Doug Gottlieb refused to play Green Bay’s star guard during a blowout loss to Cleveland State on Saturday. He kept Anthony Roy on the bench for disciplinary reasons but failed to explain what happened or why.
The 48-year-old first-year head coach and national radio tried to clarify the mysterious absence but it was a rather self-centered statement and did not clear anything up.
Roy currently leads the entire nation in scoring with 28 points per game. However, he and Gottlieb have some kind of underlying, undisclosed beef that prevented the latter from playing the former.
UPDATE: Anthony Roy issued the following apology.
— Anthony Roy (@tnblefty) December 8, 2024
The Phoenix scored just 24 points during the first half of its loss to the Vikings. It lost by 22. Foster Wonders and Mac Wrecke led the team in scoring with only 10 points.
Meanwhile, Roy sat on the bench throughout the entire 40 minutes. Never once did he see the floor.
Gottlieb made a cryptic comment about his star player last week that served as something of a threat.
He’s either gonna do it my way or he’s gonna play less or less. I know if I play him enough minutes he’ll probably lead the country in scoring but I’m not gonna let him if he’s gonna play like a jerk, if he’s not gonna do what we want him to do. Again it’s not all him, I’m not putting it all on Anthony, but I’ve seen this enough.
— Doug Gottlieb
Not only did Roy play less, he did not play at all. Green Bay got smacked at home without the top scorer in college basketball. Gottlieb stands by his decision.
I owe it to the guys to play the guys that do what we ask them to do. Period. There’s things that transpire that I don’t find appropriate to play today and I made the personal decision to not play Anthony Roy.
I know how I want to do it, and too many times in my life, and probably too many times in the last six months, I’ve acquiesced based upon this, based upon that. It’s not just in this situation. And you know you wake up and you’re like, “What am I doing?”
— Doug Gottlieb
Even if the head coach is standing on principle, it is logical to assume that the 2-8 Phoenix would’ve had a better chance at victory against another sub-.500 team if its best player was on the floor. Right?
Gottlieb is happy to lie in the bed he made, even as the losses continue to pile up. He offered an interesting analogy to explain how he is running his program.
You only get one shot at this thing. Do it the right way. It’s like if you build a house — that’s what we’re doing, we’re building a house. And if you go like, “Wow, you know, the foundation, well we can save money here, we save money there.”
You get one chance at a dream home. It’s my dream home. I’m building it. I’m going to spend the extra time and extra expense and do it the right way.
— Doug Gottlieb
It should be noted Green Bay went 18-14 last season so it’s not like this was a total rebuild. Plus, winning typically provides a bigger boost to a program’s overall success than losing.
And yet, Anthony Roy remains out of the lineup for undisclosed reasons while the Phoenix continue to lose. All this because Doug Gottlieb wants to build his dream home….