For some teams, conference tournaments are a golden opportunity to steal an NCAA Tournament birth. Those teams know they must go all-out to win regardless of how that might impact their players in a week's time. However, other teams that have already sewn up an NCAA Tournament bid must carefully weigh depleting all of their energy to win their conference tournament against playing it safe to remain fresh for the Big Dance. That second scenario is what Texas Tech faces this week in Kansas City.
Many Red Raider fans are curious about how the Red Raiders will approach the Big 12 Tournament given that there isn't much for Tech to play for. Sure, by winning it all in Kansas City, Tech could move up to a No. 2 seed in next week's NCAA Tournament, but even if the Red Raiders are one-and-done this week, they will likely still be a No. 3 seed. Of course, there isn't a huge difference in being a No. 2 seed vs. a No. 3 seed, so that reward might not be worth selling out for.
On the other hand, some people believe that if a trophy is being handed out, teams should do whatever they can to win it. But how does Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland feel? He shared his thoughts earlier this week when speaking to the local media.
"At this point, I can't see a scenario where resting guys and not trying to play this thing at full strength to win is part of it," McCasland said. "I mean, I don't have any other way to look at it. I do think to win and to play our best, we need to rotate earlier in the tournament, and that just gives you the best chance to win the first game, which I think is the only game that matters at this point.
In other words, McCasland is committed to trying to win the Big 12 Tournament this week. He doesn't see a scenario in which he will rest players or hold them out to have them fresh for next week.
Rather, McCasland's plan seems to be to utilize his rotation as much as possible to keep his players fresh during each game. That's something he's said he hasn't done a great job of at times this season.
"I've seen over the last games, specifically against Arizona State, and then again against Colorado," he said, "when we can go to our bench, and we can rely on more guys, I do think we play better defensively and that's been a big part of our success, is not just, we know we have the right talent offensively, it's about getting the right shots. But how effective can we be at competing defensively? So I would say the biggest advantage to maybe playing more guys, and I wouldn't say 'resting', I would say, involving more, is just so our defensive effort is what it needs to be."
This plan might not seem all that revolutionary given that Tech has only eight players to rely on in the regular rotation anyway. Thus, it won't be as if McCasland can give too many of his heavy-minute players too much extra rest during games. Still, it appears that he is conscious of the unique nature of the Big 12 Tournament, the only event of the season that will potentially require the Red Raiders to play three games in three days.
Of course, last season, McCasland went into the Big 12 Tournament with his team already short-handed given that starting center Warren Washington did not play in the event due to a foot injury. Then, in Tech's first game in KC, a win over BYU, Darrion Williams was injured forcing him to miss the semifinal loss to Houston.
Even though the Red Raiders have seen Williams limited by an ankle sprain in recent weeks, Tech still enters this year's conference tournament in a much better place when it comes to its health. Thus, McCasland seems intent on trying to deploy his team in a way that will lead to as many wins this week as possible. Of course, being a typical coach, his mindset is focused on playing defense and just taking care of the next game on the schedule.
"Going into this tournament," he said, "my mindset is 'How do we play our roster to be great defensively and keep fresh guys out there?' And however that plays out over the course of the tournament, it won't be affected [by] whether we're trying to rest people for the NCAA Tournament."
Time will tell how this strategy plays out. But it seems that McCasland is of the mindset to play to win this week, even if there isn't too much on the line for his team.