How Did We Win (one day later)

[cttxus]

As a UConn 2x alum, and you being a Bulldog, I especially like the "we" in your post. ;-) Not sure how you remember all the details you always seem to remember, but I always look forward to and appreciate your comments and insights. Thank you.

 

[Umami Zen]

For the moment-forget about how the game ended last night. If you had to choose any current CBB player to shoot an in-rhythm forty- foot logo shot for the win- Wouldn't Braylon be on your short list-If not the only choice? It's in his range. Destiny-and a lot of hard work on his part to prepare for the moment.

 

[cttxus]

I was in New Hampshire, watching the game with my son and a few of his friends at a sports bar/arcade/axe throwing place.

The few of us sitting at a table were the only people in the joint watching the game. Throughout the first half I was getting quite irritated with the way things were unraveling, but was nowhere near giving up. I had to spend some time, beginning latre in the first half convincing my son that we could work our way back in the game.

Shortly before the start of the second half, I asked my son if he remembered what we would do during the 2011 tournament to change momentum when needed (he was a sophomeore in HS at the time and did not remember), I said if we were sitting, we would stand. If that wasn't effective, we would switch sides from where we were standing, then, if needed sit again. I told him "we need a quick start to the second half, then Duke will be on the ropes. As the half didn't start as well as I hoped, I said "we need to stand". And we stood for the remainder of the game.

I start giving benchmarks, if we get within ten, when we need to get within seven, later five, and as we beat each of those by more than a minute, I repeatedly said "we're on schedule, we will win this game". I got nervous a few times as every time we were about to completely close the gap something happened letting the extend it. After Solo's and one with about 3 1/2 minutes left I told him the game will be tied with a minute left and Mullins will hit a corner three, the Duke won't catch us. My prediction was off, and i was lamenting the two late missed free throws (Ball & Demary each missed one) and started calculating how quickly we would need to hit a three if they hit both free throws (fortunately it never came to that). When Cayden Boozer got the ball I fully expected him to wrap both arms around it and wait to get fouled When he started to pass I yelled "please", which was basically saying "please make a bad pass, please throw the ball away, please do something that will give us a chance". My son yells "we got it" when Braylon grabbed the ball and as soon as Alex got the pass, seeing how he wasn't squated up to shoot and couldn't drive past Boozer, I yelled "get rid of it" as I was worried he'd hoist up a prayer. As soon as he sent the ball back to Braylon I knew we had a shot. My son and I exploded as soon as the ball went through the net, the I immediately gave my son a massive hug.

People from about four or five different groups came over to us, asking what happened (the remainder of the bar was oblivious that there was a basketball game on).

On the ride back to where I was staying, as there are few stations I know of up there, my car radio played Prince's 1999. I haven't heard that song, other than playing it myself (after we've won our second, third, fourth, fifth & sixth titles) in longer than I can remember. The mojo is there and things are falling into place!

FCF: TY for your MOJO. I'm sure it helped.

 

[caw]

what changed in the second half:

• forced more turnovers leading to runouts
• got to the line...FREE POINTS
• actually made our threes

We took 16 more shots over the course of the game, and they only had 5 omre FTs. That's a HUGE burden to overcome.

Rebounding also.

In the first half I want to say three of Dukes threes after an offensive rebounds and they were a plus 7 on points after an offensive rebound. They only had one offensive board in the second half and UConn was a plus 6 on points after an offensive rebound.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was in New Hampshire, watching the game with my son and a few of his friends at a sports bar/arcade/axe throwing place.

The few of us sitting at a table were the only people in the joint watching the game. Throughout the first half I was getting quite irritated with the way things were unraveling, but was nowhere near giving up. I had to spend some time, beginning latre in the first half convincing my son that we could work our way back in the game.

Shortly before the start of the second half, I asked my son if he remembered what we would do during the 2011 tournament to change momentum when needed (he was a sophomeore in HS at the time and did not remember), I said if we were sitting, we would stand. If that wasn't effective, we would switch sides from where we were standing, then, if needed sit again. I told him "we need a quick start to the second half, then Duke will be on the ropes. As the half didn't start as well as I hoped, I said "we need to stand". And we stood for the remainder of the game.

