Juwan is so relaxed at the press conference. Someone effectively asked if “auto-bench/robo-bench” was a first half philosophy of his and he denied it, referring to the last play of 1st half in AppState game where he substituted X back in. He discussed Bball IQ and trust of the players as a basis for whether 2 fouls means “done for the half”. I know this group will track closely to see if that’s coach-speak or a real practice during upcoming games and I personally look forward to the banter. Juwan also got excited when asked about the 2-big lineup, responding with “I love it”. Stay tuned!
Was that music playing in the background during the interview?
I’ll preface this by saying I probably shouldn’t hit “reply” on this comment as I’ll likely get skewered by those who love to complain about “Autobenching.” And Bmbeach, this really isn’t about you, I’m just jumping on, and agreeing with your comment about Juwan effectively answering the “autobench” question.
You know I get so tired of this term that many on here love to use, “autobench.” As a coach I used to sit the player when he picked up his second foul in the first half or his third foul in the second half. Sometimes they remained on the bench. Sometimes they didn’t. Those decisions depended on several factors. Sitting initially may have been automatic, but what happened after that was certainly not automatic. Juwan was masterful in his answer. It’s not a hard and fast rule but rather depends on many factors. Juwan delineated many of those factors.
One more that I would add, in addition to the trust the coach has in the player, is trust in the officials. Let’s face it, some officials are better than others. As a coach I always had to be cognizant of the fact that a poor official might be more prone to blowing a call involving my player, and therefore screwing that player and my team. There are so many factors that play into coaching decisions, and when to sit a player and when to put him back into the game IS a coaching decision. But then, we do love to sit in our living room and “coach” the team through our TV, don’t we, and complain about those decisions. Juwan answered the question extremely well. I thought he was relaxed, calm, and maintained a great demeanor with the press. I thought they were quite good today, too.
Yes. Yes it was.
Juwan, happily, seems oblivious.
Michigan opens at -4.5 for tomorrow night.
I believe it was the players out on the court while practicing.
I’m not touching that line with a ten foot pole. I don’t like it. Almost seems like Vegas is luring the average joe in to take Michigan.
Honestly if Michigan wins tomorrow I’m going to be very impressed. With only three guys in the rotation use to playing big minutes a real deal challenge this early has me very uneasy. If they had two more cupcakes to warm up with I’d be very confident in the win.
Hopefully the 2018 kids settle in and step up right away. It will be tough beating creighton even with home court advantage if johns , colin, David, and Nunez are spectators or liabilities.
I’m really looking for Brandon to step up and force his will on people. I saw lots of EYBL film where he dominates inside and out against elite comp. He really can be a matchup problem and a nightmare. No reason he can’t make the jump to 8-10 a night on average.