Has Spike Albrecht fallen out of the rotation
So I was unable to watch any of the tournament games this past week since they were all on AXS TV. Looking over the stats from the games, I noticed that Spike only played 18 minutes all tournament, and 8 against UConn and Texas combined. In comparison, MAAR got 20 against UConn alone and even Chatman got 18 against Charlotte.
To anyone who watched the tournament/just knows more, has Spike fallen out of the rotation? Is he not playing because he's been passed over, or is it because the coaches want to let younger players develop in the non-conference? Or is he still a little injured from this past off-season? Any answers would be appreciated.
November 30th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:04 PM ^
Yeah, it's remarkable he's even able to play at all, this soon after two surgeries.
He's certainly not being benched - his floor vision is extremely valuable.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:28 PM ^
Yeah, this question was pretty rude. It's like someone shot the OP's mom or something...
November 30th, 2015 at 7:42 PM ^
If pretty much anyone here had Spike's surgeries, they would want to take a year off.
November 30th, 2015 at 4:58 PM ^
He's still overcoming his injuries after his surgeries. He hasn't looked the same when playing. MAAR has been playing in his place, but that will probably switch up when he's healthy.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
As others have mentioned Spike has to get healthy, but it's also early in the year. M isn't going to run the table, they'll lose some games. (Healthy) Spike is a known commodity. How good is MAAR? What's M's best lineup? They'll figure a lot of this out now and as the year goes on, but as Spike gets healthy he'll get time.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:13 PM ^
A healthy Spike will always be in the rotation. He's our only pure point guard. (Walton is awesome, don't get me wrong, but he has more of a shooting guard's game in a PG's body.) The fact that he's barely playing is a sign that he either isn't fully healthy or hasn't gotten his conditioning back, or both.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:13 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:16 PM ^
Guy was hurt and probably still working back into game shape, and I assume Beilein wants to keep him healthy and fresh for the conference slate when it matters more.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
Beilein has commented on Spike, and it has to do with his recovery. He (and Irvin) have to get into game shape and knock the rust off. This takes a lot more time than most people realize. Your shot, your strength, your stamina, your muscle memory, are something helped by practice day in and day out.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:36 PM ^
I remember seeing Beilein's comment, maybe after the first game in the Bahamas? He said something to the effect that they were going to increase Spike's conditioning load with less regard to the game schedule: trading less playing time for a while for a quicker return to game shape.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:35 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 5:40 PM ^
Once his healthy, his minutes should spike.
November 30th, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 7:58 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 8:41 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 8:37 PM ^
November 30th, 2015 at 9:06 PM ^
Per Beilein:
We're really going to shut down Spike right now, for a while. He understands our stuff. We're going to do some different things with him, rather than practice, so he can, the hope is, get ready for the Big Ten season. I know I said that before, but we were still practicing him. I'm going to not practice him some days. Just rehab, the whole practice.
December 1st, 2015 at 5:40 AM ^
following two hip surgeries wouldn't include "max out his minutes as soon as possible".
Take an especial note of Beilein's use of the word "rehab".
November 30th, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
Omar Calhoun from UConn had the same double hip surgery, at the same time of year, and was not physically up to par the entire next season. Afterwards, it was clear to everybody that he should have taken a medical redshirt. He hasn't lived up to expectations, and that surgery didn't help. I wish Spike had taken a redshirt, but I guess Beilein needs the scholarship.
December 1st, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
I can't believe he's able to play at all with double hip surgery. I hope he gets back to close to 100%, but I also don't think that's likely. What will likely happen is he'll play sparingly, but he may feel well enough to come in and be the hero late in a couple Big Ten games. It would be appropriate for his career for him to hit 3 or 4 three pointers late in a game to lead us to victory, preferrably against MSU.