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Message: [QUOTE="Henny & Coke, post: 1239823, member: 323"] See, now I think people may be getting too literal, trying to find an exact real-life situation where this may have hurt the team. But that's not necessarily my point. My point is that when you involve more players throughout the season, you allow your team more opportunities - for a random player to "get hot" shooting, to guard against your stars fouling out of important games, etc. For example - Michigan's 2012-13 basketball team. Look at the talent they have at the guard position: Trey Burke (SO) - National POY candidate & 9th overall pick in 2013 NBA draft Tim Hardaway Jr (JR) - 24th pick in 2013 NBA draft Nik Stauskas (FR) - 8th overall pick in 2014 NBA draft Chris LeVert (FR) - Currently a pretty good player for Michigan. And then you have 5-11, 175 lbs Spike Albrecht (FR). There's no way that, given the talent level of the crop of guards you see above, that JB would have given little Spike Albrecht any run at all in that 2012-13 season, right? Well, it's a good thing Coach Beilein did. Spike averaged 8.1 mpg that year, with very minimal impact, only averaging 2.2 ppg. BUT - you bet your sweet ass that Coach Beilein was glad that he had Spike available during the NCAA Tournament that year, because he (now famously) had the hot shooting touch during the NCAA Championship game against Louisville to go: 28 mins, 6-9 FG (667%) including 4-5 3pt (800%) for 17 points AND, would we have lost to Michigan in the Final Four without Spike's contributions that day: 4 mins, 2-2 FG (1000%) including 2-2 3pt (1000%) for 6 points Now, if Spike doesn't get minutes during the season, does he even play during those huge games? Let alone play well? Some may call Michigan "lucky" for benefiting from such a random performance from a FR reserve player...but I'm found of the saying "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." Coach Beilein was prepared for those moments by having Spike play during season, and the opportunity arouse. [/QUOTE]

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