Originally Posted by Smitty10
You have to go with what you got to get the starters some rest. I can't say with 100 percent certainty but I believe the starters would've had more quality play for the end if they had some more reasonable breathers. There are reasons that starters spend some time on the bench besides foul trouble and that's because you get their maximum game when they aren't tired. I'll use baseball as a comparable example. You are stuck with a relief pitcher with 9.00 era on your roster. You still have to use him because in baseball you have to use everyone on your roster. In college basketball you don't have to use 100 percent of your roster in one game, but you certainly have to use about 80 percent your non-walkons whether they've contributed much in the recent past or not.
You might come back with "but we were down too many points to chance it." I say to that "but it was the starters who put us in that position and they were given a chance to redeem themselves, so should your bench, from game to game to game. You have to use your roster. If they cause you to lose, you have a losing roster but you play it out.
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Smitty, for once I agree with you; and based on what I've seen from what should be a solid bench, Westerfield should have been on the court today because A) He can hit foul shots, B) He has a polished 3 point shot C) He plays defense at least as well as the "bench" and D) He actually wants to play...
