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Message: [QUOTE="auror, post: 3815272, member: 1329"] We didn't play a small ball lineup. We played our normal post-Bouk closing lineup. It's the lineup that has played the most minutes together over the last 5 games. It's got 2 guards, 2 forwards, and a center. It was a 6'1" PG, a 6'4" SG, a 6'6" SF, a 6'8" PF, and a 6'9" center. That's about as prototypical a lineup as you'll see from a high major team. It had 2" in height and probably more in length over the Johnnies at basically every single position. You can certainly make a case we should have played Sanogo over somebody, but the narrative that Hurley was trying to play a better small ball lineup or that Hurley was dictated into going small by St John's is just wrong and is getting repeated all over the place. He said that Sanogo couldn't guard anyone against a small ball lineup, not that he had to play a small ball lineup. And he didn't. Whaley is a big capable of guarding against a small ball lineup, so Hurley played him. We didn't play any smaller than usual, and it's our most experienced lineup in terms of age (aside from Carlton). By playing what Hurley thinks is our best lineup, he attempted to play to our own strength. Whether you think he should've coached more to exploit St. John's weakness instead is certainly a valid question, and one of the hardest things a coach has to balance. It's entirely possible he got it wrong tonight. Did he get it wrong because he was stubborn? I probably would have at least tried Sanogo at some point between 10 and 4 minutes left, but I don't think it's ridiculous not to considering the game context and season history so far. We put Depaul away with the same lineup that lost it for us tonight. [/QUOTE]

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