Seth Davis on depth

[CycloneNick]

The most overrated facet in college basketball is depth. I actually prefer teams that play six or seven guys to the ones who play 10 or 11. Players are in good enough shape to play 30-plus minutes a game, especially with long television timeouts. I also think it's better for chemistry to have a short bench. Depth helps a team overcome injuries and foul trouble, but fatigue is a non-issue.

Read more: Crime and punishment at Memphis and Minnesota; plus more notes - Seth Davis - SI.com

[clone52]

The most overrated facet in college basketball is depth. I actually prefer teams that play six or seven guys to the ones who play 10 or 11. Players are in good enough shape to play 30-plus minutes a game, especially with long television timeouts. I also think it's better for chemistry to have a short bench. Depth helps a team overcome injuries and foul trouble, but fatigue is a non-issue.

Read more: Crime and punishment at Memphis and Minnesota; plus more notes - Seth Davis - SI.com

Fatigue isn't a big deal on a per game basis, but for some players, especially underclassmen, it builds up. Lose those legs late in the season.

For Iowa State, we've already seen where depth could help. JVB's foul trouble and Scott's injury.

[brokenloginagain]

Fatigue isn't a big deal on a per game basis, but for some players, especially underclassmen, it builds up. Lose those legs late in the season.

For Iowa State, we've already seen where depth could help. JVB's foul trouble and Scott's injury.

which is exactly what seth said.

[yCy]

From page 2 of the article:

I am usually not a proponent of hiring as your coach an ex-player who has never coached (especially in college). But you have to give props to Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg for a real good start. Hoiberg's Cyclones got the biggest win of his young career when they knocked off Baylor at home by 15 points over the weekend. That improved ISU to 14-4 (1-2 Big 12). To answer your questions: Yes, I am sticking by my pick for Baylor to beat Kansas tonight. And no, I am not feeling nearly as confident about it.

[RandomFan]

Exhibit A would be our Elite 8 team. Hawkins and Shirley were pretty much the only bench players who played significant minutes.

[Cydkar]

I'm not a proponent of playing a 9 man rotation but I am a proponent of having 9 players that can actually contribute. We don't have that and I will bet money that a future game will be lost because of it.

[Wesley]

Given how many ranked teams lost last week, I expected there to be a lot of shake-up on my ballot, but every time I tried to move a team down I kept stumbling onto other teams who also lost. So I figured this was a good time to step back from the week-to-week results and sort this out according to my eye test. That makes this exercise even more subjective than it usually is.
The big mover this week was Texas A&M. In fact, I thought so highly of the Aggies that I also bumped Missouri up three spots just for taking A&M into overtime in College Station. If I was going to rank Mizzou 13th, I figured I also had to move Colorado into my Top 25. The Buffaloes' 3-0 start in the Big 12 (14-4 overall) includes a win over Missouri in Boulder on Jan. 8.

[Doc]

Exhibit A would be our Elite 8 team. Hawkins and Shirley were pretty much the only bench players who played significant minutes.

Exhibit B would would be our last NCAA tournament team. Stinson, Blalock, and Homan played almost all the time. We really had a six man rotation with Clark, Staple, and Carr with John Neal seeing limited minutes.

[Doc]

Fatigue isn't a big deal on a per game basis, but for some players, especially underclassmen, it builds up. Lose those legs late in the season.

For Iowa State, we've already seen where depth could help. JVB's foul trouble and Scott's injury.

The buildup is due more to the practice than the 30 games they play. The teams with less depth can't practice as hard as others.

[bawbie]

As was mentioned above, the biggest problem with lacking depth is that a good season can turn really bad in a hurry with just one or two key injuries.

I agree that a 7 man rotation (1 bench guard and 1 bench big) is probably best, with an 8th getting 5-10 minutes a game.

[CYcoFan]

I'm not a proponent of playing a 9 man rotation but I am a proponent of having 9 players that can actually contribute. We don't have that and I will bet money that a future game will be lost because of it.

Forget future games. Neb was a game that was lost cause JVB was in Foul Trouble and Scotty clearly wasnt healthy.

[jbhtexas]

The teams with less depth can't practice as hard as others.

Exactly. CFH mentioned this very thing today in his press conference. ISU can't risk hard practices, even though CFH would like to run some hard practices, because they can't risk an injury to a starter during practice. Backups for the starters are few and far between. In other words, ISU can't prepare as they should because they lack depth.

Depth is not overrated. Sorry Seth...

[Cydkar]

Forget future games. Neb was a game that was lost cause JVB was in Foul Trouble and Scotty clearly wasnt healthy.

I figured that we all remembered that.

[shagcarpetjesus]

The buildup is due more to the practice than the 30 games they play. The teams with less depth can't practice as hard as others.

Exactly. And thankfully we have a coach who realizes this & has backed off on the practice intensity to help our guys make it through the season. I'd argue that Eustachy's last tournament team ran out of gas late in the season because of little depth & the cumulative effect of practicing too hard. That team had nothing left in the tank at the end of the year as evidenced by the early exit against Baylor in the Big 12 tourney and then the loss to Hampton.

[d4nim4l]

Forget future games. Neb was a game that was lost cause JVB was in Foul Trouble and Scotty clearly wasnt healthy.

Don't forget Garrett getting into foul trouble as well. We suffer when he is not in the game.