Lot of people are making a big deal out of the exhibition loss against Fresno Pacific, so I thought I'd give my thoughts on the topic:
1. Why didn't Coach Floyd play his starters?
- Well it's obvious he didn't start the starters because he wanted to give them much needed rest. O.J. has been suffering from turf toe and has been playing near 40 minutes per game, Daniel's calves are still deeply bruised from the Oklahoma game, and Taj's ankle has been bothering him since the start of the season. All of those injuries require proper rest to fully heal. So when you have the option of resting your players for nearly two weeks or having them play a meaningless exhibition game and slow the healing process down (or possibly reaggravate the injury), you have to go with the former.
Also, Coach Floyd has stated that he wanted to evaluate our bench players in a game type setting. Players like Mamadou Diarra and Marcus Simmons can be solid contributors in the future and it was necessary to see them get meaningful minutes to decide whether they were ready to see minutes this season.
2. ...But what about the fans that paid money to see the starters?
- First off, why does anyone have any expectations going into an exhibition game against Fresno Pacific? If the starters played it would have been a blow-out and the stars would have played 20-25 minutes tops. Expectations couldn't have been that high.
Secondly, Coach Floyd wasn't hired to entertain fans, he was hired to turn the program around and win games. CF has to make the decisions that better the team's future and clearly that was to give them rest for what will be a brutal conference schedule.
3. ...Well, Coach Floyd is still classless for not playing his starters...
- How often do you see a team playing an exhibition game in the middle of a non-conference schedule? It's rare. If anything, Coach Floyd showed class in honoring the game for former interim coach Jim Saia. Again, CF was not hired to entertain NOR put favors before the well-being of the team.
Imagine if O.J. played in the game, fell awkwardly, and either sprained his ankle or, even worse, tore some ligament, everyone and their moms would be asking why Coach Floyd played his star player in a meaningless game. Can't win either way right?
