All Backups final basketball game
Has there ever been a time that a college team wraps up the season and rests the starters for the final game?
I just wonder what goes into the coaching thoughts on this.
Especially since there is concern about playing games so close together and playing the same team twice in a row?
Is it a bad idea because it kills the teams/players confidence?
Be nice, I just want to hear some discussion points on this topic.
Bad idea because the game is against StAEE
yeah no. Although a CJ Baird Breslin Back of the Net three would be welcome this Sunday.
Nah - kill them again with our best
Yup. I still remember Izzo drawing up an alley oop at Breslin when up by 50. Put a stake in their NCAA hopes. In their crib. No letting up.
Beating staee might keep them out of the tourney . Dont give them any chance whatsoever, pound them Sunday !
Their next game after that isn’t until Friday, right? An 8-day layoff might not be helpful.
That makes sense. I didnt look up when they play for BTT
Hey, 22 days didn't hurt them. We've got Juwan.
I remember all the hand wringing a few years ago when the BTT was held a week early so they could play at Madison Square Garden. People were so worried that having more than a week off between games would hurt us in the NCAA tournament.
Now we are talking about voluntarily taking more than a week off before the BTT to improve our chances.
I'm in favor of bringing the subs in earlier if it's another blowout, otherwise let the players stick to a schedule they're used to generally and were expecting in this case.
Maybe? I hope they don't. If they beat State again then maybe State stays home rather than playing the NCAA Tourney. That's my hope
If they beat us they would be 9-11, which, looking at standings.......probably still keeps them in the 8/9 slot for the conference tourney. That means they play us.......again. I am not seeing us losing both games with a performance even 85% of what we saw tonight. Ending the NCAA tourney run should be motivation enough for the players who endured 2019 when they lost 3 straight times to them. That was bad.
I believe they're already locked in to the 8/9 game.
If indiana beats purdue and we beat them again, they can drop to the 10
They have to win that 8-9 game before they play us - far from a given.
It’s an interesting question. I think that would be a bad idea. Keep the machine going. Go Blue.
Why quit? You play to win the game!
No I think you do regular prep to keep them on schedule and not take them out of routine. Scared of injuries but can’t live life fearing the worst. Would be equally special to rip the hearts out of the Spartans.
You play to win the game.
Interesting thought. I cannot see wasting a lot of energy for the last game but there is some recovery time to immediately follow.
Also, I recall that in many years there appears to be strong team in the NCAA that appears to have mailed in their conference tournament to prepare for the big dance. A more professional take might be to rotate heavily and work on things is more important than actually winning the conference tournament.
Get this shit out of here.
If we beat MSU, their chances of making the tourney go way down. That's worth playing your starters 40 minutes if need be.
I’m sure the committee would recognize a win against all subs tho.
(I doubled up)
Doubt it... you still play for the integrity of the game.
That said, i'd be happy to see the young kids like Terrence, Jace and Zeb get some real minutes with the starters, adding them to the rotation throughout the game rather than bunching them at the end...
That can change based on the flow of the game, but those kids will be the future of the team; it would be good to get them in during real game time.
YES (in agreement with rob f)
Nah. Start the walk-ons, let State build a ten point lead... then put the starters back in and beat 'em by 20.
Go full Big Brother
You play to win the game.
Negative, Houston. Carry on.
Hell to the no. Boot to the fucking neck...let go.
If I were the HC it would receive very serious consideration. That group has played flat-out atrociously. Give them them this chance to redeem themselves-or not. No reason to expose the starters to the goons. The starters did fine coming off a 20+ day break with limited practice time. Give Johns, Davis and Brown 25-30 minutes.
The core 8 need more games to get their mojo back after Illinois. See them build on this, and win another by 15+ and get ready for the two tournaments.
To hell with that.
Theres plenty of guys on this team who lost three straight games to MSU within the span of 2-3 weeks only two short years ago. I hope they get the chance to avenge that.
I'd be all for this. I think being well rested for the NCAA tournament (we have a 1 seed locked up) is more important than the desire to keep State out. I hate Sparty as much as the next person, but I'm an even bigger fan of Michigan. Michigan will have played 5 games in 11 days before the BTT and NCAA tourney, and they've looked it.. They have looked tired and exhausted the last couple of games.... Keep the eye on the prize -- have fresh enough legs to take it to the end of the NCAA tournanment.
They looked tired and exhausted tonight? I guess they should have been winning by 40 before the starters came out.
I trust Juwan to make the right decision, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t do it. Do your best to win every game. Don’t get out of the rhythm.
But part of me thinks, what an insult it would be to Sparty.
I want MSU to come with their best punch but lose by double digits at home. Then I want them to blow out Rutgers in the BTT and get their hopes up to lose a third time to us. That will give the seniors a 6-4 career record vs MSU
I just want to see Jace Howard dunk over Steven Izzo
I’m a grown man, long past sports deco in my bedroom. But I would hang that poster for sure! Lol
(Too many memories of watching Sparty kill us in crisler where the fans were 90% green amd louder than our band. The hatred still burns....)
We're still playing for a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Every game matters.
Not a good idea because:
- We have to keep our players sharp. Don't overplay them, but don't give them the night off either.
- The last game is against our basketball rival.
- Winning that game keeps alive the possibility that our rival misses the tournament.
No. If they can keep MSU out of the tournament do it.
No Mercy
I wouldn't sit dudes out, NFL style, but I wouldn't play the starters very much. The best thing for this team is to get their legs ready for the post-season. The game Sunday is essentially meaningless except for immature feelingsball. There is nothing to be gained from winning it and nothing to be lost by dropping it. I'm not saying we let them win by any means, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing your post-season goals to do...what, exactly?
I would rather the starters play and MSU loses again. There is still a scenario that Michigan doesn't face MSU on Friday next week and I would prefer we don't play them a 3rd time. It is very difficult to beat a team three times.
You put little brother in the NIT when you can.
Staee doesn’t match up well with us.
I guess Howard said this in post game press conference. Agree 100%!!
Juwan Howard stops himself from swearing when asked about Sunday potentially not mattering: "Sunday does matter. Michigan State is going to be ready to compete. Our goal is to be the last team standing in the first week of April. We're working towards that."
I think it's a bit of both, you don't just want to totally mail in the game, but anyone carrying any kind of knock shouldn't be played and I'd rotate the starters out early/give them far less time than they would normally get...Wouldn't sit them totally after their first shift, but basically two short shifts for the starters at the beginning of each half followed by the 2nd tier and the guys who never play getting longer minutes....but we all have faith in Juwan at this point, however he wants to play it is probably the best call....
Dont worry the backups will get plenty of PT in the 2nd half,when Michigan is up 30
Absolutely not. They are healthy young men that play basketball all the time. When not with their team they play pick up games. This is what they do. Not worried at all about them being tired.