[BostonCard]

I was referring to non-fouls (bad passes, not blocking out for rebounds, not hustling to get rebounds, poor shot selection, getting pick-pocketed, moving screens, not looking for teammates.  Haley was the golden girl as a freshman, but she was not immune to mistakes; not so for some other frosh.

Fair point; Jones had 49 turnovers in 18 games, so she had 2.7 of those mistakes per game.  She did shoot .528, so it's hard to argue that her shot selection as a whole was bad (she had a bad three point percentage but only attempted 11 threes).  She had 4.2 rebounds per game (averaging 25 minutes per game) which probably speaks to above average boxing out.  She also had 43 assists in 18 games, which again, for a non-point guard argues she was a pretty good team player.

Perhaps somewhat analogously, I don't remember Lexie Hull getting a short hook either her freshman year (I may be misremembering it) and though she had fewer turnovers than Jones did, she also scored fewer points, had a worse field goal percentage, fewer rebounds per game and fewer assists.  Cameron Brink did get yanked a fair bit (not just her freshman year, but her first three years) but I seem to recall it was mostly for foul trouble.

Absent someone who could go play-by-play and look at the probability of a player being subbed out after each negative play, it is hard to know definitevely beyond a gut sense that some players have a short leash (probably true).  I tend to think we notice it when we have a highly ranked recruit who we think ought to play more (eg Betts), as opposed to your average freshman.  Coaches are human, so I don't doubt there is some discrepancy but the real question is whether there is a reasonable justification.  I think in general for Jones, she probably justified a reasonably long leash. I mean, as a freshman, she was third on the team in ppg, third in fg percentage (second if you focus only on those with at least 100 attempts), was second on the team in assists per game, and only had 19 personal fouls in 18 games.  She was the team leader in points 5 times and in rebounds three times despite only playing 18 games.  So, I'm inclined to believe she deserved the long leash.  The question then is whether someone like Betts deserved to have a longer leash, and you could certainly make that argument.  The counterargument is that the starters in 2022/23 in the post were Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen, and who you can put in if a player gets pulled also has to be considered.

BC

[BostonCard]

I was referring to non-fouls (bad passes, not blocking out for rebounds, not hustling to get rebounds, poor shot selection, getting pick-pocketed, moving screens, not looking for teammates.  Haley was the golden girl as a freshman, but she was not immune to mistakes; not so for some other frosh.

Fair point; Jones had 49 turnovers in 18 games, so she had 2.7 of those mistakes per game.  She did shoot .528, so it's hard to argue that her shot selection as a whole was bad (she had a bad three point percentage but only attempted 11 threes).  She had 4.2 rebounds per game (averaging 25 minutes per game) which probably speaks to above average boxing out.  She also had 43 assists in 18 games, which again, for a non-point guard argues she was a pretty good team player.

Perhaps somewhat analogously, I don't remember Lexie Hull getting a short hook either her freshman year (I may be misremembering it) and though she had fewer turnovers than Jones did, she also scored fewer points, had a worse field goal percentage, fewer rebounds per game and fewer assists.  Cameron Brink did get yanked a fair bit (not just her freshman year, but her first three years) but I seem to recall it was mostly for foul trouble.

Absent someone who could go play-by-play and look at the probability of a player being subbed out after each negative play, it is hard to know definitevely beyond a gut sense that some players have a short leash (probably true).  I tend to think we notice it when we have a highly ranked recruit who we think ought to play more (eg Betts), as opposed to your average freshman.  Coaches are human, so I don't doubt there is some discrepancy but the real question is whether there is a reasonable justification.  I think in general for Jones, she probably justified a reasonably long leash. I mean, as a freshman, she was third on the team in ppg, third in fg percentage (second if you focus only on those with at least 100 attempts), was second on the team in assists per game, and only had 19 personal fouls in 18 games.  She was the team leader in points 5 times and in rebounds three times despite only playing 18 games.  So, I'm inclined to believe she deserved the long leash.  The question then is whether someone like Betts deserved to have a longer leash, and you could certainly make that argument.  The counterargument is that the starters in 2022/23 in the post were Cameron Brink and Kiki Iriafen, and who you can put in if a player gets pulled also has to be considered.

BC