Mistake by Cal: not to foul with under 50 sec

[HooHusky]

Cal claimed he didn't foul at the end because we were too good at the line.

Mistake. He had 3 fouls to use, to put us on the line 3 times for 1&1. He's got to take the chance. Even at 88%, we might still miss the front end of one of those. If so, it's a one possession game.

Just the thought of the dominant free throw shooting caused the No Mas. Thanks, we'll take it.

 

[Bryan Lord]

No Mas!

 

[Sportsman5]

terrible mistake. no debate.

 

[RayRay19]

Aka...As I say...fantastic recruiter...horrible coach.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Cal is a world class college baseball recruiter. And, he's at Kentucky (who can't recruit there). But . . . who ever said that translated into the ability to coach.

 

[Adios]

It's Calipari. C'mon. Just playing against Calipari is an advantage.

 

[mauconnfan]

A bad mistake or a real good thought? He was right in a way guys and gals…….we made him coach to the fact our guys made FT's like they were taking candy from a baby……..it helped!!!

 

[PacificStorm]

Calipari made the correct decision. They had only 1 foul to give and with another foul committed a new 35- second clock would begin. Four points down, they would at best have 1 possession. Unless they fouled again -- which would put Uconn at the FT line.

 

[Scot-e]

F Cal. Just hot back to my room at the UCONN hotel a d all I can say is

DOOMED!!!!!!

 

[THC]

F Cal. Just hot back to my room at the UCONN hotel a d all I can say is

DOOMED!!!!!!

Why so early? Get back out there and tell all those dejected hayseeds to $uck it!

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Exactly the same thing Donovan did on Saturday, and said so much afterwards - there was no point in putting us on the line, it'd be two free points. It sort of got to the point where our foul shooting in the last few minutes was like facing Rivera in the 9th of a World Series game.

 

[progrocks]

UK screwed up the last minute of the 2nd half, we screwed up the last minute of the 1st. Fouling may have been useless but it was the only way they could have taken the lead.

 

[Gurleyman]

UK screwed up the last minute of the 2nd half, we screwed up the last minute of the 1st. Fouling may have been useless but it was the only way they could have taken the lead.

I was mostly ok with what we did at the end of the first. We had 2 of our 3 best guys on the bench and were sputtering. Just shorten the half and get our A team back out there and regroup. If you try to go 2 for 1, you may end up giving them two possessions, either by turning it over with 50 seconds left (as Samuel did with 30 left) and giving them a fast break or by something bad happening if they trap the ball out of Napier's hands on the last possession. If we had our regular lineup out there, I'd have maybe wanted them to go quicker, but I was content being patient. Would have preferred Bazz had the ball and not Samuel, but the defense was only paying attention to Bazz since we had no other scorers out there.

2 for 1 also doesn't always work as well in college in the first half because the clock keeps running after a made basket (it stops in the second). So you can make a shot with 45 seconds left, and 5 more seconds tick off before it is inbounded, and the other team can essentially hold for one anyway. If you shoot with 50, the other team can leak out for a fast break and possibly get two possessions.

 

[Danzz]

I think he made the right call but we'll never know. Putting us on the line when we haven't missed a FT would have been dumb.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Yes, incredibly bad strategy to not foul there. It's a 4 point game with 40 seconds left and he was willing to keep it a 4 point game (at best, assuming we don't score) with around 15 seconds left? That doesn't make any sense at all.

Plus like others have pointed out, it would have been a 1-and-1, not 2 shots. And I get that you don't want to foul Napier or Boatright....so double team them like crazy and get them to pass to somebody else. It's not rocket science.

 

[8893]

Did anyone see the hallway interview with Calipari on ESPN around 1:00 a.m., where his shirt was untucked, etc.? He said the loss was his fault because they were such young kids and needed more from him than he had to give in the closing moments. He was asked to elaborate, and I was stunned at how glaringly he showed his absolute lack of in-game coaching insight when he said he should have had "some little defensive play or something I could have told them to do in that situation," or words to that effect. In context, it seemed to me that he was openly admitting that, when needed to actually coach, he had nothing to offer these kids. He just expected them to figure it out. Amazing.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

It's not really even debatable whether or not this was an idiotic move. If they foul, they probably lose. If they don't, it guarantees it. Mind boggling how you let 30 seconds run off the clock under a minute left. The Lakers want to hire this brilliant basketball mind?

 

[Tenspro2002]

Once they fouled at 55 seconds, which was a mistake, they were committed to fouling the rest of the way. It's inexplicable why they didn't.

You know it was the wrong strategy simply on the basis that the entire UConn was base was giddy with relief as those 30 seconds ticked off the clock.

 

[B1GEast]

you can't assume that free throws will be made, dumb, but I'm happy he thought he knew what he was doing

 

[Bryan Lord]

If we didn't foul in that situation this placed would be burnt to the ground. Even if Kentucky shot at 95%.

 

[iri10]

It's amazing how much UConn's free throw shooting got in the heads of more than one experienced coach. I know we were incredible at it this tournament...but you've got to at least try to make us earn it from the stripe, don't you?

Even in today's 3 point shooting era, the free throw is a powerful weapon when shot well.

 

[SWHuskyFan]

It's amazing how the end of these last 3 games went. All three great coaches essentially threw in the towel. I agree that Cal should have fouled especially after they committed the 6th foul. We shot 90% for the tournanment, that gives them a 10% chance that we miss the front end of the next couple 1 and 1s. That's a lot better than zero chance. They were down 4, that's 2 possessions and Cal gave them no chance at having 2 possessions. That means they had a 0% chance of winning unless we stupidly foul them taking a three, they make it and they actually find a ref who will call it. I'd say the fouling thing had a much better chance of working.

 

[DrewDog85]

Exactly the same thing Donovan did on Saturday, and said so much afterwards - there was no point in putting us on the line, it'd be two free points. It sort of got to the point where our foul shooting in the last few minutes was like facing Rivera in the 9th of a World Series game.

Rivera in the 9th of a World series game???? Don't you remember Arizona Dbacks 2001 walk off win against Mariano???

 

[Dogdeacon]

Not sure what was worse, the foul to call a timeout or the not intentionally fouling immediately after (or at all). Especially when the foul to call the timeout was #6. Combined each decision was even dumber.

 

[BankShot]

It was insane to think but I knew that if we had a 7 point lead going into the last 1:30, we had a 99% chance we were going to win. When you know the other team is automatic from the line, and you need the ball you're in trouble.