It's been said, but this is nuts. Playing time decisions should be based on what gives them the best chance of winning the game they're playing. That's it.
Win your minutes in practice. Tell Shabazz and Giffey that the focus is going to be on building for the future, see how that goes over.
That's not how it works, at least with the better coaches. JC would often give PT to the players he believed gave him the best chances to win in March. Now that doesn't mean you play someone who is simply not ready. In the case with Olander and Facey, I would not be surprised to see Ollie give Facey more and more of Olander's minutes. He's starting to demonstrate he is capable of defending his position, rebounding, and making some offensive plays. He doesn't know the offense well, but he'll learn if he gets minutes with some of the starters.
Ideally, you want both Olander and Facey post season ready, where both can play quality off-the-bench minutes when needed.
It seems many have forgotten what took place in 2011. During that unprecedented 11 game run that ended with UConn as the last team standing, every scholarship player contributed. Olander, Giffey, Roscoe, Okwandu, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and even Beverly were getting some minutes during important moments of the game, and not just scrub time.
If our Huskies are going to have a chance to exceed their perceived projected ceiling, is for players such as Brimah, Nolan, Omar and Facey being developed now so that they'll be ready to consistently make plays a month from now. You might want to throw Samuel in there if they need a handler if Bazz and Boat are in foul trouble and they need him to hold things down for a few minutes. I've notice that Kromah is used to help bring the ball up court, but his handle is no where near what you want in your PGs or Combo-guards. It's a given that for this team to make some post-season noise, they need to get close to ceiling level performances from Bazz, Boat, Daniels, Giffey, and Kromah. It's the role players who have to develop enough to make some plays. This team is not the defensive unite that the 2011 was. I think we all agree, they defend well at times, but need to improve their rebounding and limit the second chance opportunities they're giving up way too often. That means all the players, starters and reserves alike, need to show the commitment to really go after rebounds like they have the past few games. It's for this reason, I think a battle tested Facey who's simply a better athlete and rebounds than TO us extremely important to develop during this stretch run. IMO, he gives UConn the better chance of winning than TO does one month from now, though there will be moments where TO will be counted upon to give us a few solid minutes at some critical point in a win-or-go-home game. He's probably a better matchup against big physical 5s that aren't too athletic, but even then, I thought Facey did a nice job against some big Houston dudes the other night.
Getting back to my original point, no good coach gives minutes to only the players who gives him the best chance of winning a game even this late in the season. There is about four weeks worth of games to develop this team. It's not like the 5 to 10 minutes that KO would give to Facey over TO would likely cost the team a W. IMO, giving him some of TO's minutes not only gives UConn the best chance of winning come March, it also gives Facey some valuable experience to speed up his development for next season and the ones to come. Tyler is closing in on the end of his run. I hope he finishes strong, but it's time to find more minutes for Facey, which some will come at Tyler's expense.
