BASKETBALL ENDGAME DECISION

After watching a game last night, I became interested in how teams defend a "homerun" play when you are up 2 or 3 points and the other team has the ball out under their own basket with 5 or less seconds left.

Should you put a tall defender on the ball and make it difficult to throw over him or should you have the man guarding the ball play centerfield and and help on the long ball?

Kentucky in its famous 1992 game vs. Duke (Christen Laettner hit a shot at the buzzer on a homerun look) chose to not put a defender on the ball and double Laettner instead. This did not work as Laettner still caught the ball.



I believe that you have to make it difficult to throw the pass. You may deflect it or you may make the passer miss his target. Therefore I would put a defender on the ball.

What do you think?

2009 BASKETBALL SEASON BRINGS NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

As the 2009 basketball season begins to heat up, I will begin my first post in over 6 months with my basketball new years resolutions.

Resolution #1 - I will never post on my blog anything about, alluding to, or referencing the NBA.

Resolution #2 - I will watch at least one full NCAA game from each of the 6 major conferences BEFORE March. I will then reap the rewards when filling out my brackets.

Resolution #3 - I will tape ALL the first and second round games of the NCAA tourney. I will then go back and analyze what makes good teams good.

Resolution #4 - I will post more often on my blog...therefore I will piss off more people then last year.

Resolution #5 - I will stop pointing out the faults of the cougar basketball program...their won loss record will do it for me.

Have a Merry Christmas

THE ASSISTANT BASKETBALL COACH

TIMEOUT: NBA IS BORING

The college basketball season finished only 2 days ago but I am already feeling the withdrawals. No basketball! How could this be. Oh I know...the NBA is still going on, in fact it is moving into the playoffs but like I said there is no basketball going on. The NBA is more freeze tag then it is basketball. The NBA should stand for "NOT BASKETBALL ANYMORE". It is boring and so here goes PART 1 of my blog series "Why the NBA is boring":

Reason #1: Too many timeouts

I tried watching an NBA game the other night. It was a heated contest between two playoff teams. The score was tied and there was under 1 minute left. After 5 timeouts and 15 commercials, the score was still tied and there was still under 1 minute to play. This incident made me start to think...does anyone really know how many timeouts there are in an NBA game? So I did a little research and found this:

• Each team is entitled to six (6) charged timeouts during regulation play.


• There must be two 100-second timeouts in the first and third periods and three 100-second timeouts in the second and fourth periods. If neither team has taken a timeout prior to 5:59 of the first or third period, it shall be mandatory for the Official Scorer to take it at the first dead ball and charge it to the home team. If no subsequent timeouts are taken prior to 2:59, it shall be mandatory for the Official Scorer to take it and charge it to the team not previously charged. If neither team has taken a timeout prior to 8:59 of the second or fourth period, a mandatory timeout will be called by the Official Scorer and charged to neither team. If there are no subsequent timeouts taken prior to 5:59, it shall be mandatory for the Official Scorer to take it at the first dead ball and charge it to the home team. If no subsequent timeouts are taken prior to 2:59, it shall be mandatory for the Official Scorer to take it and charge it to the team not previously charged. The Official Scorer shall notify a team when it has been charged with a mandatory timeout. Any additional timeouts in a period beyond those which are mandatory shall be 60 seconds.


• Each team is entitled to one (1) 20-second timeout per half for a total of two (2) per game, including overtimes.


• In overtime periods each team shall be allowed three (3) 60-second timeouts regardless of the number of timeouts called or remaining during regulation play or previous overtimes

As far as I can tell (you need an accountant to figure this out) that makes at least 16 timeouts during the course of the game (most being taken late in the game) not including the 6 timeouts in the overtime period. No wonder the game is boring...the players are on sitting around NOT listening to their coaches set up a one on one drive to the hoop instead of playing. It isn't unusual for a team to call a timeout, 5 seconds go off the clock and the other team then calls a timeout. I have a hard time finishing watching a game, maybe its my ADHD or maybe its that the NBA is just plain boring.

CALIPARI'S COACHING COSTS MEMPHIS TITLE

If John Calipari had been reading my blog he would have seen that statistics just don't lie. In earlier blogs I laid out the reasons why Kansas would win, Memphis would not and why you MUST foul at the end of a 3 point game.

All tournament long Calipari downplayed his teams poor free throw shooting, stating that "his kids would make them when it counted". Boy was he wrong. No team has won a title shooting less than 60 percent in the regular season and that was again the case as Memphis proceeded to miss 3 clutch free throws that would have clinched the game. Practice, practice, practice...don't downplay your role Calipari, make your kids get better at shooting free throws.

