It was 26-16 when Akok picked up his 2nd with 4:56 left. UConn trailed 29-34 at half -- that's 18-3 after Hurley #autobenched Akok. Indiana scored 32% of their points in that 5 minute window -- all without UConn's best interior defender (one who has shown in a small sample to be an extremely efficient shot blocker without fouling and one who is going to foul significantly less with his wingspan of 7'3'' than your standard college big).
Hurley should have used a timeout, and he kept Al out for too long (kudos for bringing him back in late 1h since he is the only true ball handler), and Vital played bad, and Al played bad, and Adams, and Bouk, and etc. etc.. -- all of that and they still had their chances late in the game! But just because they had a chance late doesn't mean that it worked by pulling them early.
Late game minutes mattering more than early minutes is a myth. And late game minutes are more likely to matter and be "high leverage" when you voluntarily bench your best players early and play with a sub-optimal lineup. Do late game minutes matter if you're up 10? Or 15? Or 20? Or 30? Points in the first half count just the same as points in the 2H or the end of the game.
Would you like your best team on the floor at the end of the game? Yes, that would be ideal. Would you like to be far enough ahead at the end of the game so that Vital dribbling into a double team with 7 seconds left doesn't matter and it doesn't matter who is in? Yes, that matters more. Having a lead is directly correlated with playing your best players and lineups. Saving your best players and lineups for later in the game only reduces your win probability.
If a player has shown a propensity to foul or significantly changes their defensive style when they have 2 in the first, or 3 in the 2nd, then I agree, you cannot play them and a sub who will play more aggressive is a better alternative. Akok has not, and did not show this. Al, has not, and did not show this.
There are ways to "protect" players with multiple fouls -- standard rest and substitution patterns, giving a zone look on defense, stealing a minute or two before a TV timeout, etc. But letting an 18-3 run happen without your best interior defender is downright inexcusable because "he has 2 fouls".
Someone used an example earlier of "what if he got his 3rd at the end of the first half, and 4 at the start of the 2H? He would have to sit for 10 minutes." Okay. You just proved why it never makes sense to #autobench your players in "foul trouble". In that worst case scenario, he still ends up with 25 minutes played -- exactly what Hurley capped his potential minutes played at by sitting him.
Play your best players and let them foul out naturally. Don't manually foul them out yourself. You are literally doing the thing that you are trying to prevent by sitting them.
