balllady64
Member
Winning by 20 a minute to go in game.....all 5 starters are still in game.....padding your stats !?!?....what about all those players that show up and practice everyday only to sit......
Thoughts ???
- Thread starter balllady64
- Start date
Rolly67
Well-known member
I am with you most of the time, I am a proponent of subbing and getting everyone in when you can but I do like to try to see all sides of a situation. Especially late in the year as we approach the postseason and you run into a tough team in a tournament game that will push you for the full 4 quarters or even to Overtime and you are used to coasting through the 3rd quarter with a decent lead and taking most of the 4th quarter off, you can be in trouble. Especially at smaller schools with depth issues it can be hard to simulate quality game situations in practice.
Depends on the situation, of course, but I say reward the kids who are on the bench and let them play. Not sure how many stats you are padding with only a minute left to play. The kids sitting on your bench should be your future players at the varsity level, you may as well get them some experience. This will only help the "program" in the future.
Haven't seen this as much as teams still pressing up 30, I may be old school but I thought it was a general consensus back in the day when you were up 20 you called off the dogs, I have seen various teams this year be up 30 and still pressing or even running and jumping at half court. To me this is more stat padding than leaving starters in up 20. Is the 35 point running clock now the standard for when to call the dogs off?
Last edited:
I'm starting to think that yes, that is the trend now. Also, as Rolly said, you keep them in there for conditioning purposes. If you're a good team that only goes 6-7 deep, you're not going to have the liberty to sub, when the game is tight
balllady64
Member
Yes watched the game....another classless act.....has nothing to do with other team pulling starters, show a little class. Reputation goes a long way....
Lynus24
Well-known member
Truth, facts and context go a long way as well. The facts are we were up 15 not 20. The truth is the starters have only played 2.5 quarters the last three games. All 3 the entire bench played considerable minutes, and half that bench just played 4 quarters of a jv game. We have 2 federal league teams up next, and when exactly do you pull those kids? Up 13 with 3 minutes to go? Risk it? You’d be hard pressed to find too many people that watched that game that would come to the conclusion that we “ran up the score” with our starters in. You can dislike the coach, but this isn’t the example to use or the hill to die on.
As they say a picture says a thousand words. Seeing the score changes much perspective of how "safe" a 20 point lead is for that game. Also, your explanation of a shallow bench with players who had already used 4 quarters in JV. Many schools who are in that position find kids running out of quarters to play this time of year. Perhaps knowing you have a deeper bench for the last couple of games is more important than giving a JV player a couple minutes of varsity time and losing him as a sub the final couple games.
And last but certainly not least, I bet the entire team, including the pine riders, was hoping for the century mark.
*67
Well-known member
i once heard a coach say "It's not my job to decide when you're beat...if you want me to put in my backups, you put in yours"...and i think that's a pretty good system to work with
I think it depends upon how the game was being played. General rule of thumb has been 20 points in the fourth, but given that some games are in the 80s and 90s, it is not unreasonable to think a team can go on a run with 4:00 to go in the game. I have no problem with a coach keeping starters in a game where it is 100-85 as per the image above. I have more of a problem with a coach keeping kids in the game with a score like 48-24.
Because coaches are hard headed.
Lynus24
Well-known member
Again this was about a specific game that was well documented, not a “what if” scenario. Alliance scored 25 in the 4th against Louisville starters. When would have been a good time to pull the starters? Pull them up 15 with 3:37 to go, risk an Alliance 10-0 run, put your starters back in up 5 with 2:00 to go? C’mon this is a terrible example of “depriving the bench of minutes”. There’s not a coach anywhere that would have pulled kids in this situation.