No it was def a mistake to stop platooning and anyone who disagrees is nuts. I said over and over on here when we stopped that it took away the main advantage we had over everyone and that it was a terrible mistake and would cost us the title. JPScott will back me up on this, as me and him were HUGE proponents in not abandoning the platoon as soon as it started. We both thought it would cost us a national championship and sadly we were right.
Yeah, unfortunately it was entirely predictable. Watching Cal continue to move away from set substitution patterns in favor of yanking players sporadically near the end of the season, and the resulting drop in team efficiency was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
Despite that, UK was still able to beat all comers until they ran into a team like Wisconsin. Unfortunately by then UK's strength (which was its depth) was forfeited and thus a short-handed Wisconsin team was in a much better position to hang with UK and in fact to control the pace of the game.
To me, I'm generally in favor of using your depth if it's available. It takes very unique circumstances to be able to platoon, so it's very rarely done, but if you have the opportunity & your team is unselfish enough to do it, you'd be a fool not to utilize it IMO because to me it's the most efficient way to utilize your team's energy on the court while putting maximum pressure on your opponent.
As for this year, it's a moot point anyway until Jermarl Baker returns and assuming he can play up to the standards of the others. Even then I don't know that this team has the right skill sets and equality in talent levels to play platoons, but they might.
Even if they don't, I still am in favor of using a deep bench if you have it, and I beleive this team does.
