Matt Carlino, Super-Sub, and the Cougars' Turnaround in WCC Play

Despite his diminished role, Matt Carlino and the BYU Cougars Have Flourished with Him Coming Off the Bench

For many BYU and WCC basketball fans, guard Matt Carlino evokes a wide disparity of emotions. Some love his entertaining, shoot-first, shoot-second, mentality, and it has led to some memorable performances (for example, his 28-point outburst a year ago against Santa Clara and his 26 point performance in the Cougars' win over Stanford, a much bigger win in retrospect than it was thought at the time). However, efficiency wise, Carlino' struggles with consistency has often done his team more harm than good. In his frosh season, Carlino posted a 95.8 Adjusted Offensive rating on a usage rate of 26.1 percent. In his sophomore year, he let go of the ball a little bit, as his usage rate dropped to 24.2, but it didn't affect his rating significantly, as it still remained under 100 (which is usually about average) for the second straight year (99.2). The consensus was simple: as entertaining as Carlino could be, his inefficient style certainly didn't do the Cougars any favors, and he wasn't exactly the kind of player the Cougars could build around for consistent success either.

Nonetheless, due to his experience, Carlino remained a mainstay in the Cougars rotation in the beginning of the year. He started the first 14 games at point guard for the Cougars, and they struggled to find major, lasting success on the court. While they pulled off big wins over teams like Stanford and Texas, they also started off poorly in conference play, dropping their first two conference games of the year against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine (both on the road but still damaging losses nonetheless).

After the loss to the Waves, head coach Dave Rose made a gutsy decision: he made the junior Carlino a bench player. The results for the Cougars? They are 5-0 in WCC play since Carlino was removed from the starting lineup. The Cougars have scored less than 1.20 points per possession in a game only once (against USF), and the recent stretch has been a big boost to their conference-only numbers, as they rate as the top offensive team in the WCC according to Adjusted Offensive rating (118.2). They lead in three WCC offensive categories according to Ken Pom (AdjO, Offensive Rebounding percentage and Tempo), and they rank in the Top 3 in four offensive categories as well (eFG percentage, turnover percentage, free throw rate and two point percentage). Furthermore, unlike some teams in conference (such as St. Mary's and USF), BYU has showed proficiency not only on the offensive end, but defensive end in conference play as well. They are second in the WCC in Defensive Efficiency (103.5) and rank third in categories such as opponent offensive rebounding percentage and opponent free throw rate, and second in opponent two-point percentage. After a stretch where the Cougars lost four straight games and many thought they were definitely NIT-bound, they have turned it around since the lineup-change and could make a case as an At-Large Tournament team if they finish as expected (Ken Pom projects them to finish with a 20-11 record) or slightly better. That was hard to imagine after they started 0-2 in conference after their loss to the Waves in Malibu and looked significantly behind conference favorites Gonzaga and St. Mary's (now they are ahead of St. Mary's in terms of getting an at-large bid).

While Rose's decision to move Carlino to the bench has obviously had positive effects for the team as a whole, it has also improved Carlino's numbers surprisingly. While some players who come off the bench play starter's minutes, Carlino has actually seen a decrease in minutes and has been used less in major lineups than before. Here is a list of the most used lineups for the Cougars in the past 5 games according to Ken Pom:

PG	SG	SF	PF	C	Pct
5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	12 Josh Sharp 6-7  185  Jr	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	11.0
5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	10.1
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	6.2
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	20 Anson Winder 6-3  195  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	4.4
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	4.3
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	12 Josh Sharp 6-7  185  Jr	33 Nate Austin 6-11  230  Jr	4.1
5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	12 Josh Sharp 6-7  185  Jr	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	3.5
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	3.1
2 Matt Carlino 6-2  175  Jr	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	12 Josh Sharp 6-7  185  Jr	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	2.9
5 Kyle Collinsworth 6-6  210  So	23 Skyler Halford 6-1  180  Jr	24 Frank Bartley 6-3  200  Fr	3 Tyler Haws 6-5  200  Jr	0 Eric Mika 6-9  220  Fr	2.8
				UNKNOWN	2.5

While Carlino has been primarily used in six of the ten lineups listed, he has not been used in the the top-two most played lineups. Thus, Carlino is not a "Ginobili-type" in the sense that he is a starter simply coming off the bench due to aesthetic or "strategic" reasons. Rose has preferred sophomore Kyle Collinsworth at the point for more of the critical minutes in the past five games, as evidenced by him running the point in the top-two most used lineups. It's hard to argue with the success as the Cougars are 5-0 in this span and playing some of their best ball of the season during this stretch.

But, this shakeup has turned out well for Carlino in terms of him improving his efficiency on the court. In the 14 games Carlino started this year, he only had five games where he posted offensive ratings in the triple digits. In the five games that Carlino has come off the bench, he has posted four games with ratings over 100, including a 150 rating against Santa Clara where he put up 15 points and 9 assists in only 24 minutes. Thanks to the recent stretch, his adjusted offensive rating has boosted up to 100.7 which would be a career high, and his turnover rate has dropped to 16.9 percent, which would be a career low, if the season ended today.

If you think about it, it is surprising Rose did not resort to this strategy sooner. Carlino, with his high usage rate (team high 28.1 percent) and high shot percentage (29.1), is the kind of player that can really spark a squad off the bench. He can bring instant offense in a short period of time, and he has the potential produce highly efficient numbers in a short period of time. However, when his minutes spread out, his efficiency becomes more inconsistent, because high-shot, high-usage players don't carry consistent success over a long period of time unless they're truly elite players (example: Carmelo Anthony can pull it off, but Ricky Davis cannot). While Carlino is good, he is not that kind of player skill-wise or athletically to do it over 30-plus minutes. But in 25 minutes and under? Carlino is the kind of player that can not only boost a team's offensive output, but also allow the starter's to get rest without the coaching staff worrying about the offense taking a step back with them on the bench. Carlino's role when he was a starter was always questionable because he wasn't the kind of player efficiency-wise that could carry a team, but in more limited minutes and as a sixth man? He's been the kind of player that has made BYU the most dangerous team right now in the WCC as well as a legitimate threat to challenge top-dog Gonzaga in the WCC Championship race.

Of course, Carlino is not the sole reason the Cougars have experienced success. Tyler Haws has also been a key reason for the Cougars' wave of success as he is posting a 116 offensive rating with a usage rate of 26.4. Furthermore, Collinsworth, with his size (6-6) and efficient play 109.5 rating and 24.6 assist rate) has filled in admirably in the starting point guard spot as only a sophomore. Despite those standout performances however, it is obvious that Rose has found the right formula for the Cougars to achieve WCC success centering on his decision to have Carlino coming off the bench. Carlino is the kind of player that can not only torch opposing WCC reserve guards, but he can also match up decently well against starters when in a pinch, which makes his role as a reserve more valuable than as a starter. Sure, his minutes have gone down (his minutes percentage has fallen to 68.4 percent, down from 71.8 a year ago), but his role serves the Cougars much better now than it did in the first 14 games of the year, and their record in that stretch has confirmed that. That may be tough to swallow for the former UCLA commit (after all, nobody would outright prefer to be a bench player than a starter), but if the Cougars ride this current rotation to a NCAA Tournament appearance, I'm sure Carlino and the Cougars program will be satisfied in retrospect with the changes that may have tapered from the pre-season expectations (which was for Carlino to probably be the team's centerpiece).