With 6 seconds left...

[kstarheel]

Ragland and there is no other answer.

[XManCometh]

Why don't we just give it to our best player (Kyles), set a screen, then let him heave up a 3 for the win/tie. You can't do much passing of the ball with only 6 seconds left.

We tried that approach on one key possession late in the game and David promptly clanged it off the side of the backboard. :D

At least he got a shot off. I haven't seen Toure do that lately. 8)

[WstateU]

Why don't we just give it to our best player (Kyles), set a screen, then let him heave up a 3 for the win/tie. You can't do much passing of the ball with only 6 seconds left.

We tried that approach on one key possession late in the game and David promptly clanged it off the side of the backboard. :D

At least he got a shot off. I haven't seen Toure do that lately. 8)

No, Toure' tosses the 'hot potato' to the guy next to him with a tenth of a second remaining. :D

[vancedave56]

With 6 seconds JT should have the ball, backing his man down, step through to the basket at 2 seconds or his turn around fade away shot. I would take my chance on either.

[Kung Wu]

With 6 seconds JT should have the ball, backing his man down, step through to the basket at 2 seconds or his turn around fade away shot. I would take my chance on either.

So you don't mind losing by 1 point then? ;-)

[XManCometh]

With 6 seconds JT should have the ball, backing his man down, step through to the basket at 2 seconds or his turn around fade away shot. I would take my chance on either.

JT in the paint (or just outside of it) would get double teamed the milisecond he started to back down. When that happens, there would be about 3 seconds to acknowledge the double team, look to find an open man, make the pass and have the open guy shoot.

6 seconds isn't very long.

Plus, if you're down 3 then you can't expect JT to take a fade away from beyond the arc while backing someone down. ;)

[vancedave56]

Who said backing down someone from beyond the arc? If they do double him, he is fully capable of kicking it out. At this point, he is our best option for scoring and/or getting fouled.

[forevershockerfan]

I have never made one thin dime coachin from this rockin chair. With that said, I would have preferred Rags to bring down the ball and either shoot the 3 or hit an open Shock for 3 with 3-4 seconds left to play. Probably not even enough time left for a tip in if we miss, and so on and so forth. What if?

The problem was not so much how that play ended after putting ourselves in a precarious situation in the first place. The problem was a lack of execution, much of the night, by many of our 10 players that played. Only 6 assists and around 15 turnovers cuts deep.

[vancedave56]

OK, I didn't realize we were talking specifically about being down by 3 - my bad. I was just looking for 2 at the end of the game.

Going for 3, I would still run a pick and roll with a shooter (Kyles or Rags) and JT outside the arc out front. Pop Ben out from a screen on the wing. The ball handler could have a shot, Smith could have a shot, or back to JT after setting the pick. My apologies.

[vancedave56]

...then players must execute...and keep in mind...the only thing the opposition will be defending is the 3; they couldn't care less about defending inside the arc at this point...at least they shouldn't.

[KC Shox]

You know what, the game shouldn't even have come down to praying for a 3 point basket. It just happened to be the last blown play of a game full of bad plays. I can say this though, the Toure magic as a freshman nailing down game winners has gone the way of the DoDo.

[Snapshot9]

They started being in trouble with 6 1/2 minutes left on the clock. They should have taken control of the game then, and we would have had to try for a 'Hail Mary' shot.

[WSUwatcher]

Ragland

Surely Ragland and Kyles are the two fastest guys on the dribble? If so, let one of them bring it up and either fire away himself or pass it to Murry for a freshman reprise. TM needs to catch and shoot.

Of course, if all that is right, then probably the opposing coaches, who actually get paid to do this sort of thing and watch game film to scout such situations, are thinking along the same lines, in which case their guys will be instructed to try to take away Ragland and Kyles and let Murry bring it up himself for a Missouri State flashback.

That's one of the flaws in our learned coaching discussions on here: in real life, the other team has something to say about what happens, too.

[RHshoxfan]

Let a PG have the ball, aka.. Ragland or Williams, Toure should always be our 3rd option for point. Set screens for hopefully Kyles and if not, Ben Smith or even Hatch or Durley for a 3 before Toure touches the ball

[vancedave56]

You know what, the game shouldn't even have come down to praying for a 3 point basket. It just happened to be the last blown play of a game full of bad plays. I can say this though, the Toure magic as a freshman nailing down game winners has gone the way of the DoDo.

This. I really think we only played the first 5 minutes - the rest of the game was blown.