B1G Tourney: Rest your starters?

Submitted by B1G_Fan on

 Given how the team played tired in the second half of the season, an early exit won't effect our seeding to dramatically do you rest your starting 5-7 and try to hit the NCAA tourney fresh? Just wondering what people thought since the regular season title is more important to most and the ncaa tourney is more important to all.

MUUM79

March 12th, 2013 at 4:47 AM ^

So lose to penn state again? Thats a great way to start an ncaa run! /s



In reality since most of our main players are freshmen and in combination of a key injury, i think we just hit that wall, and we just need to catch that second or third wind, play through it we'll come out stronger as a team. Winning the B1G can only get us a better seeding chance, never quit.

iawolve

March 12th, 2013 at 10:33 AM ^

tournaments helped or hurt your seeding (e.g. a 1 seed would keep a 1 seed regardless). I have heard that it will this year, I am not sure why that would change on a yearly basis. Alternatively, a conference tournament win seemed to help bubble teams. I would be interested to understand the exact formula used.

Gulogulo37

March 12th, 2013 at 9:30 AM ^

Ah, right. And looking at the playoffs they were the top seed and lost to the 2nd seed Oklahoma City. 

Therefore, it backfired. /s

Obviously a different deal there anyway. They had nothing to gain in terms of seeding while Michigan certainly does. Also, their players are slightly older.

Oscar

March 12th, 2013 at 12:12 PM ^

I remember UA's old coach Lute Olsen didn't really care for the Pac10 tournament and had some teams exit earlier than expected from the NCAA tournament. Not sure if he rested his starters so it may not be the same issue, but some of the best coaches ever (Bill Parcells comes to mind) preach that every game is important to build a culture of winning.

Gulogulo37

March 12th, 2013 at 5:26 AM ^

What do you mean they played tired? Anyone gets tired playing a game of basketball. Would you have thought they played tired if they had won?

I thought someone had done some analysis about how many games a team plays in a conference tourney affects their showing in the national tourney and couldn't find any reason to think that the conference tourney makes you more likely to get bounced in the big dance.

Gulogulo37

March 12th, 2013 at 1:54 PM ^

Which MSU game? Since you say we were aggressive the last few games, it looks like you mean the 1st, but that just goes back to my point about how if a team plays poorly, they must have been tired. If only Beilein had let them rest up before our losses! Surely we'd be undefeated.

Endurance over the course of a season is not at all the same thing as endurance during a single game or race, so people don't just catch a 2nd wind like that. Again, 2nd wind = winning again.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sports.png

Lutha

March 12th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ^

I really thought you were going to quote the Statue of Liberty ("your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..."), but then I realized you just have piss-poor grammar.

DoubleLegTakedown

March 12th, 2013 at 6:34 AM ^

rotate the freshman with some upperclassmen more often, if anyone needs to save their legs its these kids hitting the "freshman wall"...

jdon

March 12th, 2013 at 9:43 AM ^

After this weekend some of you are going to feel foolish for all the bad things you've said about his team.

Thursday - Beat PSU  =  Revenge part I

Friday - Smash Bucky the Badger  =  Revenge part II

Satruday - Indiana Take III  =  Revenge part III  (if Indy makes it this far. lol)

Sunday-  Either stinky ass OSU or bum ass MSU can step up and get their whoopin!

 

Jesus guys, we sound so defeated around here.  Take a step back and enjoy this weekend of ass kicking Wolverine basketball!!!

 

asstastic

March 12th, 2013 at 7:13 AM ^

You make a good point, they did look tired. Maybe we should rest the starters for the NCAA tourney too and just completely disregard all the team goals.

UMgradMSUdad

March 12th, 2013 at 7:27 AM ^

It's not an entirely crazy idea.  I wouldn't advocate having the starters sit out an entire game, but I would like to see them have fewer minutes in the BTT.  I do think fatugue at the end of the IU game was part of the reason for the missed FT's. 

OmarDontScare

March 12th, 2013 at 7:30 AM ^

No and this whole rest thing is completely overrated. If they need rest then Beilein will give them a break during practice next week.

Kemba Walker and UConn won the Big East Tourney playing 5 straight days a few years ago. Then they went out and won 6 straight to take the NCAA Championship.

funkywolve

March 12th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^

I played DIII ball and at the beginning of the season our practices ran close to 2.5 hrs long.  By the end of the season they were 1.5 - 1.75 hrs long.  At this point in the season all your offense and defensive sets are in.  You're just fine tuning your stuff, trying to stay sharp, keep your conditioning going and going over your opponents. 

ChuckieWoodson

March 12th, 2013 at 7:45 AM ^

Of the youngest teams out there and they need rest? Have to disagree with that premise. They need to make a solid run in the BTT to get some momentum for the tourney.

jmblue

March 12th, 2013 at 7:52 AM ^

Well, I don't know about that argument.  This isn't like the NBA where some guys are 35 and some are 20.  All college players are young.  If anything, being one of the youngest teams is a disadvantage because our freshmen haven't been through an entire season before. 

I would want us to rest some guys, but we can't afford to against PSU.  A loss there destroys our chance at a good seed.

Dutch Ferbert

March 12th, 2013 at 8:29 AM ^

Instead of rest, why not just tell everyone to crash the boards on every shot no matter how far they are away from the rim, fast break defense be damned? Or how about only allowing the team to take a shot when they have passed the ball 5 times to work on ball movement, like in the movie Hoosiers...and if they don't, Beilein will pull the player who shoots early and only play with 4 guys?

How about we let coach B get them ready to play their game? UM has never won the BTT (98 does not count...and I am bitter because I was at the semi final and final that year), so this team can accomplish something that has not been done before.