What about the bench?

[Piglet]

Are you happy with the bench development this year?  I am a little disappointed.  During the early part of the season, I thought the bench would be really strong by the end of the year.  I don't know what happened, but they seemed to disappear once we got into conference play.

Of course Gafford came on strong and took over the starting job.  Hall has been improving and contributing in spots in a starting role.  Thompson has continued his solid play once he went back to the bench, but the ones who I thought would surface didn't make a move.  I haven't researched it, but I assume everyone still got the playing time and opportunity to improve.  Anderson has always been big on sharing the minutes with the bench and limiting the minutes of the starters.

Why they haven't developed is a mystery, and it is a big concern of mine.  One of the basic philosophies of Anderson's style is to use the bench to wear down the other teams in games and keep the starters legs fresh for the end of the season.  Trey has done a good job of spelling Daniel, but it feels like Barford and Macon have been playing a lot of extra minutes just to keep us in games.

The season is not over and we are entering the stretch where the bench play usually shows up.  Maybe my concerns will go away.  I hope so.