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Message: [QUOTE="LStudfellow, post: 4569189, member: 5436"] You both make good points. Starting the game with AJax on Koler makes perfect since AJax did do a great job against him in the home game on February 7th. The thing is, the way THIS game played out in the first half, it makes sense that Hurley and staff would decide to put someone else on Kolek to start the 2nd half to try and keep AJax from picking up a quick 3rd foul. This is where the 2nd part of the move makes no sense and I disagree with part of your point QDOG5 - not only has Newton proven to be a poor defender in multiple games this year against guards who are good at driving the ball, but he already proved he could not handle guarding Kolek in our first game against them in Marquette. So here is where our coaching decisions are really infuriating. Why stick with the mantra "our 1st half starters have to also start the 2nd half!" This mentality hurt us during our 2-6 stretch where teams took advantage of us time and time again to start the 2nd half. Same thing last night. Want to switch AJax off of Kolek to start the 2nd half? Makes sense. But why not put Alleyne on him right away there... a much better defender than Newton... and he played better in the first half than Newton anyway. Being so inflexible AGAIN put us into a hole literally right out of the gate in the 2nd half and we were forced to play catch up the rest of the game. Sorry, but that kind of inflexibility and inability to adapt to what is actually going on in the game is poor coaching. Yes, going to the zone down 10 was a nice adaptation (although Marquette did miss 3 open 3's in a row because of it) but why the inflexibility on having to start Newton in the 2nd half AND put him on Kolek when we already know he couldn't stop him??? Marquette scored 15 points in the first 4 1/2 minutes of the 2nd half, by the way... And the initial move with switching AJax to Newton was a big part of the reason. Just plain stupid. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach