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Post by valpo89 on Dec 26, 2010 19:51:54 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure the Hamilton and Wright layups were basically "uncontested." I remember thinking at the time "Maybe they should make this a little more difficult," due to questioning Valpo's ability to hit pressure free throws in the closing minute of a tight game. Especially when Buggs is the player who had the ball in his hands and was getting fouled.
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Post by fwalum on Dec 26, 2010 21:19:55 GMT -5
I was there, wh. I don't recall any uncontested layups in the final minute. Lots of contested 3s for the most part. As I mentioned, we led by 12 with 1:09 left (99-87). Oakland scoring from that point to the end of the game: 1:03 Layup by Hamilton followed by an Oakland timeout. It took Oakland 6 seconds to go the full length of the court and score an uncontested layup. 0:53 Layup by Wright. This followed a missed free throw by Ryan at the 0:59 mark. Again, it took Oakland exactly 6 seconds to go the full length of the court and score a layup. 0:24 3-PTR by Bader. This came 1 second after a turnover by Buggs and ensuing Oakland TO at the 0:25 mark. 0:14 3-PTR by Wright. This came 4 seconds after a made FT by Buggs on the other end of the court at the 0:18 mark. 0:04 3-PTR by Wright. This came 4 seconds after a missed FT by Ryan at the opposite end of the court at the 0:08 mark. Now let me go all the way back to my original comment: I'm sure our coaching staff watched Butler's impressive win over Wash. St. I hope they took note of how Butler closed out the game. Similar to our game against Oakland, Butler had a double digit lead late. Unlike us, they never fully took the air out of the ball on offense or softened up on defense. On offense they continued to push the ball, pass aggressively in their motion offense, set hard picks, and look to score. On defense they continued to make the WSU guards give up the ball and work for a shot, right up to their last possession. No walks in the park for uncontested layups like we allowed Oakland's guards to do. It took Oakland a total of 21 seconds (4 seconds/possession) to score 5 baskets on 5 possessions. I'm not sure why we're even having this discussion... From a coaching stand point the issue is the missed free throws, who was taking the free throws and lack of clock stoppage. I know this may sound crazy and you are probably saying that Oakland wants the clock to stop not us, but just hear me out. Oakland does not necessarily want the clock to stop, they want changes in possession and to score quickly. According to the play by play only two of their scoring possessions came after a break in the action giving us time to get back and set up defensively. Not sure on how many of the free throws we kept people on the line, but I think it was most of them. Most likely Homer was telling our guys not to foul. All of these factor really worked in Oakland's favor. There was a lot of helter skelter going on during the Oakland possessions and I was surprised that some of the long 3's went in. If I remember correctly only one of the made threes was closer than about 23 feet. Could the defense have been better? Yes, it wasn't great but it also wasn't terrible. If we make just 50% of our free throws are we having this conversation? Probably not. If we make 6 free throws instead of 4 we probably are better set up to defend the 3 and if even one of them doesn't go, or we force an extra pass, then we win most likely by at least 6 instead of 1.
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Post by rlh on Dec 26, 2010 21:27:47 GMT -5
Look, I don't want an argument about this...your play by play description proves what I said, their last 11 points were a layup and 3 3's. I thought all of which were contested, and i guess it depends on what you consider contested. I'm sure we were told not to foul, so even if uncontested, they were still 3's. The facts ARE, we did not give up uncontested layups and that was my only point. We need to hit free throws and close out games...on that we both agree.
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Post by stlvufan on Dec 26, 2010 21:46:41 GMT -5
RLH brought up the point I forgot about but I remember thinking during the final minute: don't foul. That probably played into it as well.
I stand by my comment that the made 3s were the most important part of the run for OU, and echo the comment of others that the most important part of the run for VU was the missed FTs. Defense wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible either -- not even close.
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