Was he a role player against Michigan too cause I recall him playing almost the whole game
You're talking about actual usage as opposed to proper role. Jacoby Brissett is starting for Arizona because their starting QB is hurt. So now he's a "starting QB." But we all know that what he really is is is a backup QB. (And yes I know their starting QB is not awesome either, but let's roll with that example anyway.)
The problem with this team is Pitino brought in Jackson with the idea that he would be the PG. That left him with Sanon, Sellers, and Liotopoulos at the wings. Then he figured he would go swing for the fences and he struck out on four other high-end PGs. So he said OK, I will bring in Darling as the backup PG and we'll be fine because Jackson will be able to play the point.
He then discovered that Jackson can't play the point, which left him with the backup PG as his ONLY PG. It also created a logjam at the SG/wing position which is going to be a problem for him (at the moment solved by shafting Liotopoulos, who really deserves better),.
So then he jammed Sellers into the role to see if he could do it. And he told you this week that he wanted to try Liotopoulos at it but Lefty couldn't handle the press. And he keeps finding minutes for Pohto to see if maybe he can do it.
But at the moment where he's at is that he has a backup PG who he has no choice to play as his primary PG, at least against teams that press (which is going to be everyone who has the slightest ability to do that, I would think).
It is really a miscalculation of epic proportions for a guy who thought he was putting together a Final 4 team. And when you listen to him talk about players not unusually he says things like "people told us" and "we thought" which makes you wonder if he has delegated a bit too much on the scouting front (or if the folks he has scouting maybe whiffed bigtime on the PG spot).
I like Darling. He is tough, he is a good ball handler, he's fast. After the first scrimmage he improved dramatically as a "get the ball up the floor and give it to someone else" guy. His shooting has been unimpressive, but he has scrapped for rebounds which is great. He's a liability on defense and will be when he's playing against guys who are not only better than he is but 5 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier. I would love to have him play 12-14 minutes as a change-of-pace PG to give a starting PG a breather, and to feast on somebody's second unit. It isn't his fault that we don't have a PG to play the other 26-28 minutes.
I think we'll be OK with him in league play with the exception of a few games because the league is meh. But if you look at Darling and you see "PG who plays 30 minutes a game on a Final 4 team," then we just see very different things. Which is fine- the season will tell the tale. Vegas will be a pretty good marker for how much we can get away with, and I am hoping it is more than I think we can. I also think that some other players improving (Sanon is getting there, and hopefully Jackson will also) will help him a lot - it's a team game and if you get lights-out play at 4 other spots (which has yet to happen IMO) then it helps Darling enormously.
for that
