Obviously the second half was a shit show.
Travis has an all-conference post who he's used as a wing, point forward, power forward and center at varying times this year. He's created or implemented an offense to accentuate Bannan's skills, and while not exceedingly sexy, it has had the desired impact of getting the one player night in and night out the opportunity to impact the game. That is sort of why up until Thursday they had found a way to stay in games, complete, because giving Bannan the vast majority of offensive touches made most of those around him better.
The problem? If he's not good, then the rest of the team isn't either. He is in the top five in the conference in Hollingers PER and no other Grizzly player is in top 15. Whitney ranks 20th, Moody 21st, Thomas 22nd. Moody and Thomas are clearly better when Bannan is good, and they don't have the ability to be offensively dominant by themselves. Whitney is who Whitney is. Above league average when he can find a way to the rim, when he can't he's not worth much on the floor.
Clearly for as much as they filled noticeable holes at SG/PF, the rest of the lineup is just as weak as it was last year. Bannan was terrible offensively Thursday night and Whitney looked either lost or disinterested. Clearly Travis was frustrated w/ BW and you could see why. There isn't another player than can carry the offense when either of those are shooting blanks, and its not apparent that there is an answer on the roster.
I still hold out hope that Nap can be that guy, but he absolutely got manhandled on Thursday and he needs to build some additional strength for sure. As I noted in another thread, Money Williams has a feel of when you watch him play of that player we had in Rorie, Oguine and Pridgett. Don't know if Davidson is going to have an immediate impact, but he has a very similar game to Dischon Thomas as a wing/PF.
Its clear though that Travis is going to need to find a PG/SG in the portal that can pair with Bannan. I like Whitney but I just don't think they compliment each other as well, or BW is going to have accentuate a part of his game that we haven't seen much of yet. I'm gonna guess when all is said and done there are going to be one or two scholarships available (none now) in the spring.
I do think this team is better than last year, does a better job utilizing its best players offensively, but it is far from complete and when the don't show up, there aren't many if any at all options to look to when Bannan isn't on.