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- Dec 5, 2011
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OK, so after the two made free throws by Morgan Tuck, we have a three-point lead with twelve seconds to go.
Why not simply do the following:
1. Harass the inbounds pass. (I would even consider doing so in such a way that we commit an endline violation, take the delay of game warning - you get one free per game - and make them try to inbound it again!) Recall that, at this point, Stanford has no timeouts, so cannot call one to avoid a five-second violation. (Well, technically they can, but it would give us two shots and the ball on the team technical foul for calling a time out you don't have.)
2. If they do get it in, press in the backcourt to (a) try to induce a ten-second violation and (b) at least make Stanford use more of the twelve seconds available to it than they would like.
3. Once the ball crosses midcourt, FOUL SOMEBODY - ANYBODY - before they can hoist a three-point shot.
In that case, the WORST case scenario is UConn gets the ball back up by one with a few seconds left. Of course Stanford will foul, but now time is on OUR side, and even if we only hit one we've got a two point lead and can repeat the above with the new worst case being a tie.
This is something I've seen happen in almost EVERY close game we have lost in the past five years. (I even recall a Notre Dame game some years back that we were in an almost identical situation, with a two point lead with like eight second to play, the only way we can lose is to give up a three, so I'm yelling at the screen, "Just foul someone! Anyone! They can't get three points on a common foul through free throws!") We have the chance to close out the game with some clock/foul management and we simply can't do it. I don't know if it's that Geno doesn't like the idea of fouling on purpose to limit the potential opponent scoring on the possession to two. Sometimes I think in those end-of-close-game situations the kids (and maybe also the coaches) are so unused to being in that situation they don't think of things like this or they get caught up in the moment or what. But it seems to me that with all the assistant coaches, stat monitors, etc., on and near the bench, SOMEONE could have pointed this out to somebody with a suggestion as to how to win the game in regulation.
But the reality is that this is what other teams do to win close games at the end, and I think perhaps we should do so as well.
Just a thought that I feel like I've had after virtually all of our close losses over the past decade or so....
Why not simply do the following:
1. Harass the inbounds pass. (I would even consider doing so in such a way that we commit an endline violation, take the delay of game warning - you get one free per game - and make them try to inbound it again!) Recall that, at this point, Stanford has no timeouts, so cannot call one to avoid a five-second violation. (Well, technically they can, but it would give us two shots and the ball on the team technical foul for calling a time out you don't have.)
2. If they do get it in, press in the backcourt to (a) try to induce a ten-second violation and (b) at least make Stanford use more of the twelve seconds available to it than they would like.
3. Once the ball crosses midcourt, FOUL SOMEBODY - ANYBODY - before they can hoist a three-point shot.
In that case, the WORST case scenario is UConn gets the ball back up by one with a few seconds left. Of course Stanford will foul, but now time is on OUR side, and even if we only hit one we've got a two point lead and can repeat the above with the new worst case being a tie.
This is something I've seen happen in almost EVERY close game we have lost in the past five years. (I even recall a Notre Dame game some years back that we were in an almost identical situation, with a two point lead with like eight second to play, the only way we can lose is to give up a three, so I'm yelling at the screen, "Just foul someone! Anyone! They can't get three points on a common foul through free throws!") We have the chance to close out the game with some clock/foul management and we simply can't do it. I don't know if it's that Geno doesn't like the idea of fouling on purpose to limit the potential opponent scoring on the possession to two. Sometimes I think in those end-of-close-game situations the kids (and maybe also the coaches) are so unused to being in that situation they don't think of things like this or they get caught up in the moment or what. But it seems to me that with all the assistant coaches, stat monitors, etc., on and near the bench, SOMEONE could have pointed this out to somebody with a suggestion as to how to win the game in regulation.
But the reality is that this is what other teams do to win close games at the end, and I think perhaps we should do so as well.
Just a thought that I feel like I've had after virtually all of our close losses over the past decade or so....