How Did We Win (one day later) | Page 3 | The Boneyard

How Did We Win (one day later)

For a team that has played intermittent defense all season, UConn came up with a huge effort on a huge stage when our shots just weren’t falling.

Duke had a 15 minute stretch (from 15 to 30 minute mark) where they should have put UConn away, and UConn’s defense wouldn’t let them. It was a grinding, stop by stop effort, even as the shooters were missing an avalanche of shots from deep.

Tarris clearly out played the high lottery pick Boozer at center.

For an offseason thread, but a lot of analytics is just wrong. Defenses are designed to stop the 3, and too many 3 point shooters make it easier for defenses to rotate along the perimeter. While UConn missed a lot of open shots, Duke also did a good job defending the perimeter. Mullins shooting more mid range jumpers will cause chaos, and open things up from 3. Better yet, no defense today is designed to defend the midrange shot. Fire away.
 
My reaction: we are truly blessed. Think about all of the joy which UConn basketball has brought us over the years. It is absolutely incredible. My favorite part other than the ball going through the hoop…the hours after the game. Sharing texts and videos with friends, watching the reaction of other UConn fans and, of course, watching the meltdown of Duke and their fans. It’s all so glorious!
 
I watched the video, asked my gf to pinch me, and watched again just to make sure. Still not entirely sure I'm not still dreaming.

Props to the poster who said UConn would win by 1, insane call.
 
Punkbo said:
My reaction: we are truly blessed. Think about all of the joy which UConn basketball has brought us over the years. It is absolutely incredible. My favorite part other than the ball going through the hoop…the hours after the game. Sharing texts and videos with friends, watching the reaction of other UConn fans and, of course, watching the meltdown of Duke and their fans. It’s all so glorious!
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And even in seasons where we didn't have the desired outcome, we still have RIPs shot over those Washington bigs, Khalid jumping on the scorers' table at Pitt in 2000, and a wealth of other incredible moments.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
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.
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I'm with you on this. It was a textbook press break until Boozer the lesser got the ball -- inbound, return the ball to the inbounder before the trap gets there, hit a guy flashing to the middle, and you have 3 on 2 the other way. You need to do anything other than what Boozer did there -- take a dribble backwards to create space, ball fake, get the ball further in the air, whatever. He messed up, and Silas made a great play.
 
Excalibur said:
I'm with you on this. It was a textbook press break until Boozer the lesser got the ball -- inbound, return the ball to the inbounder before the trap gets there, hit a guy flashing to the middle, and you have 3 on 2 the other way. You need to do anything other than what Boozer did there -- take a dribble backwards to create space, ball fake, get the ball further in the air, whatever. He messed up, and Silas made a great play.
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The didn’t need to break the press though. There was no potential 10 second violation and they didn’t need to score. They just needed to burn clock and draw the foul, which UConn was trying to give.
 
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Not the point here but it is weird to me Duke was the overall #1. I think Arizona is a better, deeper team right now. I think they're better than Michigan also but I guess we will find that out in a few days.
 
The lack of a 10 second violation is irrelevant. You're playing keep-away, and you use the whole court. Complete the pass, and the game is over. Hold the ball, and it's not. Ball fake, one dribble to the right and you have the passing lane.
 
Scottzer said:
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.
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I’m not sure how you fully account for the sequence probability for the reasons stated but the odds of that happening were astonishingly low
 
80shusky said:
Not the point here but it is weird to me Duke was the overall #1. I think Arizona is a better, deeper team right now. I think they're better than Michigan also but I guess we will find that out in a few days.
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there were widely considered to be 3 teams head and shoulders above the rest. Duke had beaten michigan, arizona had not.
 
Really strong TEAM comeback - each player had key contributions that facilitated the comeback - the staff had them ready to take advantage of what Duke gave them
  • Tarris carried the team - his best game of the season
  • Braylon - awareness, poise and the shot
  • AK - diving save, hit the late three and the sense to pass back to Bray for the shot
  • Silas - huge corner 3s playing at 70% and "the tip"
  • Solo - the and 1, and tough offensive rebound late
  • Mali - kept us afloat in 1st half and excellent pressure D, key late drive
  • Ross - huge hustle play to prevent Foster layup late
  • Big Rick - held down the fort in 1st when Tarris got his 2nd, did enough to keep us in it
  • Stewart - couple key boards and assets in limited minutes
 
Regarding the end-game situation, there's been a lot of talk about the pressure on the Duke guy (whoever it was) to hit those free throws up two and ice the game, assuming UConn didn't get a steal.

But that's the nature of the game. Shabazz Napier did that, as a freshman, to seal a Final Four game against Kentucky. Emeka knew he needed to hit one to ice it against Duke (and hit only one).

