By Nick Gray

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Platooning is more often associated with professional baseball franchises than it is with college basketball programs.

UK head coach John Calipari is changing that tune with his own version of the platoon system.

A two-platoon system consists of a coach substituting two five-man groups in and out of the game instead of the single-substitution system that coaches have regularly employed.

Calipari has hinted of using the two-platoon system on a consistent basis, even though he said “it’s never been done where the players have benefited.” UK returns seven players who played at least six minutes a game last season and contributed to a run to the National Championship game, along with four recruits from the No. 2 recruiting class in the country.

Attention was drawn to the system after UK executed the two-platoon system exclusively in its 5-1 trip to the Bahamas.

The two-platoon system has been employed in games before, though not as consistently as Calipari may use it. The most common instances recently have sprouted up with North Carolina head coach Roy Williams and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Williams has been known to use the platoon system to motivate his players during a game in which his team has struggled.

A noted moment was on Jan. 13, 2010, when No. 13 North Carolina fell behind to Clemson by 20 early in the second half. With his starting five in the game, Williams sent five freshmen into the game.

Williams told the Associated Press after the game that he had “to do everything” to try and motivate his players to play better.

The Tar Heels promptly lost nine of 11 games and did not make the NCAA Tournament a year after they won the national championship.

Krzyzewski used the system last season in a home win against Virginia after the Blue Devils lost second-half leads to Notre Dame and Clemson. He told Brett Friedlander of the Wilmington Star News that the platoon system helped the Blue Devils stay fresh, but that it was not a strategy he would use later in the season.

As the season continued, Krzyzewski substituted more frequently, but without using the two-platoon system with exclusivity.

Two coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame have used it rarely as a tool. Calipari wants to use it to win games.