Just watching the UT men's basketball team this year it's obvious that Pearl only plays 7-8 players with any significant PT, with 5 or 6 players playing most of the minutes. Of course this year the team has been short of players from the start due to suspensions, transfers, etc. and there hasn't been any other options.
It's my contention that a team can actually be too deep with talented players and a good example I think has been some of Pat Head Summitt's teams in the past. Also North Carolina under Dean Smith suffered the same problem (I think the Stackhouse group in particular) not to mention some of Joe B. Hall's team's at Kentucky. IMO to get the right chemistry the starters have to play most of the game with role players coming off the bench. High school All-Americans have a tough time sitting on the bench.
I thought lack of dept might hurt us this year but it has been a blessing. Fortunately we haven't had any significant injuries so far (knock on wood).
It's my contention that a team can actually be too deep with talented players and a good example I think has been some of Pat Head Summitt's teams in the past. Also North Carolina under Dean Smith suffered the same problem (I think the Stackhouse group in particular) not to mention some of Joe B. Hall's team's at Kentucky. IMO to get the right chemistry the starters have to play most of the game with role players coming off the bench. High school All-Americans have a tough time sitting on the bench.
I thought lack of dept might hurt us this year but it has been a blessing. Fortunately we haven't had any significant injuries so far (knock on wood).