It's like Duke was trying not to lose instead of trying to win.
 
.-.
80shusky said:
Not the point here but it is weird to me Duke was the overall #1. I think Arizona is a better, deeper team right now. I think they're better than Michigan also but I guess we will find that out in a few days.
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I agree. I was surprised to learn that every Duke starter from last year's team was not on this team. You will not win an NCAA title with a whole new crew.
 
Excalibur said:
The lack of a 10 second violation is irrelevant. You're playing keep-away, and you use the whole court. Complete the pass, and the game is over. Hold the ball, and it's not. Ball fake, one dribble to the right and you have the passing lane.
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Absolutely relevant. They didn’t NEED to get it up court to avoid a turnover. The argument you’re putting forward is perfectly logical but still relies on a freshman executing a pass against as much pressure as UConn could possibly muster. Two guys absolutely selling out for the deflection because there was no other option. That’s a risk you’re taking by going for the layup (along with the risk of a bad pass out of bounds) that doesn’t exist if you just dribble it and almost certainly get fouled.
 
Danny chipped away and got it to within single digits.

And I said to my son if they get it within single digits, sphincteritis is gonna set in for Duke. It did, and they choked.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
Absolutely relevant. They didn’t NEED to get it up court to avoid a turnover. The argument you’re putting forward is perfectly logical but still relies on a freshman executing a pass against as much pressure as UConn could possibly muster. Two guys absolutely selling out for the deflection because there was no other option. That’s a risk you’re taking by going for the layup (along with the risk of a bad pass out of bounds) that doesn’t exist if you just dribble it and almost certainly get fouled.
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You are asking the same freshman you don’t want passing to dribble through a trap or hold the ball and not get tied up by a plus defender like Demary?
 
nelsonmuntz said:
You are asking the same freshman you don’t want passing to dribble through a trap or hold the ball and not get tied up by a plus defender like Demary?
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Yes. That’s how strategy works. There’s no perfect option, you have to weigh the risks and upsides and make a call. The likelihood of Demary being able to tie up without fouling, when they were already trying to foul and had completely sold out, was VERY minimal. Again, the worst case scenario there is probably a tie up with 3-4 seconds left and Duke still gets to set up their defense. The risks were way higher with what they did. It was just a bad coaching decision.
 
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UConn sure seemed like the better team in the second half- and I like what that means as far as going ahead. If UConn is better (and not just by a little bit) than the #1 team in the country, our chances are really good to keep the momentum going. Re-watching that second half over and over, what stands out is how tough everyone was- Malachi to Tarris. UConn kept scoring and put the pressure on Duke time & time again. Even when Duke would score & temporarily snuff out a UConn rally, UConn came back and would score again. Tarris with another massive effort both offensively and defense. Keep riding the Bear!
 
WhereistheDove? said:
Yes. That’s how strategy works. There’s no perfect option, you have to weigh the risks and upsides and make a call. The likelihood of Demary being able to tie up without fouling, when they were already trying to foul and had completely sold out, was VERY minimal. Again, the worst case scenario there is probably a tie up with 3-4 seconds left and Duke still gets to set up their defense. The risks were way higher with what they did. It was just a bad coaching decision.
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You’re missing basketball fundamentals 101. Catch, turn, face. He does that and he has three options to get the ball to someone with no defender near him. You want him to cradle the ball and ask for a tie up. I seem to remember Colin Gillespie holding the ball against us in 2022. That didn’t go very well.
 
Excalibur said:
You’re missing basketball fundamentals 101. Catch, turn, face. He does that and he has three options to get the ball to someone with no defender near him. You want him to cradle the ball and ask for a tie up. I seem to remember Colin Gillespie holding the ball against us in 2022. That didn’t go very well.
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This is right after he gains possession and turns. If he drives on his path to the left of Mullins there is zero chance Demary can get to him without fouling and an incredibly slim chance Mullins can do it. Keep in mind, Silas and Demary are running towards him at this point to try to foul so their momentum isn’t helping. Instead, Boozer turns and throws it straight in the direction of the guys that have totally sold out. It just wasn’t a good play, wasn’t a good idea, whatever. The risks were just way higher with this approach and it burned them.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
View attachment 119102
This is right after he gains possession and turns. If he drives on his path to the left of Mullins there is zero chance Demary can get to him without fouling and an incredibly slim chance Mullins can do it. Keep in mind, Silas and Demary are running towards him at this point to try to foul so their momentum isn’t helping. Instead, Boozer turns and throws it straight in the direction of the guys that have totally sold out. It just wasn’t a good play, wasn’t a good idea, whatever. The risks were just way higher with this approach and it burned them.
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The problem is that he turns and dribbles right into them.
 
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