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Message: [QUOTE="oldude, post: 2906600, member: 7511"] I’ll take a shot at this one. There is this general misconception that Geno doesn’t play his reserves enough. That’s just not the case. Obviously, Geno expects players to earn time in practice, and their performance in games will determine whether or not he trusts them enough to give them even more PT in future games. Last season, just about every reserve, with the possible exception of Batouly & Lexi were given prime time minutes with the starters. Geno typically plays his starters for the entire 1st qtr, whatever the score, with the exception of foul trouble or injury. The starters always need sufficient time on the floor together to stay sharp for the big games ahead. If UConn has a big lead after 1 qtr, Geno will start to substitute in reserves in the 2nd qtr to play with starters. He never substitutes in mass, as execution declines considerably. It’s much better for the reserves development to work with the starters. All 5 starters typically start the 2nd half. If the lead continues to balloon Geno will start subbing in reserves to work with the starters about midway through the 3rd qtr. If it’s a full fledged blowout, Geno usually leaves no more than one starter in the game to start the 4th qtr, usually a guard to establish some level of continuity. Last season, UConn had only one player who averaged more than 30 minutes per game, Kia with 33. On average, at least 5 reserves were playing at least one full qtr per game. If you exclude games vs top competition (UCLA, ND(2), Tex, Lou, SC(2), Duke, etc.) the reserves played considerably more than 1 qtr per game. [/QUOTE]

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