I start giving benchmarks, if we get within ten, when we need to get within seven, later five, and as we beat each of those by more than a minute, I repeatedly said "we're on schedule, we will win this game". I got nervous a few times as every time we were about to completely close the gap something happened letting the extend it. After Solo's and one with about 3 1/2 minutes left I told him the game will be tied with a minute left and Mullins will hit a corner three, the Duke won't catch us. My prediction was off, and i was lamenting the two late missed free throws (Ball & Demary each missed one) and started calculating how quickly we would need to hit a three if they hit both free throws (fortunately it never came to that). When Cayden Boozer got the ball I fully expected him to wrap both arms around it and wait to get fouled When he started to pass I yelled "please", which was basically saying "please make a bad pass, please throw the ball away, please do something that will give us a chance". My son yells "we got it" when Braylon grabbed the ball and as soon as Alex got the pass, seeing how he wasn't squated up to shoot and couldn't drive past Boozer, I yelled "get rid of it" as I was worried he'd hoist up a prayer. As soon as he sent the ball back to Braylon I knew we had a shot. My son and I exploded as soon as the ball went through the net, the I immediately gave my son a massive hug.

People from about four or five different groups came over to us, asking what happened (the remainder of the bar was oblivious that there was a basketball game on).

On the ride back to where I was staying, as there are few stations I know of up there, my car radio played Prince's 1999. I haven't heard that song, other than playing it myself (after we've won our second, third, fourth, fifth & sixth titles) in longer than I can remember. The mojo is there and things are falling into place!

So I’m shocked that someone as smart as you would think that allowing UConn fans to be near axes while we’re playing Duke was a good idea. Were there no lawyers around to snuff out all the fun?

 

[DisabledVet]

I still don’t really believe that we won the game last night, not just because of the last ten seconds but because I never thought we could get close enough that a miracle would actually make a difference. But just a few thoughts:

1. We won primarily because we had more guts and determination than they did. There are other reasons but let’s be clear, that’s the main reason. At halftime, there was no reason to believe we could come back against the best team in the country, that was bigger and more athletic than us, much less on a day where we were 1 for 19 on 3s through 34 minutes or so. But we did. We wanted it more and we fought for it more. Even when it looked like all the fight was just about closing the margin and not getting us to the finish first. I don’t know whether Hurley recruits players with more desire or helps them develop the desire, but we wanted it much more than they did. Diving for loose balls, saving balls from going out of bounds, running breakaways down from behind, playing through adversity, etc.

2. We won the game because we were more experienced. It should be becoming clear to anyone who cares that it’s unlikely you’re going to win championships with the most talented players in the country because they are overwhelmingly freshmen. Scheyer is now trying to do what Calapari failed with. And there’s no reason to think Scheyer will be more successful at it given that Calapari proved he could actually coach coaching friggin UMass into a national powerhouse. While they had a team of players with little or no experience prior to this season, even with Reed and Solo on the bench for the last 10 seconds, we put out a team with 2 seniors, 2 juniors and 1 freshman (someone had to take the last shot). Experience matters, both in learning how you close games out intellectually and learning how to deal with the pressure emotionally.

3. We won the game because Hurley was the better coach. He helped keep our guys from folding after smarter kids should have given up. (I’ll be honest — I thought we were done at the half. Did not see a comeback.). And whatever defensive adjustment he made at the half — I think it was to switch less and rotate less and give up outside shots without running around so much they were all wide open at once — worked. Scheyer had nothing to get his team playing again when everyone but Cam Boozer stopped playing.

4. We won because the refs let us. Yes, there were blow calls both ways (Boozer got away with an obvious charge and Foster a flagrant on that pushoff, but Reibe got away with a flagrant when he blackened Boozer’s eye) but overall I thought they were fair. But I said before the game that, other than Cam Boozer, my biggest worry was a huge FT disparity or quick fouls on our bigs that cut into their minutes. Well, that didn’t happen. They only had 5 more FT attempts and 4 more FTs made than us, and Reed got 32 minutes in with 3 fouls and Karaban 38 minutes with 2. The refs didn’t take the game away from us. Duke came very close to beating us but the refs didn’t. Thank goodness.

Having said all that, I still don’t get how we won. They outshot us percentage wise at all three levels, they outrebounded us by 6, they had 1 more assist. Yes, we had only 5 turnovers to their 16, and 2 more blocks, but those stats in totality don’t explain the one stat that explains how we won — we got 16 more shots than them. Plus 16 in shot attemps while being outrebounded. The numbers don’t add up (or my math skills are far worse than I think). And the biggest irony of the last ten seconds — we weren’t looking to get a steal and a desperation 3 up. We were just trying to commit a quick foul and put them in a 1 and 1. Who was it that first said “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

So maybe it was just luck. And Duke fans can look at the end and Ken Pom this morning and say well, we’re better and if we got another chance we’d beat them. Even if I ignore that this was their third straight loss to us in the tourney (all in great games) and how many chances do you want, the response to that is so what. Here’s the one stat worth a damn. On Saturday evening, we play 1 game against Illinois and they play 0.

