Anyone know what is up with these two that they did not play? Injury? Coaches decision? Shortening the bench?
Shortening the bench is my guess and I am glad to see it. Nothing against those two young guys, but once conference play rolls around I would like to see a shorter rotation.
^This right here. It’s really hard to play 11-12 guys at a high level, especially on the road. CMA always says he has 8-9 core guys, and in close games against Power 5 competition those guys will probably play the entire game. With that said, I wouldn’t worry about Bailey and Jones too much, they have a bright future. They just need to stay ready and be patient, their time will come.
If a coach is lucky enough to have 9 players that can be on the court at any given time without a big drop off in production and chemistry, that is plenty.
As far Bailey and Jones, their day is coming.
Freshmen on the road in a tight game would be my guess as to the explanation. I personally would like to have seen both get a few minutes to deal with size of Texas (Bailey at SF) and droughts in scoring (Jones). However, Texas was by far the best defensive team that we have faced since Minnesota. CMA may not believe that they were ready to face that kind of D in that environment. They probably would have played at home or if we had opened up an early lead. We won. So, it’s all good. A couple of untimely TOs from frosh could have swung the game.