Is 8 or 10+ basketball player rotations more successful for the one and done D-1 college basketball season?

I have been criticized, dumped on, dissed, name called, etc.on MBR (Maine Basketball Report) because I have posted that D-1 college teams should use just 8 players in their rotations when many other’s on MBR think that I am old, out-of-date basketball wise and am an arm chair no nothing about D-1 college basketball. Well I admit to being old only.

The reason I feel this way is because when in the D-1 college game there are media timeouts at the 16-12-8-4 minute marks of each 20 minute half. So the longest a player(s) can play without a 2 minute rest is 4 minutes.

Add in the each team has 5 timeouts (lose 1 30 second TO in first have if a team doesn’t use it) so add the 10 team timeouts to the 8 media timeouts you have 18 time outs that can stops play and the players on the court can rest.

My critics argue that the D-1 college game is so fast, so demanding, so hard physically that the players need the rest so that is why teams should use at least 10 players in the rotation.

When good players or even average players know that they are not going to get substantial playing minutes they have a great tendency to take themselves to the game instead of letting the game come to them as smart high IQ players do even if they are not getting many minutes. Players try to “make hay when the sunshine” so that is why they take themselves to the game by making quick low basketball IQ decisions when they have the ball as they look shot first and pass second.

By forcing the action they increase their chances of turnovers, bad shot selection and player control fouls (I like to call them player-out-of-control foul because that is what the player is out of control when he charges into  defender with the ball in his possession).

In D-1 college I would have the two best players each get 35 minutes, the next two players get 30 minutes each and the other starter gets 25 minutes. The first three subs 15 minutes each for the 200 minutes per game. That is, of course, unless a player is in foul trouble or is injured them that would reduce his/her minutes and increase the minutes of the subs.

In high school I would have no more than a 7 player rotation. 2 best players 30 minutes each, next two better players 25 minutes each, the 5th starter 20 minutes and the 2 subs 15 minutes each if no foul trouble or injuries. There are 160 playing minutes compared to the 200 in college. The total playing minutes for a high school game is 5 positions times 32 for 160 minuted and for college it is 5 times 40 for 200 minutes.

Many times D-1 college coaches play 10 or more players in their non conference games to decide who are the 8 players they are going to use when it comes the one and done time of tournament action.

If coaches are doing this then they have to start the  player rotation at the beginning of the conference schedule to seed the teams for the conference tournament that decides which team in the conference gets the automatic bid so that they don’t have to wait to see if they get st large bids to the 68 D-1 March Madness’s “Big Dance”.

For my critics who  say that players can’t perform at the level they need to because you will wear them out in games how about reducing the time these 8 rotated players are on the court during practice times. I would rather have my better players on the court in games and getting their rest from easier and lighter minutes in practices.

To my constant younger MBR critics all I can say watch how the rotations should shrink to 8 player rotations when it comes to the one and done season for the teams that want to be the most successful as they advance thru the “Big Dance”. The best 2 players should be on the court for at least 35 minutes and the remaining time will be divided up between the other 3 starters and the 3 subs in the rotation.

All I know that when I was in college if we were in close games I never came off the court and there were many games that I played the entire 40 minutes plus overtime minutes if the games went there.

Here is what I am talking about in comparison to 10 players plus rotations or 8 player rotations. Let’s look at the successful UMaine women’s rotation of 8 players in double figure playing minutes who are 8-7 overall and 6-7 in D-1 games and the men’s team that uses a 10 plus rotation of players in double figures who are currently 4-13 overall and 2-13 in D-1 games.

The women’s SOS (strength of schedule) is 33rd out of 349 teams and the men’s SOS is 301 out of 351 teams.

The women’s RPI standing is 85 out of 349 teams, the men’s RPI is 326 of 351 teams.

The America East Women’s conference SOS is 29th of 32 conferences and the Men’s is 32 out of 32 conferences.

The RPI rankings and S)S rankings for both the teams and their conferences are taken from realtimerpi.com at 11:19pm on Saturday, January 6th and they change every 5 minutes

I would say that the women’s team 8 player rotation is one of the reasons they are better than the men’s team. as they play in a tougher conference and are ranked much higher in SOS and RPI.

My critics will tell you that the women’s game is not as fast, nor as quick, or as hard or as physical and demanding as the men’s game is.

Isn’t that kind of thinking sexist, anti title 9, anti-women, or anti women’s D-1 college basketball?

The women have the following players in their 8 person rotation and minutes played in double figures and the men have the following 12 players in their 10 plus rotation of players with double figure minutes

Womens Team…………Mens Team

Player…..minutes………Player……Minutes
..
MILLAN…….32.9………CALIXE….31.0

Sutton…….29.1………Bryant*…25.7

Brosseau…..28.2………Fleming…25.1

Wadling…….24.5……..Er……..21.4

Saar…………22.8……White…..19.8

Rossignol….22.1………Ilija…..18.8

Johnson……13.7………Dusan M…17.9

Carrol………..10.8…..Araujo….17.5

……………………..Lowndes…16.8

……………………..Evans…..15.1

……………………..Antoms….12.1

……………………..Ashley….11.8

Total minutes 183.5…………….187.4

out of 200 minutes for each team

*Bryant now currently out with an injury

These player minute stats include today’s games against Binghamton so they are right up to date as of today.

Remember my critics tell me on MBR that I am all wet and completely wrong about the 8 player rotation vs. the 10 plus player  rotation.

I’ll let you the readers decide for yourselves who is correct, my critics or me.

Until the 2 “Big dances” we will have to wait to see who is really correct. If I am wrong then I will gladly admit it. But right now I will go along with the comparison stats of the two UMaine basketball teams as too me “figures don’t lie, but my critics can figure”.

I think my critics all must think that the men’s D-1 college teams must own SUBway as they want all those Subs to play.