Ever since the SC game, Mick Cronin has been dismissing the importance of a conference tournament. With all the travel involved, he has stressed that it is the NCAA tournament that matters and most important leading up to it is rest and recovery for his players so they will be at peak shape for the real tournament.
Yesterday was really a depressing outcome. As a fan, seems to me that if you step out on the court for one of 30 or so times a year, you ought to make the effort and play to win. But Cronin's team didn't do that yesterday. They made an early effort, saw that their opponent was fighting hard and then defaulted to going through the motions. Nor did their HC seem all that upset after the game. He did go to his most aggressive players to start the second half but he also sat most of his first stringers much of the game.
Wonder how much the players picked up on their HC's disdain for the extra travel and the mostly meaningless conference tournament and pretty much mailed that one in.They have been so inconsistent all season and their short comings are so apparent, yesterday certainly put a capper on my expectations. And where they are seeded - looking like a six or seven seed - they are gong to face a quite good opponent by the second game of next weekend. So even if this question - and it is ONLY a question on my part - makes much difference in terms of my expectations for the end of the season.
But the question does linger - resting your starters and just letting this one go?