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Message: [QUOTE="oldhusky, post: 3594463, member: 9844"] A couple of points on the issue of playing a deep bench (9-10) vs. a short one (6-7). I understand that the 9th or 10th best player isn't as good as the 5th or 6th etc. but there is more to it than that. In my opinion teams with great benches can sometimes play their starters closer to 25 minutes a game or a little bit more. Teams with weak benches frequently stretch their best starters closer to 35, in essence saying a very tired starter is better than a fresh sub that is much weaker. Last year we were in the later category, and it could be argued that Megan, Crystal and Crystyn were all less effective than they would have been per minute, with fewer minutes. So with a limited bench the decision isn't a starter at their peak vs. the bench player, but in fact a starter at well less than 100%. Of course it varies a-lot by individual, but usually I think you can get upper 20's to 30 minutes from a starter without much drop-off, assuming normal mostly half court play. But suppose you do want to press frequently and fast break. Now your starter minutes might need to be cut to 25 or so. If your bench was deep enough both starters and bench could press as much as the coach wanted, and go full out all the time regardless of who is in. That is what is potentially exciting about this group. If say 9 are playable at a reasonably high level, then all the strategies are on the table. Last year Liv had to be extra carefull about fouls, Crystal and Crystyn were better at that, but also had to make sure they stayed in the game. They were not really available to exert maximum effort or a pressure defense because they had to conserve enough energy to play 35 minutes. With a deep bench you have three big advantages. 1. Your starters are more productive when they are on the court, can play aggressively every minute they are out there. 2. Both the starters and the bench can press or fast break as much as desired. 3. You can wear out other teams starters, particularly those with short benches like we were last year. Our rested starters pressing their gassed ones etc. [/QUOTE]

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