I'm not sure why he got irritated. The only thing I can come up with is he doesn't like the narrative of him playing x guys in a season. I'd be willing to bet he knows how deep he will go on the bench. I almost wonder if that response had to do as a retort to the tweets from last game.
I am. He hears this same stuff every year, and every year it's the same.
We play around 10 players in our first half-dozen games to see if the newcomers can be contributors. Then we cut down to 9 or so to try to start forming a rotation. We usually play 8-9 players in December, and then 8 starting in January in conference play.
When we play NC or Duke, we might go with 7, or we might go with 9 if we get big men in foul trouble. Same thing with the NCAA tournament - we might play 7 if we're winning; we might play 8 or 9 if we aren't.
I believe it was SWC who did the math the other day, and over the last 10-20 years, the average has been around 8 guys who get at least 10 minutes per game over the course of the whole season. In a few seasons it is only 7, but they are rare. In more seasons, we hit 9 players than we only have 7. Eight is the sweet spot for serious rotation contributors. (10 minutes a game over the entire season is a contributor.)
It's usually 2 centers, 3 forwards and 3 guards, when we get to the important games. You can't play that few guys for a whole season though, or they will break down and get injured.
When we have flexibility on the roster (a Rick Jackson type who can play center or forward, or a Josh Pace type who can play guard or forward), then the rotation gets smaller because of its flexibility.
When we have players with limited skill sets, or when we are an inexperienced team, then more players have to play.
This year, for instance, if you look at our centers, all of them have some deficiency in their game, so we are probably going to play them all, depending on fouls and what the opponent is doing.
If you look at the guards, we have a point guard who is not really secure with the ball, we have another who is secure but not that dynamic or athletic, we have another who is good at certain things but great at none of them, and finally, we have a guy who can shoot the lights out and score a ton, but it's questionable if he can defend at the top of the zone, and if he can develop enough of a feel as a true distributor.
Because of the holes in these kids' individual games, we are likely to see more of them all, until Boeheim figures out how the pieces best fit together.
