The NBA is obviously a lot different (teams have more regular substitution patterns), but I recently listened to discussion of the Caveliers' decision to start Love over. T. Thompson. I thought the analysts made a good point that Thompson (a dirty work and defensive specialist) had more value in the starting lineup where he could be used to neutralize the top front court scorer from other teams, and his offensive deficiencies could be minimized as he was surrounded by numerous offensive threats. Coming off the bench and playing against other teams' 2nd units, his strength (defensive stopper) would be less valuable, and his weakness (ability to create offense) would be more glaring.
Could this same argument be used to start Wagner? Does this type of thinking even translate to the college game?