The second mistake Calipari made was fouling Kansas with 59 seconds left and down only 3 points. Instead, Memphis should have just played tough defense, got a stop and then they would still will have 15 seconds or so to make a play that would tie the game. By fouling at that point they gave Kansas a chance to go up 5 from one of the easiest places to score from: the free throw line (maybe Calipari just assumed everyone misses free throws down the stretch..lol). Calipari should have made certain that his kids would not foul thus putting them in position to win.

Lastly and most importantly, you MUST foul before the other team has a shot at a last second three pointer (see my "End Game Coaching Decision: Foul or No Foul"). This is a no brainer and Memphis would be national champs if they had of done used this technique. In fact Tennessee used this strategy to beat Memphis earlier in the year. I know that Calipari was quoted as saying that they were trying to foul but the ref did not call it but as a coach take some responsibility. You should have practiced this technique and there should have been no doubt in the refs mind what you were doing. Your kids should foul BEFORE half court which gives plenty of time for the ref to make a call...that is a coaching mistake.

Three major coaching mistakes, three missed free throws and Memphis will go done in history as the team which blew a 9 point lead with under 2 minutes to play (which only happens 2 percent of the time) in the only game that matters. Next time Calipari...read my blog.

BENNETT AND WSU FACE HARD TIMES AHEAD

Okay, the Cougs had a nice run the past couple years but tough times loom ahead. Bennett will need to use all his charm and charisma to stay atop the Pac-10. It is not going to be easy.

Next year the WSU basketball team will lose seniors Kyle Weaver, Derrick Low and Robbie Cowgill. These three were the basis for the success that Washington State has had the past two years. These three players will be missed so much I expect WSU to drop out of the top half of the Pac-10. They will become an average team in an above average conference, not a good mix. Weaver will be missed the most as the Coug's defensive stopper. Bennett will have to adjust his "Pack Line" defense because of this. Weaver made it difficult for opposing gaurds to score because of his length, athleticism and quickness. He shut people down. Without him the Coug's will need to play more zone because they will not be able to check people like they use to.

Low will also be missed as the offensive playmaker that was the only real threat from the 3 point line. You need to be able to stroke the 3 down the stretch and without Low the Coug's will have to rely on other unproven "crunchtime" players. Low was the offensive key, Weaver the defensive key and Cowgill was the "X" factor that gave the Coug's a lift whenever needed. He would hit a tough shot or get a tough rebound...who is going to step up and take that role?

Bennett will need to rely on freshmen more than he has had to in the past. He will have to recruit better than he has in the past and he will have to coach better even better than he has in the past. Bennett should have taken the opportunity and jumped ship. He should have followed his WSU predecessor Kelvin Sampson and went to test the water in the recruiting haven of Indiana.

CBI TAKES AFTER NBA

After a brief hiatus the Assistant Basketball Coach is back with an attack on the pointless College Basketball Invitational tournament. What are the tournament directors thinking making the championship a 2 out of 3 game series? Are they really going to force us to watch the 98th and 99th best teams in the nation play each other THREE times? Are you kidding me? I was bored after they played the first quarter of the first game. With the series tied 1-1, Tulsa (the winner of the first game of the series) won with a lack luster performance, thus ending what should have never started. I guarantee that Tulsa will go down in history with this win. Tulsa will be the ONLY team to ever win the CBI title. They have turned a bad college basketball tournament into the worst thing possible...the NBA.

KANSAS IMPRESSES THE ASSISTANT COACH WITH CHANGING DEFENSE

Coach Bill Self took a major step toward greatness when he decided to use the box in 1 defense to shut down Stephen Curry late in the game. Kansas did not let Curry catch the ball as the other players played a zone. Curry could not get an open look and Kansas was able to extend their lead slightly. Though he did not stick with this defense at the end of the game, it still gave Kansas the needed adjustment at key times. Too many teams get so locked into what they do (aka Washington State) that they fear changing defenses. My motto is don't let the other team do what it wants to do. Changing defenses does many things during a basketball game:

It changes tempo

It takes away a hot shooter

It can save you some fouls

It can get you some steals

It can throw the offense off rhythm

It can take away an inside presence

Kansas changed defense at the right time and made Davidson do things they were not use to doing during the course of the game. Basketball coaches need to be more flexible when the game calls for it. Kudos to Bill Self a new member of the Coach's Penthouse.