re: #20 Kentucky 84 vs #4 Kansas 90 | Final

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You'd rather have your best player playing at the end of the game

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I agree but the fallacy is that you have to make that decision. Limit their playing time to 20 minutes or so and have them at the end of the game or play them the first 25-30 minutes of the game and force them to have to watch the last 10 minutes of the game. That would be a tough call. I could see sacrificing a few minutes of the player's playing time in that situation to make sure they are in the game the last 5 minutes. The problem is it's far from a certainty the player will foul out early because they get 2 early fouls. And it's probably even less of a certainty that the player won't enter the game at the beginning of the second half, immediately have three fouls and you find yourself in the exact same situation you were already in . I just think changing your game plan around one player having 2 early fouls is a bad decision. it's not THAT big of a deal IMO. If they foul out they foul out. They played 14 minutes in the first half without him. KU's already faced a self-imposed penalty for Ellis fouling out and he still only has two fouls.