Biggest Game Coaching mistake Calhoun ever made

[Waquoit]

Not guarding the inbound was killer in 1990. I mentioned it in another thread yesterday, but it almost bit us at the end of regulation in that game by giving up and Ally oop with .3 left. Coach k must have scouted that.

That's one I will disagree with. We had no height left in the game. Burrell fouled out and Sellers was playing on one leg, we had to take away the the play at the rim. If we cover the in-bound they get a lay-up. We made them go to plan B. And DePriest got there in time to make him have to double-clutch. We got beat by a great shot.

 

[Waquoit]

That was the JC special. He outcoached K with that same move against Duke in 2004. Works sometimes, not others. I feel like it worked more often than not (not an empirical observation).

I think that was more luck than coaching. IIRC, we squndered a big lead with Emeka sitting. Then we were down what, 8 points with less than 4 minutes left. That win was more on the players than the coach.

 

[selles]

That Clemson game was really the only time all year we blew a lead. It was out of character. Usually, we wore teams down and put the hammer down. Clemson we got tentative.

That's right. Plus, going way down and coming back was Clemson's style that year. I remember a graphic during the game showing all their big comebacks and I remember watching them come back on LaSalle at the XL center the game before.

 

[pnete]

Hard to find fault on a game that come down to one play against championship caliber teams'

The game that pissed me off was the George Mason when the refs allowed Mason big men to back down Hilton from the three point line committing offensive fouls every inch of the way and then calling Hilton for the one time he refused to be knocked back. Usually an offensive player is allowed one bounce and bump not several.
But, UConn has always been shorted by the refs. The St. Joseph game on this year run. They gave Kentucky every opportunity to win with over twenty three throws and lots of one and ones. A Kentucky starter was not called for a foul the entire first half.

 

[Gurleyman]

I think that was more luck than coaching. IIRC, we squndered a big lead with Emeka sitting. Then we were down what, 8 points with less than 4 minutes left. That win was more on the players than the coach.

Both the Maryland and Duke games were played with extremely tight whistles the whole way (Lonny Baxter shot something like 16-19 from the foul line), enough so that commentators discussed the refs ruining good games both times. Duke's bigs fouled out, so we got every single rebound in the last four minutes and a couple of key buckets from Emeka against their scrubs. There was an element of luck that we got that run started with a Rashad 3, otherwise we might not have had enough time to take advantage of our mismatches. But Duke was reduced to contested threes from Deng and Redick down the stretch and no rebounding presence at all.

Maryland ended the game on a 16-5 run after we led 77-74 with 4 minutes left, so there was a similar late push from them (as the more experienced team). Just not as big of a hole.

In another recent example - we sat Lamb, AO and Kemba in the first half against Butler, and a fresh first unit not in foul trouble steamrolled them in the second half. KO rolled the dice without Bazz down by 10 against Nova this year - not sure that we could have expected going into the half with a lead. Had Nova stretched it out, we might have had to make an exception. I'm not sure I like the 2 foul rule for guards in all cases, but bigs can get fouls so easily just being in the wrong place going for a rebound or a challenge.

 

[intlzncster]

I think that was more luck than coaching. IIRC, we squndered a big lead with Emeka sitting. Then we were down what, 8 points with less than 4 minutes left. That win was more on the players than the coach.

What Gurley said, plus: pretty much every tight game requires good fortune for a team to come out on top. We as fans don't like to admit it, but luck plays a big role.

 

[DogMania]

Not many jump out to me... But not guarding the ball against Duke in 90 is pretty tough to take. We had a penchant in those days to blow huge leads. People forget that in the Clemson game (the shot) we were up 20 before going down one.

I feel like JC never played Brian Fair as much as he should have. It seemed like every time JC got ejected/missed a game, Fair would play major minutes for Howie and score 20.

That's the one that stands out to me. When in bounding the ball that close to the basket with that amount of time left, you must cover the player in bounding the ball.

 

[intlzncster]

Maryland was never out of the game. The issue was they closed on an 8-0 run to take a 7-point lead into the half, which ended with one of their back up bigs chucking in a long three before the buzzer, or we would have only been down 4. Either way, we made up that deficit in the first five minutes of the second half and it was game on from there with Caron in beast mode.

