Why does it matter how many fouls Sword has in the second half if we're down by 10+? The game can be decided at the end of the first half just as easily as the second half.
I don't understand sitting Sword with two fouls..
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
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I don't understand it either, but coaches do it all the time these days. They're so scared the player might foul out, they'd rather sit him for a long time and then bring him back in the second half when he's been doing nothing for over a half hour. Big mistake.
Something about the strategy of purposefully sitting a player due to a possibility that he might be forced to sit later has never made much sense to me. A guy might foul out or he might not, but if you sit him on the bench by choice, it's guaranteed that he's going to lose minutes.
except that some players respond by getting too soft on D, to avoid that next foul. and this is a team that relies on constant D.
Sure, but if you continue to play one of your best players with multiple fouls to keep yourself in the game in the first half and he has three or four going into the second half, you're just as out of it as you would be had you sat said player and gone down 10-15 by the half, if not more. I agree that it's frustrating to see a coach pull a player with two fouls at the 10 to 8 minute mark, but it would be, in my opinion, even more frustrating to see that player stay in and immediately pick up a third foul, or play soft defense from that point on to try to avoid it.
I'd like to see the NCAA add a sixth foul. The five foul limit was instated in 1944, and I can't be sure since team fouls per game wasn't kept until much later, but I'd bet that number now is at least double, maybe even triple what it was back then. A sixth foul would make for better games down the stretch, and it might make coaches a little less likely to sit players because of early fouls.
I'd like to see the NCAA add a sixth foul. The five foul limit was instated in 1944, and I can't be sure since team fouls per game wasn't kept until much later, but I'd bet that number now is at least double, maybe even triple what it was back then. A sixth foul would make for better games down the stretch, and it might make coaches a little less likely to sit players because of early fouls.
What if he doesn't pick up another foul?
I think you make that decision differently if you're the undermanned team too. I would leave my best player out there at MSU right now compared to benching him on a deeper team.
Its a a two point game when Sword picks up his 2nd foul. It's 9 at intermission. We lose by 10. We lost the game with Sword on the bench at the end of the first half. I don't think you can expect to erase a double digit second half lead against Kentucky even with Sword only having two fouls.
I think you make that decision differently if you're the undermanned team too. I would leave my best player out there at MSU right now compared to benching him on a deeper team.
Its a a two point game when Sword picks up his 2nd foul. It's 9 at intermission. We lose by 10. We lost the game with Sword on the bench at the end of the first half. I don't think you can expect to erase a double digit second half lead against Kentucky even with Sword only having two fouls.
Exactly. He may or may not miss 10 minutes by fouling out if you leave him in. But he 100% will miss 10 minutes if you sit him. Sword played 27 minutes and didn't foul out. He damn sure would have played more than 27 minutes if Ray had left him in the game with 2 fouls in the 1st half. The old rule of thumb used to be you didn't sit a player until he got 3 fouls in the 1st half. That was much smarter. And, as 57stratdawg points out, especially if you're undermanned.
Yes.. Argued with my dad. I pick up foul 4 with 10 to go and sat until 5 to go. Never understood that. Dumb. You lose minutes. You dont gain them.
Yeah, I think you're right in this particular context. Especially since the opponent is UK, I guess I'm thinking back to '09 or '10, can't remember which, where Jarvis had picked up his third foul guarding Cousins before the 10 minute mark, sat until after the half, then almost immediately picked up his fourth. We basically lost because no one else could guard or box out Cousins. Not much to be done in that situation at all I suppose.
Because of our depth, or lack there of, the way we have been run out of gyms in the 2nd halves, I think as long as the game was within 10 or so, he was using the 2 fouls as an excuse to save our best players legs for a 2nd half push.
But what if he does?
This happens all the time. If you have one of your better players foul early, it's better to just take him out. The opposing offense is going to key on him to draw a foul and he's also going to have to play soft on D early on to not get a foul which makes him a liability. Hell, they pull players all the time in the NBA for the same thing and they get 6 fouls.
This happens all the time. If you have one of your better players foul early, it's better to just take him out. The opposing offense is going to key on him to draw a foul and he's also going to have to play soft on D early on to not get a foul which makes him a liability. Hell, they pull players all the time in the NBA for the same thing and they get 6 fouls.