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Matta's Coaching Philosophy/Use of Players

All Good points...Let me just say that I do believe that Matta and staff want what is best for this team and program...They aren't out there to sabotage, and the results he has put together are a breath of fresh air, and the talent being brought in his very highly regarded...

I guess IMO that does not put him outside of criticism...I hear from players, coaches, media, etc...

I guess if I was put in a room with Matta I would fudamentally disagree with how he uses his bench. It is not only leading to dead legs at the end of the season, tired bodies at end of games, holding us back from a more uptempo team, and pressing, and in the end we have had multiple guys transfer out and IMO not because they didn't have the talent to play here, and not because the deck was stacked ahead of them...

Stats show that Matta uses his bench at a much lower rate than other teams throughout the country...and I don't just want him to turn to them in blowouts...that is what you do for walkons and guys that would be in over their heads...but my beef is playing Evan Turner 40 minutes against Libscomb? Or not using WO in the garden. If we put him in do we all of a sudden become a second rate team? We have all seen PJ, Simmons, WO, Madsen, Kec, Z go in games and do some good things...Or how about Lauderdale/Hill/Wallace a couple years ago...

And to make one last point not looking to have a 12 man rotation or anything like that...an 8-9 man rotation is just fine. But it is not good when you bring Simmons in for Buford for 5-10 minutes, Hill in sparingly 10 minutes and Madsen in for 10 minutes. That is using your bench about 30 minutes per game?

I would go like this...

Turner 33
Diebler 31
Buford 30 94
Lighty 32 126
Lauderdale 28 154
Hill 17 172
Simmons 17 190
Madsen 12 208

If Walter was here I would split his minutes some with all of wings and get hime about 10 minutes.

Obviously in game situations will dictate this some, and also foul trouble, and that opposing team.

But I think guys like Kecman and Z can help this team as well. I would find a way to work them in, especially early in the season. I really understand cutting the rotation late in the season, in important games and tourney time.

brutusbobcat said:
Anyway, it's an interesting point for discussion, though not something I am entirely sold on. Perhaps the issue is less about time on the court and more about communicating realistic expectations to players, or establishing with them what he's going to need to see from them in order to get on the court. I am also not sure if the PT complaints and transfers are really any different than what you see at other programs, keeping in mind that we are not (yet) an elite "name", like UNC, Duke, UK etc. where a player is highly motivated to stick things out due to exposure.

This is a point that also seems to be missed a little. Why was Walter so upset? Did he just leave without talking about it? I don't think so. What about PJ not playing against FSU? Did anyone see that coming? I guess what I am saying is when in a big time situation like this I understand that you might have guys that would play else where that should transfer out if they want to see the court. But guys like Wallace and Walter could of helped this program, as they developed, they would of been the 4 year type guys that are the glue within the program that is experiencing quite a bit of one and done.

As for this being different from Dook, UNC, etc...It is the 11th,12th, 13th guys at those programs. I would consider Walter the 9th guy here, Crater the 6th/7th last year, Wallace 8th/9th. It would be guys much more talented than Z/Kec but still on the end of the bench.
 
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All good points by everyone so far. I completely agree.

I would like to add as well that it is the assistant coaches responsibility to let the head coach know what the minute and foul situations are. If they are on top of the bench then coach can concentrate on how they are playing and the system/situations going on on the floor.

If our assistant coaches are more aggressive, coach Matta can be more aggressive. Of course, this is a completely moot point if this is already happening and Matta is ignoring them. (I would be terminally shocked if that were the case though.)

In the end this program is light years from where it has ever been in my lifetime and I'm ecstatic with the positive light put on our school by our guys.
 
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Matta second-guessed himself for not using his bench more but decided winning the game was paramount. The five players who started the second half -- Sullinger, Diebler, William Buford, David Lighty and Aaron Craft -- went the distance until Lighty was replaced by Thomas for the final 1:11.

Each of the five played at least 35 minutes.

"I don't know," Matta said, "I had a feel as it got tight there of staying with the veterans. And Aaron, defensively, at times was the only guy out there guarding, so we left him out there."

http://blog.dispatch.com/hoopsscoops/2010/12/postgame_iupui.shtml
 
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He went to Jared.
how has that not been farked yet?

98076351.jpg





296293.jpg


both of those are potential winners, imo...
 
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Heh the BTN was having a ball with the he went to Jared comments on the highlights. You can't really argue with Matta on his strategy cause he wins games but you do have to wonder if he was willing to risk a few more early games buy getting the bench more minutes would it of helped come Big Ten schedule and NCAA Tournament time.
 
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dragurd;1832208; said:
Heh the BTN was having a ball with the he went to Jared comments on the highlights. You can't really argue with Matta on his strategy cause he wins games but you do have to wonder if he was willing to risk a few more early games buy getting the bench more minutes would it of helped come Big Ten schedule and NCAA Tournament time.
Another problem with not getting some of the bench guys more minutes, is some of the bench guys are potential studs, who know, or at least think they could be stars. Some of these type guys don't tend to stick around, if they aren't seeing some court time here. I'm sure not complaining about the results, but I wonder if that isn't a bit of what Matta was concerned about after the IUPUI game, knowing that some of the guys on the bench are vital for next years squad, and he has to balance winning games with having them happy and improving for next year. It's a tough spot, but I think by Matta's comments after the game, he is working on it.

Still a great time to be a member of Buckeye Nation.
 
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Thad wasn't happy with the defensive effort in the first half ..so he delivered a message..you can yell and beg players to do things..but sometimes playing time is the only weapon a coach has. Make a statement now and maybe it will payoff later.
 
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Onebuckfan;1832253; said:
Thad wasn't happy with the defensive effort in the first half ..so he delivered a message..you can yell and beg players to do things..but sometimes playing time is the only weapon a coach has. Make a statement now and maybe it will payoff later.
Beat me to it Onebuck, I was about to edit my post to add this. I think a couple of the frosh, who saw extremely limited (or no) time in the second half, have been concentrating on the offensive end more than what the coaching staff likes. If this group of frosh is to turn out the way we fans, and the coaches want them, they need to defend first, and worry about offense later. I would think that practices the last couple of days have reinforced this.
 
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BuckTwenty;1833363; said:
It's about time.

We'll need depth (i.e. more than a 6 man rotation) once we get into league play. Get your boys some minutes, Thad.
It's actually about 6.5 because Craft plays around 25-30 minutes and Thomas, most of the time gets close to 10 if not more. You really can't count Smith getting any quality minutes for a while due to the fact he missed almost all of the early practice and JD is probably not ready for prime time. Sibert is the unknown but Matta does see him in practice and he certainly knows more than any of us. I really don't understand why we are complaining about playing time. Matta can't win. We play our bench enough and we win or we don't play our bench enough and we win. What do we want:huh:

All I know is that I watched his team ready for the Big Ten season and beyond and I really don't care who plays because the coach sees them in practice and certainly knows more about who is ready to play and who isn't.
 
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