I wonder about this, too. I think it's meaningful to Porter and to the program to finish at .500 in conference. I also think they want the three seed. You do have five days off between Saturday and Friday, so there's plenty of time for everybody to get healthy and regroup. I have no doubt they will play to win.
Even though it certainly seems like the 4/5 game is a nice spot to be in (you get a little extra time between games, and you most likely face ISUr rather than Wichita if you win), I'm a little dubious about trying to angle into a seeding that looks beneficial. I think you have to play it out and live with the results.
If Porter looks for chances to rest Doyle, Custer, Jackson, etc that wouldn't surprise me. Maybe he also won't pull out every trick in the bag.
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