Worried about Flanigan...

[Cardin Drake 1,821]

14 hours ago, gravejd said:

Did Jabari play any 3 when Flan was out early this season? I can't seem to remember if he did or not. If he did not then it may just be wishful thinking on fans part that he can play that position. I mean i don't see why he could not play it.....i think Jabari moves well enough on defense to stay with opposing 3s. It would take us from a very fast an athletic team to probably an average team in those regards. I dunno....i like the idea of Jabari and Williams taking the minutes but the more i look at rotations for the year the optinos are probably Berman and Moore if you want to take Flans minutes. I don't think Berman can play defense against the elite teams.....i don't know why Moore wouldn't get more of a shot. 

I know a healthy and dialed in Flan makes this the best AU team it can be.....but with 4 games left in the season when do you make the call that he isn't walking through that door this season?

I dunno.  If Jabari can play 3, and I don't see why he can't,  Caldwell, Jabari and Kessler would make an interesting front court.

[AUApostle 7,651]

Here’s a good tweet thread breaking down his hustle this year:

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,652]

^ was just about to link that 

provides some necessary context to why it’d be insane to bench AF for DC, even if you took scoring completely off the table. Even if you removed offense completely, the defensive versatility and IQ of AF >>
 

[Cardin Drake 1,821]

That's a nice thread on Allen. I'm sold that he's a defensive asset, and he doesn't have to be a major scoring option. But he does have to quit turning the ball over. 

[tgrogan21 6,198]

7 hours ago, AUDevil said:

Here’s a good tweet thread breaking down his hustle this year:

 

Appreciate the link and the info. I love Flan for his defense and if he just focused on that kind of like how Zep did in January and most of February it'd be fine. But he has tried to force the issue on offense way too often and there have been many times where he has just killed every bit of momentum on offense because he'll turn the ball over 2-3 times in a row.

If he can adjust to just being 100% on defense and not turning the ball over, great. But he hasn't done that except for the A&M game.

[jj3jordan 2,049]

I hope Flan ignores this thread and the thousands of negative comments on the others bashing his overall play. I feel like he will hesitate before every move wondering what the local experts are going to write next. Let’s let Bruce do that. 

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I think any narrative that Flanigan isn't "focused" on defense is wrong. He's clearly dialed in on that side of the ball first and foremost.

I'd also say, he's cut down on the turnovers. Three of the last four games, he's had two or fewer turnovers. The Vandy game was a mess. Obviously. But before and after that, he's been taking very few shots and isn't wasting possessions. 

If we can get him a little more aggressive on mushing smaller matchups in the post, getting out in transition, and get a drive or two a game, that would give a massive boost on the offensive end. He's not far off that. He took the matchup in the post last game and scored. He's running more, and he's almost cut three-point attempts from his diet (one attempt in three games). Hope he stays locked in defensively. The minor tweaks to get some production on offense (with less pain by taking care of the ball) are going to work.

[Rednilla 5,383]

I'd say it's pretty clear that Allen's offensive woes are, at this point, psychological. That can be tough to overcome.

I was encouraged by the game Wednesday, however. He kinda sorta reminded me of a baseball player who has been in a slump and starts to hit the ball on the nose, just right at people, so he doesn't get the production maybe he should have. If he can have a game where it all comes together for him to get his head right, then we become a DANGEROUS matchup for anyone who plays us, because Jabari has started to assert himself more on the offensive end. Add Allen's shooting potential to the mix and we get that much harder to guard.

[BHDAU1 240]

As far as AF reading any negative commentary on his play, I think it just comes with the territory when you play big time college basketball. People are going to talk if you aren't playing to your potential and you either ignore it or let it get to you.  In this day and age access is everywhere and most of these players have grown up with it since high school so they know the drill.  Hopefully he has a great game today and then there will be positive commentary everywhere.  

[Rednilla 5,383]

58 minutes ago, BHDAU1 said:

As far as AF reading any negative commentary on his play, I think it just comes with the territory when you play big time college basketball. People are going to talk if you aren't playing to your potential and you either ignore it or let it get to you.  In this day and age access is everywhere and most of these players have grown up with it since high school so they know the drill.  Hopefully he has a great game today and then there will be positive commentary everywhere.  

I'm not so sure it doesn't affect the family of players more than the players themselves, but given that Allen's dad is an assistant of Pearl's, they all know the drill. I can think of two examples of players' parents getting involved on the message boards and it backfiring on them, but I'm hopeful that they just avoid it altogether.