Posted by cburton23 on 2/20/2011 10:19:00 AM (view original):
I still don't understand major portions of this game. a 9 player rotation doesn't seem crazy, and shouldn't make you have to use slow down, but if the 9 you use are significantly better than the opposing 12 why does that still mean you stink? I'm not saying my VT team is loaded by any means, but we should have a better record than we do. I set up a weaker than usual schedule with this worst case scenario in mind of 3 WOs yet it doesn't seem to matter, playing full teams I can't get a win.
There is no problem playing a 9-man rotation, and you don't have to play slowdown to do so. And the W/L is not about playing full teams -- it's not like your opponents are running you into the ground by using 12-man rotations. A few thoughts:
-You have a young team (only one senior).
-You are very weak inside. You're starting a pair of sophs who are no better than mediocre with only one backup, who is not an ACC player at this point in his career. Neither is your freshman sf.
-You're not having problems with fatigue, or leading in the first half but getting blown out in the second, so again, that eliminates the contention that the result is because you're playing with nine guys and that's somehow killing you.
-You're relying too heavily on a guard who's solid but certainly not spectacular. His ppg is good but he's not scoring efficiently.
-You're losing on the road.
So basically, I see a team that has some good (mostly young) talent at guard, is young overall and very weak inside. I would expect your team to struggle this season, particularly on the road, and I think it has almost nothing to do with playing nine players.