- Joined
- Nov 3, 2011
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- 5,873
This has been an issue since Coker. Coaches without feel for decision-making don't know how to make player personnel decisions under pressure, so they resort to 'whoever practiced better.' It's not that that's irrational - it's a logical thing to resort to if you don't have any other instincts or information. But good coaches need to see past that, to have a feel for who makes plays in games. It's really a more general point because we've been seeing the consequences of this mindset for ages. Practice matters but ultimately, playmaking in games matters most. A coach has to have a feel for his players and guts to make decisions.
I wonder if some of the whole "he practiced better" philosophy stems from an overreactive terror of entitled players. We've heard/seen for years that we have players who think they deserve playing time based on their star ranking or offer sheet or where they went to school or just a failure to recruit better players at their position. I think there's a blanket effort to sqaush that attitude in the name of "culture." Problem is, playing time should really be case by case, but I suspect coaches are too afraid to open the can of worms of "sure player X is a practice warrior, but player Y is just better." At least not until we actually recruit quality depth at every position.