I understand wanting to get Kris more minutes at his natural position(s), but isn’t the goal and what we all want for Fran to have the best players on the court for as many minutes as possible? If our three best players are Keegan, Kris, and Patrick (which is absolutely the case), Pat isn’t strong enough to defend interior post, and you want to keep Keegan out of foul trouble, then what other option is there?
You can start Kris over Patrick, but then you have one of the Murray’s, fresh off of six minutes of game play, sliding over to the five to spell Rebraca when he comes out of the game, thereby likely making the foul situation an even bigger factor
It’s not ideal. If we had either Nunge or Robbins giving six more minutes per game effectively than Rebraca is, Kris would be logging heavier minutes at the 3 (with a few still at the five) and this wouldn’t be a conversation. I think Fran is managing the lineups the best he can, and to his credit, Iowa is drastically exceeding preseason expectations