Who would have thought...
...that this season, we'd end up missing Stuckey Mosley more than Nathan Boothe? Hear me out.
Last season, Boothe averaged:
31.5 minutes per game
19 points per game
9 rebounds per game
Shot 49% from the field and 82% from the FT line
This season, Steve Taylor, Jr. is averaging:
32.7 minutes per game
16 points per game
12 rebounds per game
Shooting 52% from the field but only 47% from the FT line
Even with Boothe, we finished 8-10 in the MAC last season. We have a shot at finishing no worse this season, although that collapse last night didn't help. And while Boothe did some other things that Taylor doesn't/can't, I think the stat line shows that Taylor has been an adequate fill-in for Boothe.
Now...Mosley. Yes, he had his shortcomings--ones that I complained about (to me, he was the basketball "Corey Jones"--he would make a really nice play, which you would then forget about because he would make a costly decision, and then in between be a decent contributor).
Last season, he started, with an average of 30.5 minutes per game, and contributed 10 points and almost 5 rebounds per game. And, he shot 78% from the FT line. Not a great point guard, though. He leaves, and TK replaces him with not 1 but 2 JUCO guards...neither of whom are even here anymore (well, Antunez is, but for all practical purposes may as well not be).
If Mosley had stayed...TK has repeatedly said--loudly--that he recruited Sanford as a point guard. Fair enough. Then, there's no reason why Sanford couldn't still have been transitioned to the starting PG role this season, with Mosley being a key contributor off the bench to spell either Sanford or Jon Jon. Instead of relying on a true freshman as the only guard bench player for 5-6 minutes a game, we'd have an experienced junior, to complement Navigato coming off the bench. That duo would have made a nice bench. Then, for giggles sake, imagine Garber didn't injured, and we add Knapke to that bench.
I think we'd have a couple more MAC wins at this point, and be talking about a realistic shot at the #4 seed.
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