he needs to be playing more. You can't expect a kid to come off the bench who hasn't played a lot of minutes and fill that role. With the way minutes are being distributed, either Josh, James R. or Ben need to be taking the game winning shots. We know that Mariek is one of the best shooters on the team, but he needs to be in the mix more.

With the makeup of our team, it's difficult to get all the right people in the game at the right time. I'm not judging on the basis of one game like Louisiana. You have to look at the entire body of work. If I see one weakness that the coaches might be looking at it's Mariek's turnovers. But with his size, and skill, I think I could live with those, and if he plays more, maybe he'll improve in that area.

As someone has said, when you have a 6"9" kid who can shoot the ball from inside and out, you've got to get him more minutes. I still like him in the lineup with James W. Problem is Roger has to play.
I'd like to see a lineup with Mariek, James W., Roger, James R. and Josh. That would give you two inside scorers (Roger and James W.),
two outside scorers (Josh and James R.) and one inside and outside scorer (Mariek). I would also like to position Mariek at the tip of the circle on defense, making it difficult for opponents to shoot the three ball. Green Bay did this very effectively with a tall player with long arms. Why do I like James R. over Ben? Most of their stats are pretty close, but one stands out. Rebounds. James has around twice as many rebounds as Ben in less minutes. Shooting wise, they're nearly identical. Ben draws more fouls and is normally a really fine free throw shooter. It's a toss up there. But B. Mitchell, if you're still reading the board, and I hope you are, I am convinced you're right in your assessment of Mariek, and I believe he'll be receiving more playing time as we move along.