Ragin' Cajuns have a point guard situation

[NewsCopy]

The Ragin' Cajuns have a situation at point guard heading into Thursday night's Sun Belt game against ULM at the Cajundome.

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Tim Buckley

[Hatch]

I would still like to see Michael Thomas get a chance to run the point alongside the rest of the starters. I know he isn’t ready to truly run the show yet but he is the only true PG healthy and would keep Russell and Wilson where they have been when Au has been on the court.

[zephyr]

I would still like to see Michael Thomas get a chance to run the point alongside the rest of the starters. I know he isn’t ready to truly run the show yet but he is the only true PG healthy and would keep Russell and Wilson where they have been when Au has been on the court.

Why not play him? We have a hole to fill and we won't know if he's ready til we play him...

[JayWalker]

He played some in the first half of Saturday's game, but wasn't feeling well and did not play in the second half.

I expect him to get more chances, especially when we are at home.

[Hatch]

Thanks Jay, answers more than one question.

[ragin50]

He played some in the first half of Saturday's game, but wasn't feeling well and did not play in the second half.

I expect him to get more chances, especially when we are at home.

Is Au expected to play this week?

[Cajunsmike]

Is Au expected to play this week?

Staff is saying "day to day" on that situation. Jay was on with Scott this morning and I think he said "possibly" on that question. Whenever I hear people say someone is "day to day", I think the guy is not going to play. They just say that in order for the opponent to have one more thing to prepare for. I know Brayan has not had the best year shooting the ball and has occasionally struggled defending quick guys. Knee situation may be responsible for that. However I think he helps the team more than most realize. He does that simply by getting the team in the right sets in the half court. That is a contribution you don't see from stats. Even more so than Dou Gueye. With Dou you can see the turnovers and bad shots offset by near double doubles. You can't see the right pass leading to an assist which is something Brayan does. I think he will be missed. I also wonder if Mike Thomas is just not strong enough yet to be effective more than a couple of minutes per half. Mylik Wilson needs to handle the point more efficiently than he did last week for the Cajuns to be successful going forward.

[cajuns80]

Staff is saying "day to day" on that situation. Jay was on with Scott this morning and I think he said "possibly" on that question. Whenever I hear people say someone is "day to day", I think the guy is not going to play. They just say that in order for the opponent to have one more thing to prepare for. I know Brayan has not had the best year shooting the ball and has occasionally struggled defending quick guys. Knee situation may be responsible for that. However I think he helps the team more than most realize. He does that simply by getting the team in the right sets in the half court. That is a contribution you don't see from stats. Even more so than Dou Gueye. With Dou you can see the turnovers and bad shots offset by near double doubles. You can't see the right pass leading to an assist which is something Brayan does. I think he will be missed. I also wonder if Mike Thomas is just not strong enough yet to be effective more than a couple of minutes per half. Mylik Wilson needs to handle the point more efficiently than he did last week for the Cajuns to be successful going forward.

I don't think Mike being strong enough should warrant him not playing as look how much the staff plays a walk on guard in Garnett who isn't strong either and is completely lost on defensive rotations.

[JayWalker]

Is Au expected to play this week?

No. And I"ll be very surprised if he plays next week.

[cajuns80]

No. And I"ll be very surprised if he plays next week.

He tried to tough it out all year, hope he gets the rest the knee needs to get it back stable again.

[zephyr]

Staff is saying "day to day" on that situation. Jay was on with Scott this morning and I think he said "possibly" on that question. Whenever I hear people say someone is "day to day", I think the guy is not going to play. They just say that in order for the opponent to have one more thing to prepare for. I know Brayan has not had the best year shooting the ball and has occasionally struggled defending quick guys. Knee situation may be responsible for that. However I think he helps the team more than most realize. He does that simply by getting the team in the right sets in the half court. That is a contribution you don't see from stats. Even more so than Dou Gueye. With Dou you can see the turnovers and bad shots offset by near double doubles. You can't see the right pass leading to an assist which is something Brayan does. I think he will be missed. I also wonder if Mike Thomas is just not strong enough yet to be effective more than a couple of minutes per half. Mylik Wilson needs to handle the point more efficiently than he did last week for the Cajuns to be successful going forward.

Mike, how much strength does Thomas need to play PG? It's basketball, not football.

[Hatch]

When Thomas went in last night he put up a couple of quick shots instead of trying to distribute (to his credit no one else had been making any shots). I don’t know if that is why he got the quick hook and never went back in playing only 3 minutes. Going into the game he was averaging 8.6 assists per 40 minutes and had an assist to turnover ratio of 1.6. Thomas getting 3 minutes to Garnett’s 24 is pretty shocking to me. Garnett basically got all of Butt’s minutes, Harper all of Au’s.

The lack of quality PG play is fairly apparent. Only 25% of made FGs last night came off an assist (6 of 24).