Mazzulla’s injury sucks but it could be a blessing in disguise. It has thrust Truck into the starting role and started a season of trial by fire. He has struggled at times but has also shown glimpses of his extreme potential.
There has not been a game this year in which CBH has not quickly pulled Truck from the game for an out of control drive to the hoop or for being out of position on defense. I’m all for teaching the kid a lesson but making him sit in "time-out" moves our two best scorers into unfamiliar positions. This short leash has hurt our team more than it has helped us this year.
The most recent example of my disdain for this strategy is the Rutgers game. In both the first and second half Huggs pulled Truck after he allowed Rosario an easy lane to the basket. Immediately after this Rutgers goes on a run to cut our lead.
Coincidence?
When Bryant is reinserted into the game our team steadies and we make a run of our own. Huggs has a great basketball mind but I think he is wrong to keep Truck on such short leash, especially with no back-up point guard. Bryant may dribble himself into trouble at times but he is a freshman. He would learn more from being in the game and getting yelled at during timeouts and stoppages in play. Rather than, plopping him on the bench beside Billy Hahn.
Just give him a chance to make up for his mistakes on the court, rather than making him pay for his mistakes on the bench.