Alternatively, by not trusting him early and often, Hubert arguably left JWit unable to develop into someone he could trust more.
Hubert has let RJ play through his shooting slump. I don't fault him for that - even though it doesn't seem to have paid off. But he hasn't let EC play through his immaturity, and he doesn't seem to have given JWit or Cade the chance to develop into trustworthy starters.
Those are on Hubert, imo.
I don't view Withers' current hot streak as "development." He's playing well. Withers came into this season playing over 100 games and starting over 60 games. I don't know how much more development he was going to have by playing more early.
Also, Hubert did trust him early. His low in minutes played up until Alabama was 19 minutes. He played a lot. Then Hubert made the lineup change and obviously Withers' minutes fell.
I don't get the argument he hasn't let Cadeau play through his immaturity. He freaking starts Cadeau, then Cadeau picks up 2 fouls early. And Hubert believes in the auto-bench with 2 fouls. That's a coaching strategy we can debate because modern analytics say it's generally the wrong decision to auto-bench with 2 fouls. But Cadeau knows he's going to the bench with 2 fouls. Here's an idea... Don't pick up your second foul early in the 1H!
And if you think Cade can develop into a starter caliber player, then we disagree on his talent level.
Saying all of this now IMO is an awful lot of playing the results. If this team plays like this against Duke or whichever top 3 seed is in their ACC bracket, then I'll be more open to the argument. For now, Withers is playing really well and that's great. Hopefully that continues against another team UNC should beat and beat somewhat comfortably. Then hopefully that continues against the real teams that will be playing for something in March.
