I hate sitting a player with two fouls in the 1st half
Beilein is a great coach but... why do coaches do this so often? It drives me CRAZY. You are denying yourself the services of one Manny Harris for 10 minutes in order to avoid the *possibility* of losing the services of Manny Harris later due to fouling out.
If a guy gets 4 fouls, sure take him out and save him for the last couple minutes. If he gets 3... well, I will try not to make my argument too extreme. But two??? What if he finishes the game with only 2 fouls, yet sat for 10 minutes, and the team loses by 1.
I am not making this a specific criticism of this game (although it is driving me crazy now), but on the insistence of coaches to follow this strategy. Like punting on 4th and 1 from the 34.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:05 PM ^
b/c you have stars like CJ Lee and David Merritt to make up those minutes. Also, when Sims is in trouble you can put in super stars like Gibson.
p.s. So frustrating to watch.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:11 PM ^
feel out how the player is playing and how the refs are calling stuff. if you feel like ur guy is gonna get another foul called you gotta pull him
February 15th, 2009 at 4:19 PM ^
You are afraid of something (3rd) that will lead to something (4th) that will lead to something bad (5th--and player leaving the game)... and the solution is to invoke that something bad (player leaving the game) yourself?? I don't get it.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:42 PM ^
with at least 3 fouls to give as a player. if you let a guy get that 3rd foul in the first half and he gets a 4th early in the second half now you have to sit him for the majority of the second. basically you need your guys for the second half more than you need them for the first.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:56 PM ^
agreed. you're more of a liability if you're on the floor knowing that you cannot foul. as a result you're likely to play hesitant and give up easier points on the defensive end. you might as well throw a guy in who can contribute and has fouls to give.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:21 PM ^
Why are CJ Lee, Zach Gibson, Stu Douglass, Zach Novak and Anthony Wright all on the floor at the same time?
February 15th, 2009 at 4:25 PM ^
Ok, now it's much better Manny, CJ, Merritt, Gibson, and Douglass. Seriously, we had a lead and then Beilein choose to go with two of the worst possible lineups and now we're losing.
CJ Lee and David Merritt should NEVER be on the floor at the same time.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:42 PM ^
These refs are strange. Not unfair, but calling all kinds of tiny fouls...
February 15th, 2009 at 5:15 PM ^
Because having Manny Harris available in the last 5 minutes of the game (and now overtime) is better than having him on the floor in the first half.
February 15th, 2009 at 6:25 PM ^
I have a handful of qualms with Beilein's coaching, but honestly sitting Harris with 2 fouls in the first half doesn't bother me too much. It bothers me more that the actual rule is to only allow players 5 fouls which seems ridiculous to me, but in these confines I'm OK with sitting a player with 2 fouls in the first half (though if it's a due or die playoff tournament game or something I think you have to let them play with 2 fouls).
Can someone explain to me why CJ Lee plays 30+ minutes a game when he absolutely flat our refuses to shoot the ball? I watched him live at U Conn and it seemed like he was on the floor for almost 40 minutes and I think he ended the game with like 2 points on 2 shot attempts. It's not like his stellar 1:1 assist to turnover ratio is keeping him on the floor. I'd like to see Lucas-Perry play a bit more, because he's a freshmen who could have a future with this team while Lee, a senior, clearly does not.
February 15th, 2009 at 7:07 PM ^
Whoa man, CJ Lee is actually pretty important to us. He is like a coach on the floor, and stats don't show the whole story. If you saw him live then you should have a basic idea. On defense he is a hellion. He flies all over the place and forces opposing players into bad positions. On Offense he isn't the greatest shooter, but he makes an impact. He doesn't miss the sure things (which LLP has been doing recently) and he is pretty much a net bonus.
February 15th, 2009 at 7:13 PM ^
and shooting the ball is outside of his game. If you were to really pay attention to his game... you would notice that he keeps order out on the floor. Give the froshs another year of seasoning along with the new recruits,next year...Michigan basketball will have quality depth replacing Lee,Merritt and Shep coming off the bench.
February 15th, 2009 at 7:25 PM ^
Whenever a player gets two in the first half and isn't pulled, the refs seem to feel compelled to call that third one on him. And then every two-bit reporter from every rag asks the coach, "why didn't you pull so-and-so after his second foul?"
February 15th, 2009 at 7:35 PM ^
All else being being equal, when would you rather have Manny Harris on the floor? With eight minutes to go in the first half, or two minutes to go in the second?
"You are afraid of something (3rd) that will lead to something (4th) that will lead to something bad (5th--and player leaving the game)... and the solution is to invoke that something bad (player leaving the game) yourself??"
This is pretty much nonsense considering you left out the most obvious and important part - when you foul out, you can't come back.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:50 AM ^
This assumes a player with two fouls in the 1st half is going to ultimately foul out. It might well be an odd coincidence. Manny played another 22 or so minutes and got ONE more foul. He finished a 45 minute (OT) game with 3 fouls. So, he could have easily played 5 more minutes in the first half and not have fouled out... and Michigan could have won by 6 in regulation instead of going to OT.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:07 AM ^
This assumes refs are perfect and immediately forgot about the last foul they called. If they see a guy foul somebody twice in the first few minutes, they'll think he's playing rough that day, and they'll see what they want to see. If you take him out, that sort of thinking fades.
I'm sure if John Beilein knew exactly what was going to happen at the end of the game, he would've kept Manny in, so he could get him the optimum number of fouls.