There is a rumor that Tubby Smith has a dartboard in a back room of Williams Arena and that he throws a few before a game to determine how he's going to use his bench.
I'm guessing not ... that it only seems as if Tubby's substitution pattern is entirely random.
Somehow, the darts or the Ouija board or the tarot cards came up in favor of Oto Osenieks in a four-day period last week. He played 47 minutes in losses at Iowa and Ohio State, after playing a total of 45 minutes in 10 previous Big Ten games.
Tubby's games of chance also resulted in Mo Walker lumbering through 17 minutes at Ohio State, after being the occupant of a big hunk of bench for most of the winter.
The explanation is that both losses were blowouts, but are you accomplishing anything by using Walker for twice as many minutes as Elliott Eliason, or Osenieks for long minutes when he's a card-carrying scrubbini?
Eliason was a starter through the nonconference part of the schedule, as Trevor Mbakwe worked his way back from knee surgery. His playing time in Big Ten games was sporadic -- until Feb. 10, when Rodney Williams missed the Illinois game at Williams Arena because of a sore shoulder.
Eliason scored only four points, but he had 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 28 minutes. Watching that 57-53 loss to the Illini you saw Eliason as the least of the Gophers' problems.
"You" in this case being me, because Tubby didn't see it that way. Eliason played 10 minutes or fewer in two of the next three games.