A Word About Subs, Or Lack Thereof

I realize basketball is a physical game. There's plenty of running, jumping, banging, and as Jimmy Dykes loves to remind us, "violent cuts", throughout 40 minutes of play.

Guys can get hurt anytime. At practice. In warm-ups (that one's happened many times, look it up). In off-season pickup games. You never know. There's just as much risk in the first two minutes of the game as there is in the last two minutes of a game.

I jammed a finger way back in 7th or 8th grade that I would swear to you is still not quite 100%. It just happens. You play enough ball, you will get hurt. Twisted knees, busted lips, rolled ankles are all part of playing hoops. Somewhere along the line-- hopefully not severely-- you will get hurt.

None of this excuses Coach Cal for having so little faith in his subs that he can't pull a couple of starters with a 20 point lead and oh, about two minutes remaining on the clock. That's absolutely on him.

You cannot tell me that Alabama was going to hit--what?-- six or seven 3-pointers in two minutes, while Kentucky--what?--either turned the ball over or didn't hit a single free throw during that entire span of time. I'm not buying it. That game was over. No disrespect to Alabama and their capabilities, but it was over.

All Kentucky really had to do was maintain just a little bit of possession, without completely and utterly imploding, for seriously...we're talking about just two minutes here.

Alabama was playing hard. Of course. Crazy comebacks do happen in the college game. But if you don't have enough faith to toss Vargas, Hood, hell probably even Polson and Poole (he is still on the team, isn't he? just checking...) for TWO MINUTES with a 20 point lead...then please explain to me why any of them is on the roster.

If you like, then forget the three games in three days aspect of it. I personally think it should be a big consideration if you really want to beat Florida. Jeez, if I were coaching, I think I'd probably be looking to steal a few minutes anywhere possible to keep the starters as fresh as I could for the final. But seriously, set that aside...just the amount of of that lead, with the amount of time remaining in the game...come on.

And then to try and put it off on the opponent, like "Well, they were still pressing, they were still playing hard" (not an exact quote). It's insulting. It is to me, anyway.

Kentucky has surely at least had Jon Hood and Eloy Vargas together on the floor for two minutes at a time-- I'm not going to be able to verify this, and wouldn't know where to look to find it anyway-- but I'm sure we've seen that combination in a game this season where UK was clinging to a lead, or perhaps even trailing in a contest-- where the situation was truly still competitive. And you can't do that with a huge lead late in the game?

Like every other Big Blue fan, I hope DeAndre and Doron both heal quickly. I hope those young, strong ankles bounce right back to 100%. And soon. The only point I'm trying to make is that the time and score against Alabama absolutely called for some substitutions. Period.

If not to reward and rest your starters, then at least for the sake of the subs themselves...we're not talking about 8 or 10 minutes here. Those subs practice every day too. They are Division I players, supposedly well-regarded. They've done all the conditioning and weight lifting and running too. They've got fans and family in Atlanta and watching on TV as well. There are no guarantees. But maybe you do that, and maybe nobody gets hurt.

End of rant.

Go Cats.