@rserina - maybe what you read in multiple threads was close to accurate. On rewatch- he certainly seemed disengaged. I wasn’t sure why, but being sick seemed a good explanation. But, perhaps not…
This seems plausible to me. I mean, if he is sick and can't perform well, then why play him? Man down, man up! OR... He slacked off and the coach decided to give him some "tough love". Methinks he, for some reason, was not into the game and so Golden decided to put in Plan B. Aberdeen is NOT Kugel. And so, he did not take up the slack. It is what it is. Get well Riley. We NEED you going down the stretch. HONEST!
Maybe he didn't respond the way coach wanted him to after being benched when he traveled. If he wasn't sick, I would still thought he played some the 2nd half.
Guys balled out. If you weren't able or willing to give 110% you sit. Good to have a bench. Aberdeen needs to slow down. Hopefully he'll mature. Watching Pullen has to help.
Will Richard played a great game. One of the reasons for that was that he wasn’t getting subbed out as often as when Kugel is in the rotation. I would rather see Aberdeen get limited minutes and not try to do to much than have Kugel getting major minutes and trying to do to much.
Hmmm..which source is correct? It is a fight to see which one is true...lol..OR both can just be true at the same time. He could not have done the things Golden wanted him to do but also be sick. Who knows..I was just passing along what I heard at the 3:54 mark on that podcast who referenced Florida Gators Basketball hour. Dont shoot the messenger my friends. Lol
I fi I figured if he were sick Golden might have said he had a tough week due to an illness and wasn't fully recovered, gave it a go, but didn't have the energy. Both could def be true, like you said. As a fan of Kugel, I choose to believe he was having flu like symptoms. I will say, I played a game in high school, not knowing I had the flu, prior to tip. By half I thought I might die and spent the next 3 days horizontal. Basketball may be the worst if you're dealing with flu, not that any are good, but your wind is just gone right away.
Actually, that's not what Golden said--which wouldn't be the first time Brockway overstated something a coach actually said in order to make a controversial point. More importantly, to be clear, we don't believe that Kugel was sick? The podcasters just made it up? Was Golden asked about it? Perhaps that's why he didn't "perform in practice/leading up to game"?
