Anyway, his latest column on the Basketball Championship demonstrates his unique ability to get everything exactly backwards. He complains that coaches sit players in foul trouble so that they can stay in the game:
Oden sat for the rest of the half, returning after halftime. We've been over this, but what Ohio State coach Thad Matta was doing was sitting Oden on the bench for nearly half the game -- nearly half the game! -- to try to keep him from fouling out. What happens if he fouls out? He has to sit on the bench. It's kind of like never driving your car so you don't get a flat tire, because if you get a flat tire, you can't drive your car.
Actually, it's nothing like that. The way that college basketball works, the game slows down in the final five minutes as the team that's behind fouls and runs plays to close the gap. It's tremendously important for both teams to have their best players on the floor at this time. Much more important than having them in the last five minutes of the first half.
For example, in the Tennessee game, OSU got behind by 20 at the end of the first half, and managed in the final seconds to get an old fashioned three-point play. If Oden had been in there and picked up another foul, how would that have helped?
On the other hand, by the end of the game OSU, had the one point lead and Oden made a huge block on the final play.
Matta has the exact right strategy, and I'm in favor of Oden sitting out the first half in order to confuse Florida. So there.