Onward. This will not be an easy game against the Illini, but I like our chances a heck of a lot more than I liked them yesterday against Duke. Go Huskies.

We won because we applied enough defense to stay close and when the pressure was on Duke made some thinking errors.

 

[Palatine]

It came down to poise. Duke did NOT have it in the final 10 second scramble drill. They were rushed and panicky causing bad decisions.

We were poised. After deflecting the ball, there was no panic or rush. Mullins and Karaban made good decisions and sharp passes to set up Mullins little miracle.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

So I’m shocked that someone as smart as you would think that allowing UConn fans to be near axes while we’re playing Duke was a good idea. Were there no lawyers around to snuff out all the fun?

Those tossing the axes weren't aware that there was a game on.

 

[DRBackup]

I still don’t really believe that we won the game last night, not just because of the last ten seconds but because I never thought we could get close enough that a miracle would actually make a difference. But just a few thoughts:

1. We won primarily because we had more guts and determination than they did. There are other reasons but let’s be clear, that’s the main reason. At halftime, there was no reason to believe we could come back against the best team in the country, that was bigger and more athletic than us, much less on a day where we were 1 for 19 on 3s through 34 minutes or so. But we did. We wanted it more and we fought for it more. Even when it looked like all the fight was just about closing the margin and not getting us to the finish first. I don’t know whether Hurley recruits players with more desire or helps them develop the desire, but we wanted it much more than they did. Diving for loose balls, saving balls from going out of bounds, running breakaways down from behind, playing through adversity, etc.

2. We won the game because we were more experienced. It should be becoming clear to anyone who cares that it’s unlikely you’re going to win championships with the most talented players in the country because they are overwhelmingly freshmen. Scheyer is now trying to do what Calapari failed with. And there’s no reason to think Scheyer will be more successful at it given that Calapari proved he could actually coach coaching friggin UMass into a national powerhouse. While they had a team of players with little or no experience prior to this season, even with Reed and Solo on the bench for the last 10 seconds, we put out a team with 2 seniors, 2 juniors and 1 freshman (someone had to take the last shot). Experience matters, both in learning how you close games out intellectually and learning how to deal with the pressure emotionally.

3. We won the game because Hurley was the better coach. He helped keep our guys from folding after smarter kids should have given up. (I’ll be honest — I thought we were done at the half. Did not see a comeback.). And whatever defensive adjustment he made at the half — I think it was to switch less and rotate less and give up outside shots without running around so much they were all wide open at once — worked. Scheyer had nothing to get his team playing again when everyone but Cam Boozer stopped playing.

4. We won because the refs let us. Yes, there were blow calls both ways (Boozer got away with an obvious charge and Foster a flagrant on that pushoff, but Reibe got away with a flagrant when he blackened Boozer’s eye) but overall I thought they were fair. But I said before the game that, other than Cam Boozer, my biggest worry was a huge FT disparity or quick fouls on our bigs that cut into their minutes. Well, that didn’t happen. They only had 5 more FT attempts and 4 more FTs made than us, and Reed got 32 minutes in with 3 fouls and Karaban 38 minutes with 2. The refs didn’t take the game away from us. Duke came very close to beating us but the refs didn’t. Thank goodness.

Having said all that, I still don’t get how we won. They outshot us percentage wise at all three levels, they outrebounded us by 6, they had 1 more assist. Yes, we had only 5 turnovers to their 16, and 2 more blocks, but those stats in totality don’t explain the one stat that explains how we won — we got 16 more shots than them. Plus 16 in shot attemps while being outrebounded. The numbers don’t add up (or my math skills are far worse than I think). And the biggest irony of the last ten seconds — we weren’t looking to get a steal and a desperation 3 up. We were just trying to commit a quick foul and put them in a 1 and 1. Who was it that first said “I’d rather be lucky than good.”

So maybe it was just luck. And Duke fans can look at the end and Ken Pom this morning and say well, we’re better and if we got another chance we’d beat them. Even if I ignore that this was their third straight loss to us in the tourney (all in great games) and how many chances do you want, the response to that is so what. Here’s the one stat worth a damn. On Saturday evening, we play 1 game against Illinois and they play 0.

Onward. This will not be an easy game against the Illini, but I like our chances a heck of a lot more than I liked them yesterday against Duke. Go Huskies.