They had a number of big threes late in the second half of that one. That straight away three from practically half court was painful.

 

[JSB60]

Playing Albert Mouring in 97-98 rather than redshirting him. He might have made a difference in 02.

 

[Gurleyman]

What Gurley said, plus: pretty much every tight game requires good fortune for a team to come out on top. We as fans don't like to admit it, but luck plays a big role.

Duke went up 10, I think (a 21-point swing after we were up 11), and JC said he was at least considering putting Emeka in to close the half. Denham hit a big 3 right then to sort of settle us down. Had we lost, it would have been exhibit A for opponents of the 2-foul rule, since it was such a huge swing with him on the bench. Perhaps JC was a bit fortunate we pulled it out. For what it is worth, the NBA has the same automatic sitting rules almost universally - 2 in the first quarter, 3 in the second quarter, 4 in the third quarter and 5 with more than 6 minutes left, and you sit.

The thing about coaching is that when you establish certain rules or strategies, you never want to lose going away from those. If you stick with what you believe in, it's easier to live with if it doesn't work out. The Spurs never played Duncan last year in their "no threes" defense so they could switch everything. Popovich was hammered after the Ray three for not having Duncan out there, but if that's the way you've played all year, you don't want to change up in the biggest game and have Duncan late switching out costing you the title. Just so happened that Diaw and Parker botched the switch and left Bosh alone, but Duncan would have been out challenging the James three anyway if he was in Diaw's spot. Similarly, you don't want to call off the press if your mo is wearing teams down, and you don't want to stay with a zone in winning time if you've never played it, even if it worked for a few minutes.

I think we weren't as organized as we could have been against the Laettner buzzer beater (one thing to not cover the guy, but Henefeld overplayed Davis on the catch and took himself out of position to help and DePriest was a little late rotating over, even though Laettner double clutched), and I also think we missed an opportunity against Michigan State when Sticks dunked to cut it to three, we were playing scatter-brained full court press and gave them a layup, when it was a one-possession game with a minute to go. But that was in live, frenetic action, so it's hard to point to the bench entirely, but we needed a better understanding of time and score there.

 

[cordeodato]

The only time I thought he got out couched was in the MSU
final 4 game. Izzo decided to run Thabeet until the kid was exhausted
and we never adjusted.
I feel real weird questioning JC, but this game always stuck in my brain.
Maybe JC felt that, without Dyson we had zero chance unless Thabeet
could outperform. May the basketball gods have mercy on me.

 

[PacificStorm]

Coach Calhoun's greatest coaching mistake was not playing Jonathan Maldendove in the dying minutes of the 6 OT loss to Syracuse. Jonathan will always be my favorite Husky. He was denied the greatest performance of his life snatching Uconn from the jaws of an immortal defeat and denying Uconn one of it greatest victories, especially against Syracuse. O superman, where have you been? I still cry over it in my sleep.

 

[Waquoit]

Coach Calhoun's greatest coaching mistake was not playing Jonathan Maldendove in the dying minutes of the 6 OT loss to Syracuse. Jonathan will always be my favorite Husky. He was denied the greatest performance of his life snatching Uconn from the jaws of an immortal defeat and denying Uconn one of it greatest victories, especially against Syracuse. O superman, where have you been? I still cry over it in my sleep.

Now there's someone with the Mandel-love!

 

[intlzncster]

Coach Calhoun's greatest coaching mistake was not playing Jonathan Maldendove in the dying minutes of the 6 OT loss to Syracuse. Jonathan will always be my favorite Husky. He was denied the greatest performance of his life snatching Uconn from the jaws of an immortal defeat and denying Uconn one of it greatest victories, especially against Syracuse. O superman, where have you been? I still cry over it in my sleep.

Funny thing about Dove. As worthless as he was for the Huskies' program, I don't hate on the kid at all. He's kind of lovable.

