Walz & Schimmel -- almost a legendary finish.

[Kibitzer]

Several times during the last couple minutes of the Maryland v. Louisville game, a Terp player would make a bucket or knock down a free throw and I would say, "Well, that's it. Game over. Turn out the lights. Party's over." Thinking with ultimate certainty that the Maryland lead had just become statistically impossible to overcome.

HAH! Shows what I know.

I didn't even wildly imagine that Maryland players would so carelessly give the ball away, that 'Ville would mount such a furious comeback or that Shoni would nail seemingly impossible treys, one after the other.

Then that final play, diagrammed in a huddle (thanks to Brenda generously calling time out) was pure genius in its concept and almost heroic in its execution.

But alas! Shoni was not Doug Flutie or Franco Harris and her desperate trey bounced off the rim. Took smart guys like me off the hook.

 

[Striper69]

Too bad she didn't hit it. That would've been nice.

 

[easttexastrash]

Seeing the ball fall harmlessly off the rim made my night.

 

[Striper69]

Seeing the ball fall harmlessly off the rim made my night.

I'm glad I don't really have a favorite team. LOL!

I pretty much like all of them

 

[dtbtbtb]

That last play showed how great a coach Jeff W. is! It was a briliant play that almost worked

 

[Striper69]

That last play showed how great a coach Jeff W. is! It was a briliant play that almost worked

I'm not sure about that. They had a lead at home in the second half and lost it. It seemed like he was depending on Shoni too much like Mulkey was depending on Sims.

They shouldn't have been in that position.

 

[VAMike23]

Several times during the last couple minutes of the Maryland v. Louisville game, a Terp player would make a bucket or knock down a free throw and I would say, "Well, that's it. Game over. Turn out the lights. Party's over." Thinking with ultimate certainty that the Maryland lead had just become statistically impossible to overcome.

HAH! Shows what I know.

I didn't even wildly imagine that Maryland players would so carelessly give the ball away, that 'Ville would mount such a furious comeback or that Shoni would nail seemingly impossible treys, one after the other.

Then that final play, diagrammed in a huddle (thanks to Brenda generously calling time out) was pure genius in its concept and almost heroic in its execution.

But alas! Shoni was not Doug Flutie or Franco Harris and her desperate trey bounced off the rim. Took smart guys like me off the hook.

I felt EXACTLY the same way. Twice I said to myself, OK - the jig's up. Louisville is toast. Switched the channel, then checked the score on my phone and said, "WHAT?!?!?!" Back to the TV.

That last sequence, I thought for sure that Shoni would sink the final 3 to tie it. That would have been priceless.

I, also, was wondering why Brenda called time-out. Not the best move, net-net IMO.

 

[easttexastrash]

Maryland almost gave it away with all those turnovers down the stretch. I couldn't understand why Thomas was not the one handling the ball.

 

[Zorro]

Did anyone count how many cold layups/chippies Louisville missed in the second half? It is a wonder that Walz had not torn every hair out of his head. I had all available digits crossed for that last shot to go in; would have been possibly the most improbable comeback in the history of the wcbb tourney. And I would have just loved to see the closeup of Brenda's face. What in the name of Saint Patricia could she have been thinking to call that last time out? Way beyond dumb.

 

[snowkot]

I felt EXACTLY the same way. Twice I said to myself...

+1. Definitely more than twice though...

Shoni Schimmel's last 5 minutes were like a metaphor for her career. Beyond brilliant at times, head-scratchingly poor at others.

From about the 15 minute mark on she's having an absolutely dreadful second half (hence the multiple temptations to call "game over"). Turnover. Missed layup. Turnover. Not a single made jumper.

Louisville's deficit climbs to double digits and pretty much hangs there. 70-62, 32 seconds to go. Thanks for playing - enjoy these lovely parting gifts.

Then, without a hint of evidence, without any sort of indication that things are about to change...

A startling, massive 3 at 0:31. A downright sick one at 0:20. An almost preposterous one with a hand in her face at 0:07, and suddenly Louisville are down 2. Seriously Maryland?!?!?

An Alyssa Thomas missed free throw, and 6 seconds later she's got a clear look at a 3 to tie. Probably the most straightforward shot of the 4 - surely its going in - surely we're headed to overtime!

Nope - off the rim.

And so concludes one of the more colorful, contradictory, always entertaining college careers we've seen come along in WCBB in some time.

Promise unfilled? Maybe. Roadblocked byUConn? Definitely.

But she'll always have Baylor...

 

[Striper69]

She was trying to do too much probably because of the way things went in the first half. That one layup she tried to over-fake by doing a behind the back fake and wound up not being able to finish the layup.