Turnovers. Us 5, bad guys 13

 

[DRBackup]

We won because Duke tried to advance the ball when they pretty much could just stand there and get fouled. That is a coaching mistake

It's not. If UConn fouls right away, at best they make both FTs and there's still almost 10 seconds left. If they pass the ball around, over, or through the defense, if Boozer fakes the pass and then makes the pass with Mullins and Demery in the air, ball game.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

It's not. If UConn fouls right away, at best they make both FTs and there's still almost 10 seconds left. If they pass the ball around, over, or through the defense, if Boozer fakes the pass and then makes the pass with Mullins and Demery in the air, ball game.

And if my aunt had.....

Well, everyone knows that one.

 

[305Husk]

Anyone know if they can fine/suspend Hurley post-game? I'm concerned about the blowback from that head-butt or stare-down with the ref.

 

[cohenzone]

It's not. If UConn fouls right away, at best they make both FTs and there's still almost 10 seconds left. If they pass the ball around, over, or through the defense, if Boozer fakes the pass and then makes the pass with Mullins and Demery in the air, ball game.

Duke was up 2 and if they make both FT they are up by 4 with about 6 seconds left. A coaching blunder.

 

[Scottzer]

It came down to poise. Duke did NOT have it in the final 10 second scramble drill. They were rushed and panicky causing bad decisions.

We were poised. After deflecting the ball, there was no panic or rush. Mullins and Karaban made good decisions and sharp passes to set up Mullins little miracle.

To your point - and Dauster noted this, I had to watch it back - Mullins waited to grab the ball until both feet were in the back court - to collect the ball and not let his momentum cause a violation.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Reed not picking up foul 4 was massive.

Duke lost more than we won. They had more avenues to victory than the loss in the last minute and they blew it. Credit the huskies. They got it done

After a few bonehead turnovers in the second half i remember yelling at the tv "come on guys! Lets make some shots! Duke is practically giving us the game!". That team of mostly freshmen started falling apart when the pressure ramped up and their coach seemingly looked just as lost as they did. Remember when people criticized Hurley for not being able to win close games and getting out coached late? Looks like hes the one coaching circles around opposing coaches if you even believed that narrative. Scheyer is what i thought he was. Hes Cal 2.o. He can beat you with talent but not coaching.

 

[giddyup]

If we had the same situation run1,000 times, 999 times the player is fouled or the ball advances and the games expires. Braylon’s makes that shot 1 out of 10 times in that situation. By my estimation we witnessed a 1 in 10,000 miracle.

 

[BugsyCT]

We won because:

• We never gave up. Even down 19 pts and bricking every 3, we never stopped fighting
• Confidence. We're a blueblood program with a recent championship pedigree.
• We have a fiery, highly competitive coach who is among the very best in all of college hoops, and it rubs off on his players
• We have more upper classmen experience in the stating lineup than they did
• Tarris Reed. He carried us on his back during the brutal first 20-30 minutes of the game, and was an absolute beast the whole way
• Hurley coached circles around Scheyer 2nd half
• We chipped away at the lead enough where we put ourselves in position to have a chance to win, and everything went right for us in the final seconds
• It's March and we're UConn

 

[uh-no]

Anyone know if they can fine/suspend Hurley post-game? I'm concerned about the blowback from that head-butt or stare-down with the ref.

ayers literally said he didn't know what anyone was talking about.

 

[JungleLobo]

Duke was up 2 and if they make both FT they are up by 4 with about 6 seconds left. A coaching blunder.

…and if they miss 2 high pressure free throws that’s enough time to get to the rim for UConn or shoot a 3

 

[Edward Sargent]

I’m interested to know what Hurley told them to do, on that last play with 10 seconds left. It did not seem like we were trying to intentionally foul Duke. We were rushing the ball to force them to pass but not grabbing the Duke players. No matter what Hurley told them, the defense worked to perfection and Boozer made an error in judgement and turned the ball over. Even after all that went our way, we still needed to make a miraculous shot. Fortunately for us all, Mullins was the one to take that shot because he has the ability to hit those bombs. I don’t believe anyone else on UConn could hit a shot from that range. Maybe Karaban but not with Boozer right in his face.
As you said there wasn’t much hope at the half down by 15, with the way the game was being played. I hadn’t lost all hope but I wasn’t expecting UConn to win. I’ll never forget that game for as long as I live. Hurley proved to everyone once and for all that he is the best coach in college basketball. There is no more doubt no matter how the rest of the tournament plays out.

We doubled the entry pass receiver and Little Boozer expecting them to pass to him in the middle. Danny called for fouls on Ngongba and Sarr but that didn't happen so the next was to trap. Little Boozer made the Freshman mistake to pass instead of holding on the rest is history

 

[cohenzone]

…and if they miss 2 high pressure free throws that’s enough time to get to the rim for UConn or shoot a 3

Not toget into a debate, the right play was to get fouled. They didn’t have to worry about a 10 second call and their guards would have to go 0-2 and UConn would have to go full court to tie or win. But it still took a great play by Demary

 

[Edward Sargent]

It came down to poise. Duke did NOT have it in the final 10 second scramble drill. They were rushed and panicky causing bad decisions.

