Mulkey only plays 5 in a blowout win...

[EricLA]

I should have put a sarcasm emoticon on the opening title of the thread, because I've seen people on other boards go off on how Geno manages his bench (comments frequently like "why go to UCONN if you are going to get buried on the bench, etc etc"), in the past accuse of running up the score, etc etc...

Baylor outscored them by about 19 in the 1st half and 11 in the 2nd for a comfy 30 point win.

So i took a peek at their players MPG
33 - Johnson
32 - Davis
29 - Wallace
28 - Prince
25 - Agbuke

12 - Cave
12 - Small
11 - Wright
9 - Higgins
6 - Cohen
3 Fuqua

I don't post this because I think Baylor did anything wrong, but to point out a few things similar to UCONN. First, it seems that Mulkey (like Geno) is coaching for the post season (obviously they want to improve every game blah blah)... But my point is they play the "core 5" a substantial amount of minutes because this is not T-league, and some games will be really tough, so there are things to be worked on even when the games are a blowout.

Second, I'm not sure if she has any walk ons, but 6 minutes for Cohen and 3 for Fuqua sounds an awful lot like UCONN's walk on minutes.

Third - Cave, Small, Wright and Higgins get about the same amount as Stokes, Williams, Chong and Ekmark (once she's healthy). In fact, I'd go so far as to say when Stokes and Chong are getting close to 20 MPG each and Ekmark and Williams are in the 10-15 MPG range, our reserves get more PT than Baylors, meaning our starters get less PT.

My point, perhaps a bit rambling and meandering, is that the playing time criticism Geno sometimes takes flak for is hooey. Yep I said it. HOOEY. Obviously if you are great, or very very good, you can likely become a starter at UCONN. But even if you are more of a "role" player, you can still get good minutes and have fun playing with and for the best...

 

[John Glass]

the Baylor bench played 71 minutes tonight

 

[ThisJustIn]

maybe they made her cranky?

 

[EricLA]

the Baylor bench played 71 minutes tonight

The top 5 players in MPG played 148 minutes. that means the remaining 6 (or whatever) played a grand total of 52 minutes. I'm not sure if one of her starters got into foul trouble or stunk up the joint, but my point was that the distribution of minutes for the "better" players vs. the "role" players is very similar to UCONN's.

Granted it's just a one game sample. Lord knows I don't want to go back and to an complete analysis of UCONN vs. other schools in under/over 30 point wins blah blah, but there you have it...

 

[John Glass]

according to ESPN's web site 6 players came off the bench, and played 71 minutes- they could be wrong

 

[Orangutan]

Wallace didn't start but played 29 minutes off the bench. Wright started but played only 11. That accounts for some of the confusion.

I take the OP's point, though. Geno likes a short bench but he's not the only one. As long as coaches are explicit with expectations, I don't see a problem.

Selfishly, I like when coaches give reserves significant minutes because I'd rather watch backups improve their games than watch the starters muddle along in second gear.

 

[Oldbones]

There are a variety of problems with putting the "backup" scholarship players in only for the last few minutes of blowouts.
(1) They have been sitting on the bench for two hours.
(2) Very little playmaking effort takes place, as the team does not want to run up the score any more. Think of the backup quarterback doing three running plays, preceding a punt, in a football blowout.
(3) The other team is usually also clearing the bench, watering the competition.

These items and others, such as the short amount of playing time, suggest minimal benefit to the reserves.

My new year's resolution was to not second-guess coaching decisions, but I'd like to see Chong, Ekmark and Gabby play earlier in games which will never really be in doubt,(say, like 19 the next 20) with starters who can help enable their efforts.

 

[EricLA]

the Baylor bench played 71 minutes tonight

You are correct and someone else pointed out one of the starters only played 11 minutes. But that wasn't the point i was making...

I looked at the kids who had the most playing time in the game (top 5) and then compared that to the remaining kids who did not get over 12 minutes individually. My point was that it's similar to how Geno parses out the playing time, even in a blowout.

Even tho Baylor outscored KSU by 19 in the first half, it was only 11 in the 2nd half, so maybe Mulkey saw things that needed to be worked on and that's why she left her "core 5" in longer than casual observers might think.

Bottom line, her unfortunate fashion choices notwithstanding, I think Mulkey is a pretty good coach and the way she manages playing time, at least in the KSU game, reminded me of how Geno does it...

 

[boontonbomber]

I should have put a sarcasm emoticon on the opening title of the thread, because I've seen people on other boards go off on how Geno manages his bench (comments frequently like "why go to UCONN if you are going to get buried on the bench, etc etc"), in the past accuse of running up the score, etc etc...

Baylor outscored them by about 19 in the 1st half and 11 in the 2nd for a comfy 30 point win.

So i took a peek at their players MPG
33 - Johnson
32 - Davis
29 - Wallace
28 - Prince
25 - Agbuke

12 - Cave
12 - Small
11 - Wright
9 - Higgins
6 - Cohen
3 Fuqua

I don't post this because I think Baylor did anything wrong, but to point out a few things similar to UCONN. First, it seems that Mulkey (like Geno) is coaching for the post season (obviously they want to improve every game blah blah)... But my point is they play the "core 5" a substantial amount of minutes because this is not T-league, and some games will be really tough, so there are things to be worked on even when the games are a blowout.

Second, I'm not sure if she has any walk ons, but 6 minutes for Cohen and 3 for Fuqua sounds an awful lot like UCONN's walk on minutes.

Third - Cave, Small, Wright and Higgins get about the same amount as Stokes, Williams, Chong and Ekmark (once she's healthy). In fact, I'd go so far as to say when Stokes and Chong are getting close to 20 MPG each and Ekmark and Williams are in the 10-15 MPG range, our reserves get more PT than Baylors, meaning our starters get less PT.

My point, perhaps a bit rambling and meandering, is that the playing time criticism Geno sometimes takes flak for is hooey. Yep I said it. HOOEY. Obviously if you are great, or very very good, you can likely become a starter at UCONN. But even if you are more of a "role" player, you can still get good minutes and have fun playing with and for the best...

It would be a great if Chong , Stokes, Ekmark and Williams got the minutes you mention. But I would bet that as the season progresses( I'm not talking tournament time) they will not get nearly those minutes , especially against better teams. Uconn has been fortunate to avoid late season injuries and foul problems of recent times. If that good fortune ends, and those bench players need to step up, they need the preparation time. That's not HOOEY, that's common sense. If, as you say, Mulkey and Geno are coaching for the post season, seems like part of that process should involve having players as ready as possible to fill in in case of catastrophe. I don't think that Uconn has been as prepared for the untimely as they might have been in the recent years, and this year is beginning to shape up the same way. I hope that Geno's luck doesn't run out.