Mass Substitutions

[Hoop Fan]

with 10 minutes left, what was up with us subbing 3 cold guys into a tight game at one time? Haynes hadn't played all night and you put him in there? Yes, guys need a breather, but you can't mass substitute. Game over in about 45 seconds.

Frustrating to watch Calipari work the referees in our house. Doh should have been going ballistic on those no calls under our bucket. It doesnt matter if you are right or wrong, those are up for grabs calls and he has to look for momentum and home court advantage to pull an upset.

[papawasamustang]

I thought that very same thing. A real momentum killer.
But when has his substitution patterns made sense?
Doh leaves himself wide open every game for this type of critcism.

[bagice]

Was too tired to post after the game last night, but this was my main beef as well.

McCoy, Williams, Faye, Fall and Nykaundi brought us back to tie and even take the lead with 10 minutes to go, then bam, Haynes, Dia, and Otis come in and the game quickly gets away.

If a guy needs a blow, first see if he can gut it out till the next time out, if not, make ONE substition at a time, don't mess with the chemistry that was working.

Was a fun game till it got away, loud crowd, good enthusiam, and the Ponies were playing pretty well.

Dance with who brung ya! (back)

[therack]

i completely agree with you guys... the substitutions absolutely killed us... I remember playing the whole time before i fouled out in Memphis game my senior year... Pretty much our starting five played the whole game except for Cam coming in for me... It's definitely tough thing to do but as a Coach you can manage your timeouts to give your players some rest...

[bagice]

No one looked overly tired to me and I got more of a sense that Coach felt it was time to get some new guys in for the sake of getting them in, not because those on the floor were doing poorly or were tired.

I think he realized it to, because he got the five that brought us back all back together again with 6:42 left, but by then it was too late, Memphis had got their 10 point lead and smelled blood.

I still see that sequence in my head where SMU had just tied it at 39, Memphis missed and we got the board and Faye came down in transition with a pretty good 3 look that barely missed, just rimmed out....that could have been a real momentum changer and probably forced Memphis to a timeout as all of Moody would have exploded.

[Alaric]

No one looked overly tired to me and I got more of a sense that Coach felt it was time to get some new guys in for the sake of getting them in, not because those on the floor were doing poorly or were tired.

i had the same thought...almost panicked when I saw all those new guys. especially weird b/c doherty had done a good job sticking with a tight rotation that was working and then blew up the formula...shocking

other than that, it was the first game i've seen in person this year and you've gotta be heartened by the upgrade in athleticism and having some decent ballhandlers

[jkflamebo]

incredible how that played out. our new subs come in and memphis pulls away, just ridiculous. have to stick to your guns at that point in the game. we basically invited memphis to take the lead

[MustangIcon]

Frustrating to watch Calipari work the referees in our house. Doh should have been going ballistic on those no calls under our bucket. It doesnt matter if you are right or wrong, those are up for grabs calls and he has to look for momentum and home court advantage to pull an upset.

Could not agree more. I am tired of opposing teams getting home cooking in our house. This isn't just Memphis, it happens alot. Doherty does need to work the refs and we should start getting calls at home. Plain and simple.

[ponydawg]

I was not a fan of that sequence of subs either, not sure if I am remembering correctly, but I thought we had been stuck on 41 for several minutes and that is when he subbed Haynes in. I didn't like it but assumed he was hoping for a miracle spark.

[George S. Patton]

Oh, you can't criticize the substitution issue for fear that Icon will jump down your throat.

I brought up the same thing on another thread and Icon responded like it was hand's off issue, and I had no right to ask it.

Here's the deal Icon -- when the game is sitting right there for the taking and you bring in three players, whose track record of contributions is questionable at best, then it's a stupid move. Systematically weave other guys into the game.

That's the coaching blunder of the game. Could we have hung with them? Hard to know.

BTW, when the momentum flipped and 42-41 became 46-41, why is he not calling a timeout there? Did he want to make sure that we fell further behind to make it more difficult to come back? I guess so since it was 48-41 when he called it.

You have to sense when things are quickly turning and try and stop it. If Im watching this and can sense that, how come he can't?

[ponyup10]

It is for offense for defense. Harp and Haynes because they are defensive players, then you bring Faye and Nyakundi because they can make three-point shots, plus it doesn't matter if Harp or Haynes get into foul trouble on the intentional fouls.

[ponydawg]

when the game is sitting right there for the taking

1) The game was not there for the taking.
2) The game is never really there for the taking against Memphis.
3) The game is has yet to be took by our ponies.

[SmooBoy]

I thought this thread was about alternatives to the Eucharist.

[PoconoPony]

[quote="bagice"]No one looked overly tired to me and I got more of a sense that Coach felt it was time to get some new guys in for the sake of getting them in, not because those on the floor were doing poorly or were tired.


I disagree. McCoy looked totally fatigued right after we took the lead. He subsequently made two successive fatigue related turn overs leading to 6 quick Memphis points. The game immediately turned then got out of control as Memphis really started pressuring Williams and McCoy into mistakes and their legs were gone for their shots. Problem is that Doh does not have the bench needed to substitute particularly at the guard position. With 5 minutes left everyone was gassed based on Memphis pressure and bench depth.

[Hoop Fan]

No one looked overly tired to me and I got more of a sense that Coach felt it was time to get some new guys in for the sake of getting them in, not because those on the floor were doing poorly or were tired.


I disagree. McCoy looked totally fatigued right after we took the lead. He subsequently made two successive fatigue related turn overs leading to 6 quick Memphis points. The game immediately turned then got out of control as Memphis really started pressuring Williams and McCoy into mistakes and their legs were gone for their shots. Problem is that Doh does not have the bench needed to substitute particularly at the guard position. With 5 minutes left everyone was gassed based on Memphis pressure and bench depth.

I agree, Mccoy was the one that did look tired. Funny thing was, he was not one of the 3 guys that came out of the game. And as the Rack said, you have to use your timeouts strategically if you have a short bench. And why do we have a short bench when we spent the first 15 games of this season and all of last season playing 11 guys?