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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 4112562, member: 9844"] I will avoid the main debates of how long a rotation (6-7 vs 9 or 10) or pressing and fast-breaking to use the bench more, and focus on how Geno uses the last players on the bench. This is a minor issue in the scheme of things, but one that has always bothered me. In general if you are not in the rotation, be it 7 or 10, you usually get a couple of minutes at the end of a 40 point blow out. My position is if those players never get any significant minutes short of an injury or foul trouble, then once the game is decided they should be in there. When you are ahead by 25-30 against a team you are clearly better than, the game is over, I'm ready for the players out of the rotation, even if there is still say 15 minutes left in the game. Waiting till the last two minutes when you are up by 40, 30, or even 20 is in my opinion running up the score. I know Geno likes to develop the team chemistry with his main players, and that is part of the reason for his approach, and there are numerous computer rankings where you will rank a little higher if you win by 40 instead of 35, even if it is by keeping your starters in long past the game being decided. But we have to consider the downside to Geno's approach as well. If because of injury he has to use the tail end of the bench, they are less likely to be ready if they don't get more time than he gives them, but more importantly I think it can negatively affect recruiting. If the players outside of the rotation are Pulido, Lawlor level players it may not matter. You don't have players that could do a decent job if needed, but they could be content playing less than 100 minutes for the whole year. But if you want your third stringers to be playable if needed, then they need more minutes. Do you want a potential recruit in the 10-15 range nationally to rule out Uconn because they think on paper they might be the 9th or 10th best player, they see Geno using 8, and they fear they will get Pulido minutes even in a blowout? I don't think getting players like Mir, Amari or Piath for the end of the bench is sustainable they way Geno uses the end of the bench. [/QUOTE]

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