "repetitive rant." We will be enforcing it.

FYI, no one is worried about Scheyer's minutes because he plays on the perimeter, had that ridiculous VO2 max score and has better stats when he plays a lot (check the numbers I posted in another thread). The concern was with Singler repeating last year. But last year ... he was a freshman. This year, not only has he added weight, not only is he spending less time guarding fives, he's also a sophomore. You don't grab 16 rebounds and hit a big late three when you're playing "too many minutes."

And the team didn't have the flu last year. I think that was debunked on the boards about six months ago.

I was just thinking you should combine all the threads about minutes played and retitle it with the HPR number when I discovered.... there's no section in the HPR for complaining about minutes played? Sounds like Throaty might need to do some updating.

[Wander]

But last year ... he was a freshman.

This is something that should be brought up more... the year before, Scheyer seemed to wear down in exactly the same way as Singler last year, but then was completely fine his sophomore year. I think this is more relevant than minutes played or even position played. Since we don't have any freshmen seeing similar minutes this year, I'm not worried about anyone being tired in March.

[MChambers]

I was just thinking you should combine all the threads about minutes played and retitle it with the HPR number when I discovered.... there's no section in the HPR for complaining about minutes played? Sounds like Throaty might need to do some updating.

Please add this to the HPR, so that we can shorthand all of these discussions about minutes or getting tired.

[Ders24]

This is something that should be brought up more... the year before, Scheyer seemed to wear down in exactly the same way as Singler last year, but then was completely fine his sophomore year. I think this is more relevant than minutes played or even position played. Since we don't have any freshmen seeing similar minutes this year, I'm not worried about anyone being tired in March.

I'm just quoting this for emphasis. I honestly think this is the most important factor in Kyle wearing down last year. There are a few players who, as freshmen, are able to handle the grind/transition to college basketball flawlessly, but I think for the most part that is pretty rare.

[Jumbo]

Hold the bus, for me please. Are you telling me that all the stuff I read on here about several members of the team having the flu (or some variation) during that first round of the tourney last year was just bunk? I really want to know because it definitely colors how I view the close call and subsequent loss last year in the Big Dance.


Gary

It was all over the board. The flu stuff was some weird, speculative rumor because Coach K was sick. A bunch of people finally pointed out that there was no truth to the rumors. Don't know where to look to find them.

[dukelifer]

This is correct. Kyle and Jon are averaging 36 minutes for the 3 conference games plus Georgetown. Gerald has averaged 34 for the last 4 games. I am not taking a position that it is good or bad, just reporting the data.

I was surprised that Coach K did not take Kyle out after his 3rd foul with a 16 point lead in the second half. Kyle had played the entire game to that point.

I have to agree here as well. Singler should be playing about 4 minutes per game less to be on par with other big players in the league. One way to think about this is that is for every ten games he is playing in the league, he is playing an extra game. But while the minutes are wearing him down- it is also an opportunity to get some other folks some more time. It is possible, that Plumlee may have earned some more after yesterday (an how he is doing in practice)- but it may be at the expense of Thomas and Zoubek and not Singler. I am sure Singler is feeling fine right now- but Duke has a brutal end of the regular season stretch- so will see. If anything- that is when he needs the rest. But the three headed center has to step up and do more. McClure has done a great job in my opinion. Unfortunately when Kyle goes out- so does a lot of Duke's O as he does so much out there.