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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5286170, member: 12088"] Thanks for your thoughtful response, [USER=13453]@NycUcWbbFan[/USER] and especially that final remark about what counts as "rotation." I am not wedded to any particular number of minutes, and I agree that playing in "competitive minutes" is what matters. However....... [B]regularity also matters.[/B] A player who gets competitive minutes once in a while is usually someone responding to a sudden need, but tends not to be who Geno wants on the floor in crunch time. When I see stats like that, I rewatch those games, and this is almost always what you find. As an example, Inês Bettencourt played 9 mins against Princeton three seasons ago in a very close win. This was more than her typical role, and she played a crucial part in avoiding an upset. But this hardly made her a rotation player. By the same token, Aubrey got some key minutes toward the end of the season. But she was not on the floor regularly enough for us to call her a rotation player this season, even though she has been one in previous seasons. This is why I raised the question concerning the practicability of a deeper rotation. I don't have an answer, and I am moved by your observation that having 15 very talented players almost demands a deeper rotation. The only other consideration I can think of is that prior to the portal era, players tended to move through the program in predictable ways, and if they didn't start as freshmen -- as very few did -- they cold soldier on in the confidence that they would eventually be in the rotation, perhaps as sophomores or juniors. Kyla Irwin is perhaps a good example of this. She stuck with the team even though her minutes were limited in the first two seasons, but gradually became a regular who averaged almost 17 minutes in her final season. Sadly, in the portal era, it's harder to see how that sort of loyalty can be sustained without some extraordinary effort by the coaches and teammates. [/QUOTE]

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