I saw this article on performance versus bench usage and thought it was interesting...
There's even a graph that shows where NU stacks up against other teams...
There's even a graph that shows where NU stacks up against other teams...
Depth in NCAA basketball
- Thread starter PurpleWhiteBoy
- Start date
"So when trying to duplicate the success of this year’s Final Four teams, I don’t think the takeaway is to just use your bench less. I think the real takeaway is to — (checks notes) — have really good starters?"
I knew somebody would cherry pick that sentence to try to dismiss the points made in the article.
It was a rhetorically dumb decision by the writer to use that sentence.
Duke and UNC and Kansas have really good starters *and* really good bench players. Their coaches made a decision.
A CCC weakness is that he never decided. Frankly, there was very little reason for Elyjah Williams to leave the bench — he did nice things sometimes, bad things others, but nothing he did (guessing here) showed he deserved those minutes over Young’s 17-22nd minutes or Nance’s 28th-33rd. Same with Simmons or even fan favorite Greer. Fine dudes, just minutes better-used by the alternatives.
I agree about what appeared to be coaching indecision. (although Collins may have been certain that subbing like crazy was the right way to go).
The article made several general observations, but "good teams play shorter rotations" and "coaches cut bench minutes as the season progresses" are logical and difficult to refute in general. We were abnormal in those regards.
From a logic perspective, when you play lesser performers more than necessary, you are hurting the team's chances in competitive games. Unless you find chemistry where two guys play better together than they do as individuals. I mention that because Greer and Buie improved each other significantly when they were playing as a backcourt duo.