Throughout a painful 1-15 march through the Big 12 last season, Jeff Bzdelik would often turn his head away from the action on the court and glance down the bench in search of some help.
And then, more times than not, he would leave starters Cory Higgins, Dwight Thorne, Austin Dufault and Nate Tomlinson out there to fend for themselves against deeper and more experienced conference foes.
It was a much different story for associate head coach Steve McClain, who ran the bench during the opener as Bzdelik attended to a family emergency, on Friday night as seven Buffs played 18 or more minutes in an 88-72 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
"It`s nice to have a bench that you have confidence in," McClain said. "It`s easy as a coach when you turn around and you feel good about who you`re grabbing and sending in there. I think all of our new guys had some bright spots and some things they have to do better. And I thought all of our veteran guys did some good things. There`s no question as our young kids continue to develop that`s going to make us better."
The more balanced Buffs (1-0) -- who had nine players score (five in double figures) and all 12 healthy bodies take the warm-ups off to check in against Arkansas-Pine Bluff -- return to action tonight against Coppin State at the Coors Events Center (7 p.m., FSN).
Read on...
============
My hope going into this season that was that we would be deeper and that would reverse our fortunes in a lot of those close game we lost in the last 4 minutes last season. Maybe. Just maybe we'll break through this year.
Roll call for tonight:
I'll be there.
And then, more times than not, he would leave starters Cory Higgins, Dwight Thorne, Austin Dufault and Nate Tomlinson out there to fend for themselves against deeper and more experienced conference foes.
It was a much different story for associate head coach Steve McClain, who ran the bench during the opener as Bzdelik attended to a family emergency, on Friday night as seven Buffs played 18 or more minutes in an 88-72 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
"It`s nice to have a bench that you have confidence in," McClain said. "It`s easy as a coach when you turn around and you feel good about who you`re grabbing and sending in there. I think all of our new guys had some bright spots and some things they have to do better. And I thought all of our veteran guys did some good things. There`s no question as our young kids continue to develop that`s going to make us better."
The more balanced Buffs (1-0) -- who had nine players score (five in double figures) and all 12 healthy bodies take the warm-ups off to check in against Arkansas-Pine Bluff -- return to action tonight against Coppin State at the Coors Events Center (7 p.m., FSN).
Read on...
============
My hope going into this season that was that we would be deeper and that would reverse our fortunes in a lot of those close game we lost in the last 4 minutes last season. Maybe. Just maybe we'll break through this year.
Roll call for tonight:
I'll be there.