 

[Deleted at users request]

A) He was in during crunch time. He actually shot an air ball with 30 seconds left - at which point I gave up (not even Rashad can save us)
B) Both of our last shots were end to end rushes when we were out of timeouts. Not like there was time to run a play and get the ball to a specific guy.

There is time to run something in FT situations. You call you PG over before everyone is set or the team if need be. I'd still trust Rashad to take the shot air ball or not. When you hit as many clutch shots as he has you have the chance for a mulligan(sp?).

 

[Tenspro2002]

I also think we missed an opportunity against Michigan State when Sticks dunked to cut it to three, we were playing scatter-brained full court press and gave them a layup, when it was a one-possession game with a minute to go. But that was in live, frenetic action, so it's hard to point to the bench entirely, but we needed a better understanding of time and score there.

That was tough, but yes, we should have called a timeout to set up our defense down 3 with a minute to go. An amazing thing about that game is how quickly we cut that lead from "game over" to "manageable". We were down 10 with 2 minutes to go and they had the ball. Got a turnover, a foul, 2 free throws. Another turnover, AJP made a layup while Thabeet got fouled, after 2 FTs effectively a 4-point play. After they made a FT, we had the Sticks putback to cut it to 3 with 60 seconds to go. All we had to do was defend straight up for a possession and we'd have a chance to tie. Instead, they got an and-1 and sealed it almost immediately after we got back into it.

I also think sitting Caron with 2 fouls was a mistake against Maryland, and it was almost a mistake to sit Emeka with 2 fouls against dook. Caron only ended up with 3 fouls, and Emeka was a smart enough player to know how to keep himself from fouling out.

That said, the fact that we're having a tough time here means there haven't been a lot of obvious coaching blunders.

 

[Gurleyman]

There is time to run something in FT situations. You call you PG over before everyone is set or the team if need be. I'd still trust Rashad to take the shot air ball or not. When you hit as many clutch shots as he has you have the chance for a mulligan(sp?).

We had six seconds to go the length of the court, both times. At that point, you just push the ball and get what you get. There's no special way to get Rashad the ball in a shooting situation on an end to end rush - especially since the other team is going to be locked in on him after he hit the one against Washington.

Denham pushed the ball the second time, so pulling Marcus Williams aside and telling him what to do with the ball wasn't going to matter anyway. And that wasn't a bad play by Denham, either - if we wasted a couple seconds getting the ball to Marcus, we would have just had Marcus shooting a 30 footer. Denham got a good clean look - just never should have been in that situation.

 

[Excalibur]

IIRC, we squandered a big lead with Emeka sitting. Then we were down what, 8 points with less than 4 minutes left. That win was more on the players than the coach.

Yeah, other than the fact that all of Duke's interior players had fouled out by the time there was 4 minutes left . . . There is no chance that Emeka is on the floor in the last five minutes if he plays in the first half with two fouls.

 

[Gurleyman]

That was tough, but yes, we should have called a timeout to set up our defense down 3 with a minute to go. An amazing thing about that game is how quickly we cut that lead from "game over" to "manageable". We were down 10 with 2 minutes to go and they had the ball. Got a turnover, a foul, 2 free throws. Another turnover, AJP made a layup while Thabeet got fouled, after 2 FTs effectively a 4-point play. After they made a FT, we had the Sticks putback to cut it to 3 with 60 seconds to go. All we had to do was defend straight up for a possession and we'd have a chance to tie. Instead, they got an and-1 and sealed it almost immediately after we got back into it. I also think sitting Caron with 2 fouls was a mistake against Maryland, and it was almost a mistake to sit Emeka with 2 fouls against dook. Caron only ended up with 3 fouls, and Emeka was a smart enough player to know how to keep himself from fouling out. That said, the fact that we're having a tough time here means there haven't been a lot of obvious coaching blunders.

Emeka didn't commit the two fouls he did commit (and frankly some of the Shelden Williams/Shavlik Randolph ones were iffy too). Hard to be smart enough to avoid fouls when the officiating is that weird. Much tighter whistle than we'd seen all year.