 

[VAMike23]

+1. Definitely more than twice though...

Shoni Schimmel's last 5 minutes were like a metaphor for her career. Beyond brilliant at times, head-scratchingly poor at others.

From about the 15 minute mark on she's having an absolutely dreadful second half (hence the multiple temptations to call "game over"). Turnover. Missed layup. Turnover. Not a single made jumper.

Louisville's deficit climbs to double digits and pretty much hangs there. 70-62, 32 seconds to go. Thanks for playing - enjoy these lovely parting gifts.

Then, without a hint of evidence, without any sort of indication that things are about to change...

A startling, massive 3 at 0:31. A downright sick one at 0:20. An almost preposterous one with a hand in her face at 0:07, and suddenly Louisville are down 2. Seriously Maryland?!?!?

An Alyssa Thomas missed free throw, and 6 seconds later she's got a clear look at a 3 to tie. Probably the most straightforward shot of the 4 - surely its going in - surely we're headed to overtime!

Nope - off the rim.

And so concludes one of the more colorful, contradictory, always entertaining college careers we've seen come along in WCBB in some time.

Promise unfilled? Maybe. Roadblocked byUConn? Definitely.

But she'll always have Baylor...

Great post! Love the closer!!

And great observation that the closing stanza was, in some ways, a microcosm of Shoni's career.

Having said that, did you notice her smile even after the buzzer sounded? It looked to me like she was saying, "You know what? We had our shot. We scrapped and scraped for it, surprising everybody in the last 3 minutes, and we took it. We scared the living sh&t out of them. We emptied the chamber and left it all out there." I really liked that moment. She acknowledged the good fight. If Maryland had closed out well (and wow, did they ever NOT!) and had the margin held firm at 8-10 points throughout the last 3 minutes and had she NOT drained some truly *signature* Shoni Bombs, she would have felt pretty empty.

But they didn't, she did, and I think she was only too happy to go down swinging. Vintage Shoni, to be sure.

 

[semper]

I think Waltz is a wonderful coach, and I'm really sorry they lost. Don't like the scratch out their eyes mentality, not a bit. But he is very smart, and so fun to watch. Sorry ETT, but your reasons for disliking them I can't buy into, last year or this year.

 

[Striper69]

+1. Definitely more than twice though...

Shoni Schimmel's last 5 minutes were like a metaphor for her career. Beyond brilliant at times, head-scratchingly poor at others.

From about the 15 minute mark on she's having an absolutely dreadful second half (hence the multiple temptations to call "game over"). Turnover. Missed layup. Turnover. Not a single made jumper.

Louisville's deficit climbs to double digits and pretty much hangs there. 70-62, 32 seconds to go. Thanks for playing - enjoy these lovely parting gifts.

Then, without a hint of evidence, without any sort of indication that things are about to change...

A startling, massive 3 at 0:31. A downright sick one at 0:20. An almost preposterous one with a hand in her face at 0:07, and suddenly Louisville are down 2. Seriously Maryland?!?!?

An Alyssa Thomas missed free throw, and 6 seconds later she's got a clear look at a 3 to tie. Probably the most straightforward shot of the 4 - surely its going in - surely we're headed to overtime!

Nope - off the rim.

And so concludes one of the more colorful, contradictory, always entertaining college careers we've seen come along in WCBB in some time.

Promise unfilled? Maybe. Roadblocked byUConn? Definitely.

But she'll always have Baylor...

Roadblocked by UCONN- I think not. UCONN helped her get noticed. Everyone wanted to see if she could do the same thing to UCONN that she helped do to Baylor. Slay another giant.

Now everyone knows her and it'll only help her in the pros.

If she goes to New York it may be "Lin-Sanity" like mania all over again.

 

[Striper69]

Great post! Love the closer!!

And great observation that the closing stanza was, in some ways, a microcosm for Shoni's career.

Having said that, did you notice her smile even after the buzzer sounded? It looked to me like she was saying, "You know what? We had our shot. We scrapped and scraped for it, surprising everybody in the last 3 minutes, and we took it. We scared the living sh&t out of them. We emptied the chamber and left it all out there." I really liked that moment. She acknowledged the good fight. If Maryland had closed out well (wow, did they ever NOT!) and had the margin held firm at 8-10 points throughout the last 3 minutes and had she NOT drained some truly *signature* Shoni Bombs, she would have felt pretty empty.

But they didn't, she did, and I think she was only too happy to go down swinging. Vintage Shoni, to be sure.

Yep.

