Gophers' Tubby Smith: If Trevor Mbakwe keeps fouling, he keeps sitting

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per Marcus:

The University of Minnesota coach said he would have no choice but to make Mbakwe watch the rest of the first half from the bench if he gets two quick fouls for the third straight game. The first two times, the Gophers fell by 21 vs. Purdue and 12 vs. Illinois while he sat. They eventually lost the games.

"Once he gets his first and second foul, he's winding down defensively," Smith said. "So that's a real problem for us because now the opposing team will throw it inside on him."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22826763/gophers-tubby-smith-if-trevor-mbakwe-keeps-fouling

Go Gophers!!
 


So start Elliot! Bring Trevor in after 5 or 6 minutes unless Elliot needs to go sooner. We were at our best with Trevor coming off of the bench period.
 


Ah the ole rope a dope. Make UCLA think you'll sit Trevor regardless when you really ... Oh wait, that's the real game plan? Crap.
 




I mean, if there are 5 minutes left in the half, go ahead and bench him. The extra rest could help in the second half. But autobench for the half is idiotic.

Pull him until the next break? sure, just to make sure he is aware of the situation. maybe try to do some offense for defense subs as much as possible. Digging massive holes because two starters that don't actually foul much picked up a couple early just doesn't make sense. That isn't coaching, it is following a coaching instruction manual.
 

Atl Gopher said:
So start Elliot! Bring Trevor in after 5 or 6 minutes unless Elliot needs to go sooner. We were at our best with Trevor coming off of the bench period.
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I agree. Our winning percentage when EE starts the past 2 years is very good. Try to get Rodney off right away, then stick The Beast on them.
 



Benching Trevor with two fouls is fine. Not executing in bounds plays and recruiting guys who can't dribble and shoot is not. His strategy worked fine against Illinois. Trevor and Austin played the whole second half and we had the game won. Just rebound once before they get a fourth extra shot or excute a play to get the ball in and have a should win.He is far from the only coach to sit guys with two and it's just something for secong guessing fans and media to obsess on. Start Elliot? How was our record in Big Ten games he started? If benching guys with two fouls is a fireable offense and your main problem with Tubby you are missing the whole point. There are many other good reasons why you might want him gone.
 

I think sitting him with two fouls in the first half is he right decision. If he would have left him in and he would have picked up his third foul against Illinois, the game would have been over. They were in position to win but couldn't hold on down the stretch.
 

The reason they couldn't hold on down the stretch is because they had a 5 point lead and not a 14 or 20 point lead like they would have if the starters had played more.
 

ethomasp31 said:
I think sitting him with two fouls in the first half is he right decision. If he would have left him in and he would have picked up his third foul against Illinois, the game would have been over. They were in position to win but couldn't hold on down the stretch.
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It is generally good strategy to sit a guy who fouls twice in the first half. Key word-generally. It is bad coaching to have no ability to adapt away from general rules. This is strategy is not why Tubby should be fired, it is this stubborn streak that limits his overall ability to adapt to anything at all that makes him so fire-able. By the way, it is his defense and the lack of sound principals that constantly puts the team in the situation where we have guys with two fouls early. We have been terrific at blocking shots- partly because we have good athletes, but also because we let people drive to the hole all day long and feed them to our bigs.
 



STrib: Minnesota must beat enemy within on Friday

“You can’t be intimidated,” senior forward Rodney Williams said. “You go out there intimidated, you’re probably going to lose most of the time. So we just have to go out there and play our game and just worry about us. In my opinion, we’re the only ones that can beat us.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/199079271.html

Go Gophers!!
 

From the Barn said:
The reason they couldn't hold on down the stretch is because they had a 5 point lead and not a 14 or 20 point lead like they would have if the starters had played more.
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And you know that 14,20 point lead how? Let's see Trevor picks up his third at the 10 minute mark and then a fourth in the first minute of the secong half.
 

What made him bad coach is that he doesn't have enough guys who shoot the ball well. He only had one who could make a shot the last 6 weeks of the regular season.
 


bga1 said:
It is generally good strategy to sit a guy who fouls twice in the first half. Key word-generally. It is bad coaching to have no ability to adapt away from general rules. This is strategy is not why Tubby should be fired, it is this stubborn streak that limits his overall ability to adapt to anything at all that makes him so fire-able. By the way, it is his defense and the lack of sound principals that constantly puts the team in the situation where we have guys with two fouls early. We have been terrific at blocking shots- partly because we have good athletes, but also because we let people drive to the hole all day long and feed them to our bigs.
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This is grasping at straws a little bit. At least against Illinois in the BTT, Austin's fouls were both dumb reach-ins away from the basket, Trevor's were an over the back and a charge. The foul trouble didn't at all result from trying to help out / recover from poor defensive position
 

Can someone explain why it is so important to make sure a player doesn't foul out? How much different is it taking a guy out of the game for 14 minutes of the first half vs. having them foul out with 14 minutes left in the game. Either way they sat on the bench for 14 minutes.