The issue also isn't always how many fouls you end up with - it's how you play when you're out there. Caron played balls out in the second half in part because he didn't have to worry about his fourth (and perhaps he was better rested too, although I think that's tough to say for certain that the extra five minutes of rest mattered). We were up late, had a chance to win, and Maryland won the game by making more plays in the last four minutes. It's all just hypotheticals (we only know the outcome that actually happened, of course), but I kind of think we were going to be in a tight game in the last four minutes regardless. If the game was tied at the half, and we came out with the same burst of energy and went up 7 early in the second half, Maryland probably would have responded then, and we'd have been in the same dogfight.

I do think if we didn't finish the comeback against Duke that the -18 or whatever it was we had with Emeka on the bench would be a more painful pill than Caron sitting. We rolled the dice a bit that we'd have enough time to regroup. If Williams doesn't foul out it might have been a case of the strategy failing.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Yeah, other than the fact that all of Duke's interior players had fouled out by the time there was 4 minutes left . . . There is no chance that Emeka is on the floor in the last five minutes if he plays in the first half with two fouls.

Sitting Emeka worked out real well in that game, because Duke literally had no one left in the front court when Emeka returned

 

[intlzncster]

Sitting Emeka worked out real well in that game, because Duke literally had no one left in the front court when Emeka returned

I also think sitting Caron with 2 fouls was a mistake against Maryland, and it was almost a mistake to sit Emeka with 2 fouls against dook. Caron only ended up with 3 fouls, and Emeka was a smart enough player to know how to keep himself from fouling out.

That said, the fact that we're having a tough time here means there haven't been a lot of obvious coaching blunders.

That one wasn't cut and dry. As Gurley said, the refs were calling it super tight. That's why Duke had no good bigs at the end of the game and we did. In retrospect, it turned out to be savvy.

On your last point, that's why JC has, taken a program of zero to perennial power, 3 ships and is in the hall of fame!

 

[B1GEast]

Slowing the offensive tempo angainst missippi state in the ncaa tourney, which in my opinion played right into their strength with eric dampier, also not pressing earlier in the game. Miss St had beaten kuntucky's press in the SEC conf champ and I think JC saw too much in that.

The other one glaring mistake was not switching to zone against George Mason, Boone and Armstrong were getting eaten up alive in the middle and they scored too many points in the paint late in the game. I kept yelling at the TV for JC to switch to zone, but he stuck with man to man. Who knows? Can't argje with a HOF coach.

 

[intlzncster]

Sitting Emeka worked out real well in that game, because Duke literally had no one left in the front court when Emeka returned

Emeka didn't commit the two fouls he did commit (and frankly some of the Shelden Williams/Shavlik Randolph ones were iffy too). Hard to be smart enough to avoid fouls when the officiating is that weird. Much tighter whistle than we'd seen all year.

The issue also isn't always how many fouls you end up with - it's how you play when you're out there. Caron played balls out in the second half in part because he didn't have to worry about his fourth (and perhaps he was better rested too, although I think that's tough to say for certain that the extra five minutes of rest mattered). We were up late, had a chance to win, and Maryland won the game by making more plays in the last four minutes.

Agree with pretty much every thing you wrote in this thread. Small quibble: that 5 minutes of rest made no diff for Caron. He was in awesome shape and absolute beast mode in that game.

MD just buried a few big threes late in the second, and that ended up being the diff imo.

 

[intlzncster]

The other one glaring mistake was not switching to zone against George Mason, Boone and Armstrong were getting eaten up alive in the middle and they scored too many points in the paint late in the game. I kept yelling at the TV for JC to switch to zone, but he stuck with man to man. Who knows? Can't argje with a HOF coach.

While he did it on occasion, going zone was against everything JC was as a coach and a man.

Important thing people kind of discount is that all of those gut wrenching losses were valuable learnings/experience for JC. I definitely feel it made him grow as a coach and aided our run of ships.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Agree with pretty much every thing you wrote in this thread. Small quibble: that 5 minutes of rest made no diff for Caron. He was in awesome shape and absolute beast mode in that game.

MD just buried a few big threes late in the second, and that ended up being the diff imo.

I can't bitch too much about losing what was the best game of that tournament. Steve Blake hit one of the clutchest shots I've ever seen.