Duncan Robinson talks about his Final Four run and benching at UM
Pretty good listen the first 15 minutes of his latest podcast. He talks about getting benched for Livers and learning from that, as well as the run to the final four in 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKV7Hral4XY
He wasn’t really benched, in the sense that he lost his job. He still played a ton and usually finished games. Without looking it up I’d bet he got more minutes than Livers despite being his “backup.”
You just defined what being benched is. There are degrees of benching, but when you are starting and then your coach decides on someone else, that is indeed being benched.
I looked it up: Robinson played 25.8 minutes per game while the nominal starter, Livers, played 15.1.
This wasn't the coach being upset with him and nailing him to the bench. He was functionally on the first string. It was just an odd Beilein quirk that Livers played at the beginning.
Beilein changed up the mojo and Duncan played better coming off the bench when the flow of the game and was on and matchups could be assessed.
I never disputed MPG. I've played basketball. I've been benched as a starter while still playing more minutes than the guy I got benched for. Your giving the language negative attributes that simply aren't there. As I said, there are degrees of benching.
Man, the whole section where he talks about him being confident in the UCLA game followed by the Curb Your Enthusiasm bit really stung when it came up.
That being said, it's cool hearing Duncan's perspective, especially since it was for a freshman with him being a senior used to starting. He's a professional through and through.
The whole sacrifice talk about how it's "easy until it's you" is such a key statement IMO, since I think that's something that really set apart Chaundee this year. He easily could have demanded to be a starter since he was a centerpiece at Wake Forest, but him coming off the bench and being such a sparkplug allowed him to best help the team. I also think it was part of what helped him mesh with the rest of the squad so easily.
Fun to listen too. Thanks.
Like the story about In and Out burgers and a free bar, checking out LA on a sunday night wearing Michigan gear...