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Message: [QUOTE="southofnorth, post: 2989003, member: 9132"] I think it’s still a debate because what Geno says and what we see are two different things at times. He constantly harps about his bench needing to get better and help the team, but he waits until they’re up big against lesser competition to put any of the players in. I totally understand the “practice is where you prove yourself worthy of playing time” philosophy, but I would compare it to learning to place an IV as a nurse. Nurses have to be able to practice on [B]real[/B] people because cadavers, models, etc. just won’t cut it and won’t give them the real experience they need. If the first time the nurse makes a mistake you stop letting them try, the nurse will be nervous and probably perform poorly the next time they get a chance to try. My point is: you can’t gain game experience in practice. Geno has said as much in years past. Players need quality game time experience (5-10+ minutes [B]before[/B] the score is settled) and have to be allowed to play through some mistakes if they ever want to really get a handle on the game. I’m not saying turn a blind eye to mistakes, but rather use timeouts or game breaks or game film to call them out and constructively criticize those mistakes so they can learn. [/QUOTE]