My previous post to you, just above, was meant in fun, so please take it that way.
That being said, I can't answer some of your questions. Should Evans have played in the UCF game? Is 75% of Evans better than 100% of his replacement? I don't know the answers to those questions.
As far as the safety of the player, I can only guess that the doctors told he, his family and the coaches that his chance of making the injury worse was either minimal or non-existent, at least from a structural perspective. That's just a guess on my part. I can't imagine Rhoades would risk a player's health for a game. Look at how careful he's been with all of the injuries to Ace, Watkins, and others. He doesn't seem like a coach who pushes players back onto the court before they're ready and the doctors clear it.
Well aware it was a joke. However I was kinda being serious… and here’s why.
Evans had an injury history dating back to Rice am I correct? If so, Mike Rhodes should’ve already been used to having to groom your back up to be ready to step in at any moment in the event it happens again.
So fast forward to VCU, you have the whole season and for the most part Evans was healthy all year…. But what happens, freak injury happens and it’s next man up time.
Knowing Evans injury history better than just about anyone else, Mike should’ve always had a plan and had someone ready to lead the team and or fill in for Evans in the event he went down….. which he did.
And sure you can say Crowfield, Jenkins, Byrd, Simms, or whoever else we had that coulda ran the PG might’ve been a “step down” as you call it from Evans…. But maybe the team woulda responded/played better had they been ready incase the situation arose which it did.
Now you look at the Baldwin situation… he misses the first 8 games in OOC last year. Now the difference is that the team had all offseason to prepare and get Nunn ready to fill the void as a freshman until Ace returned. And despite the 2 bad losses to Wagner & Chatt… you could argue Nunn did a heck of a job stepping up to replace Ace those games.
Meanwhile we also had all offseason to get people ready to fill in for Jamir & Jarrens absences last year.
Now fast forward to this year, Ace is hurt again, Jarren is out for the season. Mike should have made sure the team as a whole, not just Nunn, was ready incase another injury arises…. And then during the Kennesaw State game something happened with Jamir…. No idea to what extent tho.
My point is…. As a coach you have to have all your players ready at all times for whatever the situation calls for. Injuries, suspensions, absences or otherwise can happen at anytime.
If I’m a coach at any level… I’m not just coaching my stars to lead the team and play at a high level…. I’m coaching every single player that way. So if one player goes down… someone else can step up and fill their void with the team missing as few of beats as possible. I don’t care if you’re the MVP, or the Walk on.
I’m not gonna waste a players scholarship by not preparing him for the moment in case his number is called for in the midst of adversity to have him go out there and not be ready… and then have all these internet warriors bashing him as a player for the lights being too bright for him or bashing me as a coach for not having the guy ready in case his number was called.
I laughed so hard at what you typed in the first two paragraphs that I almost spit my water onto my computer. Now, are you actually serious with those first two paragraphs? The staff had a week to get a player ready to replace an all-A10 player getting set to play a top 40 team in an NCAA Tournament game. 
