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GumbySquad
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From today's press conference:
So... many of us have been harping on this since the first day Sean Miller stepped on campus, that he is a great coach, especially on the defensive end, but his use of timeouts and his inability to develop his bench are his biggest weaknesses. Months ago, when Arizona was beating Duke and Michigan and SDSU and everything was looking peachy, many of us kept talking about the lack of bench minutes coming back to bite the Cats.
Well, anybody who is paying attention knows damn well that Arizona was in a position to lose that game at asu as a direct result of Sean Miller's stubbornness. The starters were worn out by the 2nd overtime, because of overuse. Miller lost that game more than the players did.
Maybe, just maybe, this is a reality check for him as well as for the bench players themselves... I would like nothing more than to see Miller stay here in Tucson for the next 20+ years and develop his own HOF type career, just as Lute did... but if that is going to happen, then he needs to learn a valuable lesson: Playing the 8th-10th guys early in the season is going to do worlds of good for the team as a whole. The more time the bench gets early, the more comfortable they are in their roles, the more prepared they are to come into double overtime games late in the season when the starters really need a breather.
A 7 man rotation is just fine, no problems there... but if the 8th, 9th and 10th guys go five-ten games without seeing a single minute of court time? That is a huge problem. Have to find a way to mix those guys in for 3-5+ minutes a game, especially when the Cats have a 10-15+ point lead in the second half. Give them some pressure; Playing only garbage time does a player no good. Give them some time in the second half of a game where the Cats have a comfortable lead and see if they can keep that lead. Give them in-game pressure without giving them the keys to the car itself. That is how you develop a bench coach Miller, that is how you become a better team in March.
When you have starters playing huge minutes every game then you lose your edge. Far better to see 5 minutes of Korcheck, even if the team is at a point deficit when he's out there, because when Kaleb does get back into the game he will be fresh and hungry to dominate the paint. Same goes for TJ, Nick and Gordon. Clearly they are the best players on the team, but you can tell by the way they've played the last few weeks that they are burnt out.
Sean Miller 2/17/2014
"The last straw for me in terms of how we're going to do things moving forward was the ASU game," Miller said. "What we try to do and how we play makes no sense to play players close to 40 minutes. It affects your defense, it affects your ability to make shots at the end of the games, your practice environment."
"it's no fun when only five are playing."
So... many of us have been harping on this since the first day Sean Miller stepped on campus, that he is a great coach, especially on the defensive end, but his use of timeouts and his inability to develop his bench are his biggest weaknesses. Months ago, when Arizona was beating Duke and Michigan and SDSU and everything was looking peachy, many of us kept talking about the lack of bench minutes coming back to bite the Cats.
Well, anybody who is paying attention knows damn well that Arizona was in a position to lose that game at asu as a direct result of Sean Miller's stubbornness. The starters were worn out by the 2nd overtime, because of overuse. Miller lost that game more than the players did.
Maybe, just maybe, this is a reality check for him as well as for the bench players themselves... I would like nothing more than to see Miller stay here in Tucson for the next 20+ years and develop his own HOF type career, just as Lute did... but if that is going to happen, then he needs to learn a valuable lesson: Playing the 8th-10th guys early in the season is going to do worlds of good for the team as a whole. The more time the bench gets early, the more comfortable they are in their roles, the more prepared they are to come into double overtime games late in the season when the starters really need a breather.
A 7 man rotation is just fine, no problems there... but if the 8th, 9th and 10th guys go five-ten games without seeing a single minute of court time? That is a huge problem. Have to find a way to mix those guys in for 3-5+ minutes a game, especially when the Cats have a 10-15+ point lead in the second half. Give them some pressure; Playing only garbage time does a player no good. Give them some time in the second half of a game where the Cats have a comfortable lead and see if they can keep that lead. Give them in-game pressure without giving them the keys to the car itself. That is how you develop a bench coach Miller, that is how you become a better team in March.
When you have starters playing huge minutes every game then you lose your edge. Far better to see 5 minutes of Korcheck, even if the team is at a point deficit when he's out there, because when Kaleb does get back into the game he will be fresh and hungry to dominate the paint. Same goes for TJ, Nick and Gordon. Clearly they are the best players on the team, but you can tell by the way they've played the last few weeks that they are burnt out.