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Message: [QUOTE="Longtime fan, post: 2905263, member: 7093"] Let's start with the fact that when ND's pre-season All American ( Brianna Turner ) went out for the year with an injury, a " bench " player stepped up to the point that no one noticed Brianna' absence, and they won the national championship. Who on our bench could, say, replace Katie Lou or Phessa and lead the team to a championship? I am not going to go into a fantasy game of comparing each bench player at ND with our starting five ( that is a losing proposition with UCONN starting 3 pre-season AA candidates).....my point is that ND's bench players are very good (and deep)...and if they all started, the ND team would still be competitive. Our bench, however, could not beat Vanguard. And when the long season drags on to the NCAA tournament, bench strength ( depth and quality at all positions ) matters. Starting fives run out of gas when forced to play 30-35 minutes, in highly challenging games, only a few days apart. [/QUOTE]