The philosophy of sitting a guy with 2 fouls for the remainder of the first half is something I want to get into more later, but consider this fact from tonight's game:
Fox sat Mann down early in the first half because he hit his two foul threshold. Then he held him out of much of the second half. Why? Let him explain:Charles Mann is Georgia’s leading scorer, but he sat for a big chunk of the second half despite only having two fouls.“Coaches decision. I don’t know,” he said.
Fox wanted Mann loose and in rhythm, so he sat him down?Fox said the decision was a combination of Mann’s play and that of his backup, freshman J.J. Frazier. The 5-10 freshman once again provided a spark when he entered in the first half, after Mann picked up his second foul. Mann started the second half, but was yanked early after missing a 3-pointer, and stayed out for an extended period.“Charles, we’ve had to ride him hard,” Fox said. “And just trying to get him back started into rhythm, get him loose, get his mind right, I think it was about both of them.”
Frazier played very well, and he has proven himself as a very capable backup. I am excited about his future at Georgia. However, today, Charles Mann and Kenny Gaines are the Bulldogs' two best players. This game was the definition of a must-win, yet Fox decided it was a good time to teach Charles a lesson.
Teach him a lesson tomorrow in practice. If you can't get his mind right during the game, you're not doing your job as a coach. That's as much a Mark Fox problem as it is a Charles Mann problem.
h/t Seth Emerson
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