We were poised. After deflecting the ball, there was no panic or rush. Mullins and Karaban made good decisions and sharp passes to set up Mullins little miracle.

Duke was up 2 and if they make both FT they are up by 4 with about 6 seconds left. A coaching blunder.

It wasn't the coaches blunder it was Little Boozer's Freshman mistake

 

[cohenzone]

It wasn't the coaches blunder it was Little Boozer's Freshman mistake

Definitely a mistake but who reminded him they didn't have to advance the ball.

 

[Scottzer]

If we had the same situation run1,000 times, 999 times the player is fouled or the ball advances and the games expires. Braylon’s makes that shot 1 out of 10 times in that situation. By my estimation we witnessed a 1 in 10,000 miracle.

There’s no way to find more complete situational data on this, but - Duke turned the ball over 13.7% of the time. For it to be a live ball TO - do we 1/2 that? And then, situationally - to not need to cross 1/2 court - do we third that?

And then to have it all flow together for a transition 3….

Best guesstimate is somewhere between 2 and 5 per 1000.

 

[businesslawyer]

ayers literally said he didn't know what anyone was talking about.

Yes, but who are people going to believe? The referee who was involved or social media detectives?

 

[businesslawyer]

We doubled the entry pass receiver and Little Boozer expecting them to pass to him in the middle. Danny called for fouls on Ngongba and Sarr but that didn't happen so the next was to trap. Little Boozer made the Freshman mistake to pass instead of holding on the rest is history

I’ll say one other thing about luck being more important than skill. There were only 10 seconds left. It’s great to know who the weaker foul shooters are on the other side but you can’t wait more than 2 or 3 seconds to give the foul there. Caden Boozer should have been fouled the moment he caught the ball. There was no reason to think he would try to throw a pass over or through a double team.

The point being that neither team called a TO after Silas’s make, and each took a chance that their kids would make better decisions than the other’s without the coaches speaking to them. I don’t think we played the last ten seconds right either, by letting the clock run down too much, unless you think Hurley thought if we didn’t foul maybe they’d commit a live ball turnover. Again, all it proves is you’d rather be lucky than good.

 

[brihman]

It came down to poise. Duke did NOT have it in the final 10 second scramble drill. They were rushed and panicky causing bad decisions.

We were poised. After deflecting the ball, there was no panic or rush. Mullins and Karaban made good decisions and sharp passes to set up Mullins little miracle.

Did you see every Duke player in the lane looking over to the bench before Demerys 2nd free throw attempt?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

4. We won because the refs let us. Yes, there were blown calls both ways (Boozer got away with an obvious charge and Foster a flagrant on that pushoff, but Reibe got away with a flagrant when he blackened Boozer’s eye) but overall I thought they were fair. But I said before the game that, other than Cam Boozer, my biggest worry was a huge FT disparity or quick fouls on our bigs that cut into their minutes. Well, that didn’t happen. They only had 5 more FT attempts and 4 more FTs made than us, and Reed got 32 minutes in with 3 fouls and Karaban 38 minutes with 2. The refs didn’t take the game away from us. Duke came very close to beating us but the refs didn’t. Thank goodness.

I know Duke fans were losing it over the elbow no-call but IMO there was basically zero chance that would get upgraded to a flagrant even if they had called a common initially as it was a normal basketball move. Should have been a common foul but that’s it. The play where (I think Tarris) got hit in the head by a Duke player swiping down in the first half was effectively the same play. A no-call with contact to the head that wouldn’t have been upgraded even if it had been called. I consider those a wash.

 

[Deepster]

On one of the thousand reels I watched yesterday, someone said you don't erase a 15 pt halftime deficit unless the coach has the team truly believing they can win. And even when they didn't cut into lead to start the second half, they still chipped and chipped away, like drops of water on a rock eventually starting to gain momentum.

That perseverance flowed through right until the poise and calm reactions on the final play. Hurley and staff recruit a certain type of player and foster a certain culture where that is the UConn DNA.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It's not. If UConn fouls right away, at best they make both FTs and there's still almost 10 seconds left. If they pass the ball around, over, or through the defense, if Boozer fakes the pass and then makes the pass with Mullins and Demery in the air, ball game.

There is also a decent chance of us getting a tie up if they hold the ball. Boozer just didn’t get enough air under the ball on his pass.