Things got a little weird last night during the post-game Wake Forest interview. Members of the media had requested to speak to Devin Thomas, who once again had a big outing. Dan Collins of the Winston-Salem Journal Journal had this exchange with coach Danny Manning a couple minutes in to his interview:
Collins: "How did you see the double-team working, and I was wanted to ask Devin about it, but apparently he's not available to talk."
Manning: "No. He's not available."
Collins: "Why is that."
Manning: "Because I told him I didn't want him to come out."
Things stayed relatively calm until this exchange when Collins asked about Codi Miller-McIntyre's playing time. Miller-McIntyre sat through a couple long stretches of game, and finished playing just 28 minutes.
Collins: "Codi was out the last four-and-a-half minutes of the first half and a long six-minute stretch in the second. Is there any reason for that? Is he hurt?"
Manning: "I didn't play him."
Collins: "Why?"
Manning: "I'm the coach."
Collins: "Why didn't you play him as the coach?"
Manning: "Because I thought other players were playing better at that time. It's my prerogative to play who I want that's going to help us in certain stretches where guys aren't helping us be successful. We're going to use our rotation. It doesn't matter if you're a starter. It doesn't matter is you're a sub. That's how it is."
Collins was pretty upset after the press conference and departed without his usual pleasantries. For the record, Dan has been really good to me so far since I've been in town and I consider him a friend.
That being said, the exchanges were interesting, to say the least. Things were a bit testy. From Manning's perspective, I can certainly see holding Devin out from media availability for any number of reason. That's his choice. Devin is made available nearly all the time, and at other schools I've covered the players available after the game were seemed largely randomly chosen.
I also think the question about Codi's playing time was a fair one and one that I even had asked to me on Twitter.
Collins: "How did you see the double-team working, and I was wanted to ask Devin about it, but apparently he's not available to talk."
Manning: "No. He's not available."
Collins: "Why is that."
Manning: "Because I told him I didn't want him to come out."
Things stayed relatively calm until this exchange when Collins asked about Codi Miller-McIntyre's playing time. Miller-McIntyre sat through a couple long stretches of game, and finished playing just 28 minutes.
Collins: "Codi was out the last four-and-a-half minutes of the first half and a long six-minute stretch in the second. Is there any reason for that? Is he hurt?"
Manning: "I didn't play him."
Collins: "Why?"
Manning: "I'm the coach."
Collins: "Why didn't you play him as the coach?"
Manning: "Because I thought other players were playing better at that time. It's my prerogative to play who I want that's going to help us in certain stretches where guys aren't helping us be successful. We're going to use our rotation. It doesn't matter if you're a starter. It doesn't matter is you're a sub. That's how it is."
Collins was pretty upset after the press conference and departed without his usual pleasantries. For the record, Dan has been really good to me so far since I've been in town and I consider him a friend.
That being said, the exchanges were interesting, to say the least. Things were a bit testy. From Manning's perspective, I can certainly see holding Devin out from media availability for any number of reason. That's his choice. Devin is made available nearly all the time, and at other schools I've covered the players available after the game were seemed largely randomly chosen.
I also think the question about Codi's playing time was a fair one and one that I even had asked to me on Twitter.
