Rubber Match Game Thread CU vs. WSU

[capnkirk]

That was my thought too. When you are behind, time becomes your opponent also.

We could have extended the game by fouling on CU's last possession.

And after the layup gave cu a 3 point lead, I thought we should have called time out to put our best shooting line up in. Also, I was surprised CU didn't foul MA before he got the 3 pointer off.

Btw, I have never lost a game while coaching from my couch......

[proshox]

If offense isn't your strength you need more time and possessions; not less. The points are irrelevant.

I guess the best I can say is that my proposed strategy was utilized for two minutes. We made up a nine point gap. The wait and see approach was used in the last thirty seconds and for the first 36 minutes with less success.

I am not guaranteeing a win, but I am confident the odds favor my suggestion. Anytime you are in a tight game it is going to be a toss-up, but lets limit the amount of luck required.

[proshox]

That was my thought too. When you are behind, time becomes your opponent also.

We could have extended the game by fouling on CU's last possession.

And after the layup gave cu a 3 point lead, I thought we should have called time out to put our best shooting line up in. Also, I was surprised CU didn't foul MA before he got the 3 pointer off.

Btw, I have never lost a game while coaching from my couch......

Me too - undefeated coaching basketball since 1978.

[shockfather]

Just got home from an amazing weekend in St. Louis. Here are my comments and observations:

1. Lesson of the day: Pay attention to the rules! It might cost you $50,000.
2. Creighton fans simply outnumbered our fans and Scottrade Center was 4/3 blue. Also, I’ll admit, their student section did a good job of keeping their crowd loud.
3. Malcolm was a stud. Enough said.
4. Shockers were a three away from the tie but a player away from a solid win. CU had four players in double figures while the Shockers only had two. Cle could’ve been the difference maker.
5. CU’s three pointers killed us.
6. Officiating was mediocre. TV does no justice to show how many times Carl Hall was getting banged up inside. It took almost four slaps to the wrist for the officials to call a foul. Still, he was a BEAST and got his points.
7. I agree with Marshall not calling a timeout. People should quit complaining.
8. Wal-Mart sells better rims than the ones being used at the Scottrade Center. Amazing to see how many easy shots would just rim out.
9. This team is in the NCAA’s.

A disappointing loss indeed, but this was an amazing display of MTXE by our Shockers. This team has exceeded goals and will prove to be a challenge for any team in the next upcoming days.

[SubGod22]

If offense isn't your strength you need more time and possessions; not less. The points are irrelevant.

I guess the best I can say is that my proposed strategy was utilized for two minutes. We made up a nine point gap. The wait and see approach was used in the last thirty seconds and for the first 36 minutes with less success.

I am not guaranteeing a win, but I am confident the odds favor my suggestion. Anytime you are in a tight game it is going to be a toss-up, but lets limit the amount of luck required.

I don't recall us fouling to extend the game today. We came back by playing D and keeping them from scoring. I had no problem with not fouling and didn't really consider it when I saw we'd get the ball back with plenty of time to do something no matter what. Had we gotten a stop, our chances greatly increase as CU would be forced to defend the entire floor and not just the three point line. Mal or someone else could have broken down a defender and gotten inside, or fed the Beast and attacked the basket for the win. Personally, I'd rather we take that chance than putting a great FT shooting team on the line for a guaranteed 2 and take my chances on stopping them, which we had been doing the last few minutes.

[vancedave56]

No way would I consider fouling when we would get the ball back with plenty of time - whether or not they scored. There was chance they would not score and we could drive it to the basket only down by one.

[ShockerPrez]

We knew we would get the ball back with 10 or so seconds with a chance to win at the time. There was no need to foul.

Down by 4, yeah.

[proshox]

Amazing. You would all trade one possession for multiple possessions. You would all trade a potential four point game for a worst case three point game.

You must be overestimating the ability to make a three point shot when a possessions starts with less than 12 seconds. You also seem to think that we would only get one chance to win or tie.

One of the factors in both VCU and CU is that you can't give up a three. Therefore you are very exposed to a dribble drive. Which either is a two point shot, a foul, or an And 1.

[proshox]

I don't recall us fouling to extend the game today. We came back by playing D and keeping them from scoring. I had no problem with not fouling and didn't really consider it when I saw we'd get the ball back with plenty of time to do something no matter what. Had we gotten a stop, our chances greatly increase as CU would be forced to defend the entire floor and not just the three point line. Mal or someone else could have broken down a defender and gotten inside, or fed the Beast and attacked the basket for the win. Personally, I'd rather we take that chance than putting a great FT shooting team on the line for a guaranteed 2 and take my chances on stopping them, which we had been doing the last few minutes.

We were trapping, speeding the game up, taking control. Much different than the last thirty seconds.

[garylee]

I realize MA was feeling it but Cle did set a screen up top for him and released as
MA went by. Cle opened up for a three but MA ignored him and ended up taking an
off balanced shot. He also risked being fouled on the floor with under three seconds.
For the game we only had seven assists compared to CU's 18 - you can draw your
own conclusions from that but I suggest it might be worth noting.

[rialaigh]

It's really simple guys and it really does come down to one statistic. We shot 38% against our win over creighton, we shot 34% in our loss yesterday. Fact 1 is we were lucky to win shooting 38%. Fact 2 is that we, simply put, we will not be winning many games shooting less then 35%....NCAA tourny, valley play, next year, 10 years from now, doesn't matter. If we shoot less then 35% you just can't make a great argument for why we deserve to win a game...

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I realize MA was feeling it but Cle did set a screen up top for him and released as
MA went by. Cle opened up for a three but MA ignored him and ended up taking an
off balanced shot. He also risked being fouled on the floor with under three seconds.
For the game we only had seven assists compared to CU's 18 - you can draw your
own conclusions from that but I suggest it might be worth noting.

Malcolm was perfectly screened from Cleanthony

[1972Shocker]

Down by 11 with 3:30 to go. End up with a final possession with a chance to tie and get the game to overtime. Held Creighton to 5 points over the final 5 minutes of he game. Must have been some OK strategy and execution in there somewhere. Now some of the things we did which allowed Creighton to build the double digit lead perhaps deserve some questioning, but I'm not going to complain much about the final 4 to 5 minutes of the game.

[Shockeriffic]

Amazing. You would all trade one possession for multiple possessions. You would all trade a potential four point game for a worst case three point game.

You must be overestimating the ability to make a three point shot when a possessions starts with less than 12 seconds. You also seem to think that we would only get one chance to win or tie.

One of the factors in both VCU and CU is that you can't give up a three. Therefore you are very exposed to a dribble drive. Which either is a two point shot, a foul, or an And 1.

Some of it depends on the situation as well. I would foul Echenique over playing defense but he never got the ball. I would choose to play with Williams guarding Manigat over fouling any non-Echenique player.

[60Shock]

Ya don't think that perhaps we would have had more assists had we made more shots? We also missed quite a few right under the basket of which, as pointed out, were caused by uncalled hacking fouls.