It’s not hard to lose when you don’t try to win; or when you try not to lose! And stop calling STUPID timeouts!
By Eric Berry
By now there’s been much talk around the office water cooler regarding Duke’s collapse(my take) and UCONN’s win(everyone who is a UCONN fan’s take) in last night’s game and the latest version of March Madness!
As usual I will offer my take on what I saw from my point of view:
Jon Scheyer choked. And Jon Scheyer overcoached. Then he undercoached. Let me explain further. With one minute and twenty seconds left on the game clock and eighteen seconds on the shot clock Coach Scheyer called timeout as Duke had the ball and a four point lead. At this point I got off the couch and screamed at the top of my lungs for the first time in the game. Unusual for me but as you guessed it probably not the first time ever. Why did he feel obligated to call timeout? He had two left, the lead, the ball, the clock is ticking; so why, just why? Was he going to go over something profound and new? ‘Hey guys, let’s get the ball to Cam Boozer’? It’s literally Game 38 for his team. Can’t he just say let’s run “Don’t Choke play” or whatever the playsheet has for playcalls that they’ve been through a million times? Can’t he orchestrate that from the sideline?
I hate live ball timeouts that stop the clock when teams are leading the game. I hate them. If someone is in trouble with the ball, I get it – but no one was in trouble yesterday except UCONN. I see coaches call timeouts now after they score on a fastbreak and all the momentum is going their way and it absolutely kills me? It reminds me of the scene in A Few Good Men when Colonel Jessup says to Daniel Kaffee, ‘I’m an educated man but I can’t speak about the travel habits of William Santiago, now, are these really the questions that I was called here to answer? Phone calls and foot lockers?”. At least in that made up courtroom there was a progression in the line of questioning leading to an eventual point. I see no point in calling a timeout to quell your own momentum or point out to your team some new brilliant play. And, as we saw, there was no brilliant play. In fact, as soon as Duke got the ball in bounds(go back and watch it) Scheyer started waving his arms like a Boston Pops conductor, almost telling each player where to go. Didn’t he just call timeout and tell them what to do? Was his play really to have Cam Boozer get the ball way above the foul line and dribble it around eventually off his foot and turn it over? Well, no. But why not get the ball down low to said Boozer? How can a team so organized be totally organized? Paralysis by analysis? Just run a standard play you’ve run all year long. Throw it in to Cam Boozer in the post and let the chips fall where they may! Further, if they get a shot off there with one or two seconds on the shot clock it takes at least another one, two or three seconds off the clock before anyone has the rebound(at least typically).
OK, so that didn’t work out and now you only have one timeout left. Fast forward and Alex Karaban makes a three point field goal as Cam Boozer who just turned it over doesn’t even try to get out over a screen to stop the shot. Was that discussed in the huddle? ‘Hey guys, gotta get out on the three point shots here’? It may have been but who knows. It’s all part of the ‘we’re not trying to win – which, in turn, means we are trying not to lose’ which doesn’t work well in sports.
Now with 28.9 seconds left, after Cam Boozer made a nice inside shot(now couldn’t they have done that before?) UCONN is allowed to roll the ball in in the backcourt, without any pressure from Duke, saving themselves about a second on the clock as they bring it across halfcourt and call timeout to set up their last second effort to tie the game. So far Duke, and Jon Scheyer, has allowed UCONN and Danny Hurley to lengthen the game by two or three seconds.
OK, UCONN comes out of the timeout and wastes about 18.9 seconds before Silas Demery gets fouled by the bigger Boozer. Not a horrible foul but tremendously lazy once again(go watch it). Because of it they are allowed to stop the clock and get to the line with ten seconds remaining. I have a couple of thoughts here. A) Duke did a good job not relinquishing a three-point shot, which has to be a priority, and B) Lots of time went off the clock, and C) Don’t let anyone get an open two either, you’d rather foul them than let them have an easy lay up, but D) Don’t foul someone not in the act of shooting cause they are in the bonus and we don’t want to stop the clock! I know, there’s a lot to think about there.
Now, UCONN’s Demery misses the first shot so Duke remains up three. He makes the second and makes it a two-point game. Duke has one timeout remaining. But now I’m hearing Jon Scheyer didn’t want to call a timeout in THAT situation cause they got what they wanted on the inbounds. True, they didn’t get fouled and they turned it over and lost on a three point shot. Is that what they wanted? The other line of thinking was, and I heard this elsewhere, was he didn’t want to use his last timeout and turn it over on a five second call. Wait, what? Are you freaking kidding me right now? So, you’ll call a live ball/clock running timeout when you have the ball and stop the clock and not worry about it then but won’t call timeout in the most important sequence for your team? If you are selling I ain’t buying sir.
I’ll add another layer to everything – and I’ve had conversations with a ton of coaches about this one too. Do you really let someone take a three-point shot with the final four on the line? This is a little different in that it was a scramble mode situation but if I’m up two I’m just not letting someone shoot a three to potentially knock my team out of the tournament. Ain’t happening. I’ll take OT. Might be a little cray cray but still.
Maybe Coach Scheyer was fearful they wouldn’t be able to get the ball in bounds as mentioned above given their inability to do it against Houston last year in the final four. I mean they put on a clinic on how not to adjust in that game so it could be they didn’t want to run into the same scenario. Well congratulations you added a new scenario. By not calling a timeout with ten seconds to go you went from overcoaching to undercoaching in just about a minute of play. Pathetic.
OK, I don’t want to hear that culture won the game!
By now I’ve seen countless ESPN/Fox announcers talk about how winning culture won the game for UCONN and Danny Hurley is Jesus Christ’s little brother. He’s actually Bobby’s little bro and no, a winning culture didn’t win the game. I’ll 100% agree he’s done a phenomenal job at UCONN, and I’ll admit that he does have a winning culture. But that had zero to do with it. It’s a confluence of factors. Turnovers, poor coaching, some unbelievable luck for one team. I do believe that he coached his butt off and is a great coach. Still, culture and winning mentality had zero to do with it. Duke has culture – more than UCONN has had in the history of college hoops – no one in their right mind can argue that – and more of a winning history. The simple fact of the matter is Duke has now lost a 14 point lead in the Final Four under Jon Scheyer and they’ve lost a 19 point lead with a trip to the Final Four on the line under said coach. Duke you have a problem!
Scheyer is a great coach, and no doubt a classy guy, but he falls into the category of “textbook” coaches who call timeouts to “show the world I am coach” like so many others do and definitely needs to figure some stuff out. On the other hand, Danny Hurley coached with his gut, and his demeanor and tenacity(way opposite of chess playing Jon), kept his players engaged and gave them belief they were going to win. And win they did. Not cause of culture but because of failure by one and success by another and by the collection of factors noted above.
All of that being said – I cannot wait for the Final Four!
The opinions expressed by EB are solely his and do not reflect those of NSN. If you’d like to reach out to EB, please contact him at eberry@nsnsports.net. You can read all of Eric’s blogs at www.nsnsports.net.