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Sometimes fans get some notions in their heads that just don't make any sense under examination. One of these is the sarcasm frequently expressed by those who are certain that Coach Boeheim does irrationally give his son, Buddy, an unjustified amount of minutes in games cuz he loves him or something. It's an assumption that I think fails the Logic Test.
One thing every long-standing SU Basketball fan must know about Jim Boeheim is that he wants to win games more than life itself. He very rarely likes to take chances. Doesn't like to defy the odds. When it comes to which of his players he puts on the court, when the game is at all in doubt he's not likely to take a chance on his bench, unless 1 or more of his starters ain't getting it done. Yes, there are other variables that come into play: the experience of his 7th-9th players, how they've been playing in practice, how many mistakes they made the last time they were in, etc.
It seems many fans view the coach/son story as an excuse to harangue JB for not playing a deeper bench. I don't happen to be one of them. I believe Boeheim, Coach K, & a dozen other highly respected head coaches are right to play no more than 7-8 players in their regular rotation. It's not because they're oblivious to how helpful the extra minutes of PT would be to the 8th, 9th, and 10th players. It's because they'e acutely aware of how helpful those minutes are to the starting 5, and then the starting 7. Smart coaches don't want to deprive their best players of the crucial PT they need in order to develop as a team, just to give the guys further down the bench a few more token minutes.
Any time Jim has a young team, like he did last year, he's gonna be far more concerned about his starters getting the time they need playing together in games in a very short season if they are going to be able to be competitive with the best teams at the end of the year. He's got to have his best five players optimally developed in game situations to have any chance in the post-season. Any time you have a young team, there will always be precious few minutes left over for those on the bench, unless 1) the 1st five are destroying all their opponents in spite of their inexperience, or 2) injuries or 'performance issues' force his hand.
Last year, Buddy & Joe played nearly all the available minutes because Jim desperately needed his starting, inexperienced guards to have as much playing time with the rest of the team as possible in game situations if they were gonna have a chance to play at a level where, say, they'd be able to blow out North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Aside from that strategic consideration, there was the fact that Buddy was in the 2nd half of the season providing a serious threat to opposing defenses that they had to respect. These days, you've gotta have at least three 3pt threats in your offense to be able to compete with the best teams in the league. There was almost never a time when Jim didn't want to have that threat on the court if at all possible.
Having said all that, I expect both JG & BB to play fewer minutes this year, cuz 1) they have year of experience under their belts, and 2) Kadary Richmond. I haven't heard whether KR can hit the open 3, but I'm imagining he must be doing this also, or else he wouldn't be referred to as one of the best PG's in the country. If true, then there would be little drop off of that kind of threat if Buddy's on the bench.
While there were abundant reasons for JB to play his son a ton of minutes last year, still we have fans who never miss an opportunity to insinuate that the head coach has such a strong emotional attachment to his son that he would ignore the best interests of the team in order to 'cheat', i.e., give Buddy more time on the court to boost his stats when that PT could have more profitably have been given to say BG, instead. In other words, they're insinuating that JB has a character flaw that, in their opinion, is probably hurting his team's overall development. Am I the only one who finds these insinuations intentionally insulting to JB & out of bounds?
One thing every long-standing SU Basketball fan must know about Jim Boeheim is that he wants to win games more than life itself. He very rarely likes to take chances. Doesn't like to defy the odds. When it comes to which of his players he puts on the court, when the game is at all in doubt he's not likely to take a chance on his bench, unless 1 or more of his starters ain't getting it done. Yes, there are other variables that come into play: the experience of his 7th-9th players, how they've been playing in practice, how many mistakes they made the last time they were in, etc.
It seems many fans view the coach/son story as an excuse to harangue JB for not playing a deeper bench. I don't happen to be one of them. I believe Boeheim, Coach K, & a dozen other highly respected head coaches are right to play no more than 7-8 players in their regular rotation. It's not because they're oblivious to how helpful the extra minutes of PT would be to the 8th, 9th, and 10th players. It's because they'e acutely aware of how helpful those minutes are to the starting 5, and then the starting 7. Smart coaches don't want to deprive their best players of the crucial PT they need in order to develop as a team, just to give the guys further down the bench a few more token minutes.
Any time Jim has a young team, like he did last year, he's gonna be far more concerned about his starters getting the time they need playing together in games in a very short season if they are going to be able to be competitive with the best teams at the end of the year. He's got to have his best five players optimally developed in game situations to have any chance in the post-season. Any time you have a young team, there will always be precious few minutes left over for those on the bench, unless 1) the 1st five are destroying all their opponents in spite of their inexperience, or 2) injuries or 'performance issues' force his hand.
Last year, Buddy & Joe played nearly all the available minutes because Jim desperately needed his starting, inexperienced guards to have as much playing time with the rest of the team as possible in game situations if they were gonna have a chance to play at a level where, say, they'd be able to blow out North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Aside from that strategic consideration, there was the fact that Buddy was in the 2nd half of the season providing a serious threat to opposing defenses that they had to respect. These days, you've gotta have at least three 3pt threats in your offense to be able to compete with the best teams in the league. There was almost never a time when Jim didn't want to have that threat on the court if at all possible.
Having said all that, I expect both JG & BB to play fewer minutes this year, cuz 1) they have year of experience under their belts, and 2) Kadary Richmond. I haven't heard whether KR can hit the open 3, but I'm imagining he must be doing this also, or else he wouldn't be referred to as one of the best PG's in the country. If true, then there would be little drop off of that kind of threat if Buddy's on the bench.
While there were abundant reasons for JB to play his son a ton of minutes last year, still we have fans who never miss an opportunity to insinuate that the head coach has such a strong emotional attachment to his son that he would ignore the best interests of the team in order to 'cheat', i.e., give Buddy more time on the court to boost his stats when that PT could have more profitably have been given to say BG, instead. In other words, they're insinuating that JB has a character flaw that, in their opinion, is probably hurting his team's overall development. Am I the only one who finds these insinuations intentionally insulting to JB & out of bounds?