One thing I haven't quite gotten used to is that the players who are leaving the college game get so emotional. This is the first year I've been able to closely follow the women's tournament. It's kinda unnerving to see how some of the girls cry after they lose that last game.

You don't see that in men's ball.

 

[VAUConnFan]

That last play showed how great a coach Jeff W. is! It was a briliant play that almost worked

Yes, it almost worked, it was executed to perfection, but it is a mere variation of a play run throughout basketball history, the two most notably successful was Christian Laettner against UConn in the Elite 8 game back in 1990, and Bryce Drew against Ole Miss in 1998: And, recently run unsuccessfully by the UConn men against St. Joe's.

 

[toadfoot]

My take was that Louisville, and the Schimmel's in particular, panicked in the 2nd half when they got down 9 with about 11 minutes to go. Shoni & Jude both turned the ball over twice during a 6½ minute stretch and Shoni forced a number of quick, poor shots. At one point I turned to my wife and said they just needed to calm down and play their game and look for good shots and that there was plenty of time left. I recall a couple of times during that stretch when the camera panned to Walz and he was giving his players the classic "slowdown" hand signal, so I suspect he was seeing the same thing I was seeing.

Definitely agree with snowkot that this was a microcosm of Shoni's career, especially the last 11 minutes. From the 11 minute mark to 30 seconds left she was awful and then the last 30 seconds she made 3 bombs and almost pulled the game out of the fire.

On a side note, I shudder to think how good Duke could be if they hired Walz. Not sure how many more years Geno intends to coach, but Walz would be on short list to succeed him.

 

[Striper69]

None of the other girls stepped up though. Slaughter wasn't hitting the threes and Hammond was in foul trouble (once again).

 

[boontonbomber]

Did anyone count how many cold layups/chippies Louisville missed in the second half? It is a wonder that Walz had not torn every hair out of his head. I had all available digits crossed for that last shot to go in; would have been possibly the most improbable comeback in the history of the wcbb tourney. And I would have just loved to see the closeup of Brenda's face. What in the name of Saint Patricia could she have been thinking to call that last time out? Way beyond dumb.

timeout was taken to decide whether to foul or play defense. seems reasonable to me.

 

[VAUConnFan]

timeout was taken to decide whether to foul or play defense. seems reasonable to me.

And to me as well. You have to set your defense and determine strategy. I have seen coaches use two timeouts in similar situations, the second to see how the opposing team is going to set up on their out of bounds play. Often, I have seen coaches come out of the first timeout indicating that they are not going to guard the inbounds pass, then come out of the second with a tall player challenging the inbounds passer.

 

[UcMiami]

Yep.

One thing I haven't quite gotten used to is that the players who are leaving the college game get so emotional. This is the first year I've been able to closely follow the women's tournament. It's kinda unnerving to see how some of the girls cry after they lose that last game.

You don't see that in men's ball.

Occasionally you do see men with towels over their heads because it isn't acceptable for them to cry in public, but that is a societal standard we have set - women cry, men don't and you see it across a number of areas of life - both for joy and sorrow.
(It is equally emotional for either men or women when they lose at the end of a four year career - women let it out, men bottle it up until they can find something to hit! ) (And of course half the team on the mens side only invested 6 months in their college career, and are glad they can finally openly spend that wad of cash from their agent and go out and buy a cool car!)

 

[Kibitzer]

None of the other girls stepped up though. Slaughter wasn't hitting the threes and Hammond was in foul trouble (once again).

Hammond of Louisville and Reimer of Notre Dame are two players that UConn recruited, but both are pursuing their dreams elsewhere. My impresseion is that both seem to spend a lot of time in foul trouble. If I am correct (our BY stats geeks can back me up or cut me down), I guess this calls for at least a hmmmm.

 

[Striper69]

timeout was taken to decide whether to foul or play defense. seems reasonable to me.

Everybody jumped on the NY Knicks coach when he let the team play on this season during a situation like this. It turned out bad in that instance and he took a lot of heat.

She did the right thing. She said she let the players decide how to defend it.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Jeff famously drew up the play for Tolliver to hit the 3-pointer at the end of regulation in the 2006 national title game. I thought it might be déjà vu.

Geno summed up Shoni well: She makes shots other players don't even think of taking. I kinda like her.

 

[Striper69]

Yeah, it worked out for the Terps this time but just a few weeks ago remember what happened on the men's side when they fouled the guy taking the three and lost the game.

The safe thing would've been to foul Taylor as soon as she touched the ball. The worst that could happen is they make two free throws.

I wonder if they wanted to give Louisville a chance to tie and give the crowd a thrill? Hmmm...