Some might argue that the last five minutes are more important. I take issue with that, but let's assume that's true. How much more important is the end of the game? Is it so important that you can't risk having a player get a third foul for even one minute in the first half?

With this team, you have to roll the dice. You've got to try to have your top 6 players on the floor for as many minutes as possible. The bench simply doesn't cut it for long stretches. If a guy fouls out, well, cross that bridge when you come to it, but to assume it's going to happen makes no sense.
 

Didn't he just second guess himself the other day about sitting Trevor and Austin after 2 fouls? I'd rather have Trevor play as many minutes as possible and take the chance of fouling out near the end than spend 15 minutes of the first half on the bench. We've shown the ability to make games interesting after being down a lot but I don't think we've actually won any of those.
 

If he gets 2 fouls early he needs to come out of the game. With about 8/9 minutes (depending how subs are playing) he should come back in. Barring a 3rd foul, he should play until the after 4 minute tv timeout. That keeps him in the flow, and gives you an extra 5 minutes or so from him if he doesn't pick up #3. That's what I would do.
 

The charge was bogus. The defender was moving and was not set. There was not much that Trevor could do and that is the danger of leaving him in with 2 fouls. He knows he can't pick up a third and so does the other team.

If Tubby does not sit him and he fouls out when we need him the most, then this board lights up with how dumb Tubby is for leaving him in.
 

Atl Gopher said:
The charge was bogus. The defender was moving and was not set. There was not much that Trevor could do and that is the danger of leaving him in with 2 fouls. He knows he can't pick up a third and so does the other team.

If Tubby does not sit him and he fouls out when we need him the most, then this board lights up with how dumb Tubby is for leaving him in.
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When everybody hates the coach, any decision he makes will be attacked. Yes, lots of coaching moves should be questioned.. this is way down the list. Perhaps Trevor can get some heat for picking up dumb fouls??
 

Rouser said:
When everybody hates the coach, any decision he makes will be attacked. Yes, lots of coaching moves should be questioned.. this is way down the list. Perhaps Trevor can get some heat for picking up dumb fouls??
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The coach applies the heat by impressing it upon the player. I think that's his attempt here prior to the game, but his public call outs have rarely worked.
 

Rouser said:
When everybody hates the coach, any decision he makes will be attacked. Yes, lots of coaching moves should be questioned.. this is way down the list. Perhaps Trevor can get some heat for picking up dumb fouls??
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Its not about hate, its about winning and losing. If he loses, there is obviously a reason he lost, and we will look to identify what decisions led to that loss. If he wins, we will get over any disagreements we had with decisions made during the game.
 

Blackhammer said:
And you know that 14,20 point lead how? Let's see Trevor picks up his third at the 10 minute mark and then a fourth in the first minute of the secong half.
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He had 1 foul in the second half and Austin didn't foul again. Illinois was 9th in the B1G in drawing fouls. They weren't going to be in foul trouble. Basic scouting should have told Tubby that.
 

From the Barn said:
He had 1 foul in the second half and Austin didn't foul again. Illinois was 9th in the B1G in drawing fouls. They weren't going to be in foul trouble. Basic scouting should have told Tubby that.
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I thought the charge against mbakwe was a really bad call and the body call Austin had gotten at the half court line was also a weak call. However I still didnt disagree with those guys on the bench, at the time, no one knew Austin and Trevor would play without fouling in the second half. I would rather go into the 2nd knowing those 2 guys have 3 fouls to give rather than 2. It allows them to play more aggressive. My problem was Andre on the bench for so long in the first
 

Bottom line is the key players need to be smart enough to realize what a negative impact it has on the team when they take stupid fouls -- the reach ins, bumping someone 40 feet from the basket, etc. These are the kind that get Andre, Austin and Trevor in trouble all the time. We can't afford to have them out of the game. Maybe Tubby realizes that they can't be trusted to be smart. But with no other options, I think you have to at least play them sparingly when they get in foul trouble and hope they can give you some productive minutes, keeping the game within reach.

That being said, who will pick up their 2nd dumb foul within the first 7 minutes?
 

It is a very strange place to draw a line in the sand and it shows how stubborn and insecure he is. An odd statement. Why even bring it up?
 

How does a bad charging call on a good move show that Trevor wasn't ready?

For the folks arguing that starting the second half with under 3 fouls allows players to play more aggressively, what does taking a guy out for the half do to a guy's aggressiveness? Will they be going all out if they have one foul and know they'll be yanked for the half if they pick up a 2nd?

Coaching requires understanding your personnel, making adjustments and occasionally thinking outside of the box. Nuance. Tubby is severely lacking in these categories, which has been a big factor in the team's slide this year. Putting the proper team in the floor at 10 times more important than his crappy inbounds plays.
 

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