By circumstance, Charles Buggs has become a notable piece of Minnesota's rotation

At the start of the season, redshirt sophomore Charles Buggs didn't appear to even be in the depth chart.

Joey King would start at power forward. Josh Martin had practiced well -- he would likely be right behind. Coach Richard Pitino was even talking about giving the raw talented big freshman Bakary Konate time at that position.

Buggs -- who has an overflow of natural upside, but has struggled to put it all together --was barely discussed.

But flash forward one month, and suddenly Buggs has become a notable piece of the Gophers' rotation by way of circumstances and the reserves ahead of him struggling more than expected.

In the last six games, Buggs has averaged 10.8 minutes a game, four minutes more than a season ago.

Some of those minutes have featured some really positive moments. Last night, Buggs was in large part responsible for the spark that gave Minnesota such a strong early lead. With the Gophers up by ten in the first half, Buggs unleashed the first of three three-pointers that helped build a 16-point advantage.

"It was huge," senior guard Andre Hollins said. "He gave us great energy off the bench. Knocked down some key shots. That's one of the reasons we went up in the half."

So why wouldn't he have gotten minutes all along? Well, because the paragraph above only tells half the story.

On the other side of the ball, Buggs often appears to have no idea where he should be on the court. Rebounding is not a strength. At just 214 pounds, banging around in the paint and boxing out opponents doesn't come naturally. Pitino has also pointed out that Buggs hasn't been great with learning scouting reports or following the game plan.

"There are so many things that go into a game besides putting the ball in the basket," the coach said. "He needs to understand what we're running. A lot of the time, that's big,"

But faults or not, Buggs is probably in the rotation to stay. Martin and Konate have each proven to be far from ready and McNeil's absence -- following his arrest on two counts of felony assault -- essentially makes Buggs the backup small forward as well, by default.