Todd Golden Press Conference 11-29-22 A few personal take always: 1) Golden is a very sharp, articulate and impressive speaker. This strikes me each time he has a press conference. 2) The Kowacie explanation is a tad disingenuous. He portrayed it as an “in retrospect” type situation in which he made a mistake and Kowacie got caught up in some rotational moves. Eh… the decision was deliberate. A starter and preseason offensive focal point doesn’t log 8-minutes over 3.5 games without that being a deliberate decision. So why? I think Golden maybe gave a tell when asked how Kowacie handled… he described him as “disappointed”, and that he handled it “relatively well”. The qualifier is interesting. Perhaps Golden wasn’t pleased with the response, and it did take on a punitive nature. 3) I really like how Golden takes accountability so directly. 4) I do not know the analytics, but I generally am not in favor of playing your center and star player with 2-first half fouls. The issue was on full display versus WVU. It takes away that players tenacity. Twice, Colin entirely backed away from a defensive effort to concede an easy basket at the rim. That is not only a liability defensively, but it also becomes hard from a player to get that aggression back. Of course, the issues were compounded when Colin got his third. And so you are putting a guy out there who will need to be cautious on defense, and is just as likely to foul on offense. I thought we held our own when buying time with a small lineup and Fudge/Felder at the 4/5. I just don’t think you can hide you center. Colin wasn’t carrying us offensively in the WVU game, and I’d have just rather he come out of the half able to play entirely free. 5) the defense is not good in the half court, either.
It sounds like he is shifting the blame to himself to take the pressure off Reeves.. Maybe it’s best left unknown.. Other than that, I really appreciate his forthrightness with the rest of it..
Amidst all this doom and gloom I'm happy to see Jit playing and producing. I expect him to see increased PT if he keeps it up.
His response about Kowacie was BS for sure, so we are left to assume he is covering for something disciplinary. Like you said, he doesn’t forget about a guy like that and not put him in the rotation for most of 4 games. And a backup PG playing well is not why he isn’t playing either. Kowacie can play the 3 or even the 4 in a pinch if you go small ball.
I like how Coach is taking the blame for Kowacie's disappearance. There's more to it, I'm sure, but he's protecting KR with that statement, and it sounds like they're both ready to move forward. Nothing more to see here.
Thanks Brent. We have all hoped to hear something and here we at least have heard something. As for playing w two fouls, I recall some posters belaboring the previous coaches decision to always bench starters w two first half fouls. Maybe that was not you, but I know some were vocal about it.
I loved when Golden criticized "auto benchers" in one of his first interviews. Benching a kid in the first half just because of two fouls makes no sense. It depends on the kid, his propensity to foul and much more.
Todd Golden provides an update on Kowacie Reeves' playing time From the article: It’s worth noting that Reeves has cleared his Instagram page of any photos and removed the Gators basketball affiliations from his profile biography.
i agree. And given “propensity to foul”, and Colin’s frequent offensive fouls… he shouldn’t have been out there. CC was not keeping us in the game, and his two fouls had him playing very tentative defensively. And, of course he picked up his third on an illegal screen. I don’t think you can hide your center in those situations… especially your star player, who teams are gonna go at.
Not me. I’ve generally argued in favor of benching w two fouls, though there are exceptions. I just think it forces the player to play hesitantly, mitigating effectiveness… while also risking a third. And a third foul than forces the same tentativeness to start the second half. All of those factors played out with CC. I generally think it is a safer move with a guard, but it’s really hard to hide your center.
I guess what really matters in this drama is whether they have reached a point of no return or can mend any differences. I hope it's the latter but I wouldn't be surprised at whatever happens.
Weird. He just made a situation stranger. so is coach known as a X and O coach or just a coach obsessed with analytics and statistics? Also - he said they didn’t have time to prepare for West Virginia because of practice time- but this is just like an ncaa tourney game, play a game and have a day off and only 1 day to prepare for the opposition. West Virginia only had 1 day also.
When I was in college, the standard practice was to let a kid play through the first half with 2 fouls. I don't know when this changed, but one day I woke up and all coaches were yanking the kids out after the 2nd foul and sitting them the rest of the half. I've always felt it was overreaction. I would rest a starter for a couple of minutes then send him or her back in. I don't want him or her to pick up a cheap foul by reacting late out of exhaustion. But a lot depends on the player and the situation. If the backup is just as good as the starter, I'd probably sit the starter the rest of the half. If it's just a couple of minutes to halftime, I'd sit the starter until the half.
if you can afford to take a kid out in the first half if he picks up his 2nd foul you do it. College basketball 2nd half is like the 4th quarter in the nba, just keep it close by halftime, and the 2nd half is a different ball game. You can't afford to lose your best player by picking up 3 stupid fouls in the first half. the other big piece is the opposing coach isn't stupid, if you leave in a key play with 2 fouls in the first half, there going to go right at that player to try to draw a 3rd foul. I just hope Golden focuses on coaching and bringing in quality SEC caliber talent vs if we are going to foul a player before half for example. (examples of his analtyics: Why does San Francisco intentionally foul at the end of the first half? - College Basketball | NBC Sports ) The dons were a 20 wins a season team before he took over and maintained the ship besides the covid year. Still sample size is small, and this season San Fran is 6-1 with a guy name Chris Gerlusfsen so maybe Chris is another analytic guru.
There have always been analytics. It's in spreadsheets now available for all who pay, not just in the coaches brain. And then there's the stuff you can't program, like when and if the stats apply to the reality of the moment. I believe that's why coaches are hired and it's not outsourced overseas to avoid buyout and hiring expenses.
Here’s a long detailed mathematical analysis of participation with two fouls that comes to a frustratingly noncommittal conclusion. CBB Analytics - College Basketball Analytics, Stats & Metrics, & Research
