Sometimes the fog of war causes one to lose sight of the big picture and make mistakes based on immediate gratification rather than long-term vision. Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith made one such mistake on Saturday when he decided to burn the redshirt of forward Rokas Ulvydas.
This decision is a knee-jerk reaction to the loss of starting center Norense Odiase to a broken foot suffered in Ft. Worth on Monday night. Granted, Odiase’s injury left Texas Tech with only three post players, Matt Temple, Zach Smith and Aaron Ross.
But to burn Ulvydas’ redshirt is likely going to bring little help to this year’s team.