That's Why You Foul

[Cyclone1985]

It doesn't take a brilliant basketball mind to choose having Naadir Tharpe at the FT line with 8.4 seconds left up 3 rather than having Ben McLemore shooting an open 3 on a night he has gone 5-5 from deep.

He had McGee in is FACE! He was not wide open! He had to shoot a higher shot than normal, hence the reason he banked it in.

[Cyclone1985]

I don't get these 'easy to say now' comments. I told my wife after we made the second free throw that we'll foul at mid court and the game is over. Fred's decision making rep took a huge hit on deciding not to foul. The flow of the game made it a no brainer.

So what happens when we foul?

...they make the first, intentionally miss the second and A) Whithey tips the ball in for the tie, or in true Cyclone fashion B) Whithey tips the ball back behind the 3 point line to Mclemore and he drains a 3 for the win....?

[ruxCYtable]

I do not understand why more coaches don't do this,

I've often wondered this as well. Is it a pride thing? Like, if we can't man-up and stop them then we don't deserve to win?

Kind of like coaches who refuse to pass or run outside on the goal-line. If we can't line up and get a yard straight forward we won't deserve to score.

[wonkadog]

I just can't believe how many people actually think that there is any chance in hell KU makes the first and then tips it back out for a 3. Compare how many times you've seen that happen vs. how many times you've seen a team come down and make a last-second 3-pointer. It's not even close.

I can somewhat buy the "make the first, tip in the second" argument although I still say that's a rare occurrence.

[Cyclone1985]

You don't need to foul there. They have one guy that could beat us at that point, if you identify him you win the game, our guys didnt. Should have used a timeout to talk about it, though, regardless of what they wanted to do. No reason to save 3 timeouts.

So this is bad defense? McGee is in his grill and look at how freakin high Mclemore had to shoot that over him. Lucky shots happen.

[Cyclone1985]

I just can't believe how many people actually think that there is any chance in hell KU makes the first and then tips it back out for a 3. Compare how many times you've seen that happen vs. how many times you've seen a team come down and make a last-second 3-pointer. It's not even close.

I can somewhat buy the "make the first, tip in the second" argument although I still say that's a rare occurrence.

About as rare as coming down and making a 3 pointer AND getting a foul called when down by 6 points, then two possessions later banking in a 3 for the tie.

[wonkadog]

So this is bad defense? McGee is in his grill and look at how freakin high Mclemore had to shoot that over him. Lucky shots happen.

Yes it's bad defense because there aren't 2 guys "in his grill." He should have been absolutely smothered with defenders and when screens came out our guys should have been running right through them, who cares about getting called for a foul in that situation.

[wonkadog]

About as rare as coming down and making a 3 pointer AND getting a foul called when down by 6 points, then two possessions later banking in a 3 for the tie.

Ok, good point but not applicable to the point I was making. Although your scenario is pretty common down in Lawrence.

[3TrueFans]

So this is bad defense? McGee is in his grill and look at how freakin high Mclemore had to shoot that over him. Lucky shots happen.

It wasn't necessarily bad defense, but he was late getting to him, the ball is long gone in that picture.

[Cydkar]

It wasn't necessarily bad defense, but he was late getting to him, the ball is long gone in that picture.

The ball was definitely long.

[benjay]

bunch of wailing schoolgirls in this thread. Time to move on people.

[ajk4st8]

It wasn't necessarily bad defense, but he was late getting to him, the ball is long gone in that picture.

I agree. I thought initially that he was in his face, until I saw the replay and how he actually gets the look and shoots a look way too open for a guy with his shooting ability.

Normally I dont foul in this situation. But I would foul the best 3 point shooting team in the Big 12... Which KU is.

I was a bit surprised we did save so many time outs.

[istater7]

I foul within 10 seconds every single time. No question. Good effort regardless. I don't think any of us expected this game to be that close.

10 seconds? No way. Maybe 5 seconds.

[candg4ever]

This loss is absolutely on Fred and the staff. You just have to foul there...you don't even give them the chance to go into OT, especially at Phog.

Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say. If you foul, you're automatically giving them an opportunity to score points, and the clock doesn't even move. Without the foul, there is the possibility of a travel, missed passes, even an offensive foul. The guy hit a prayer off the backboard, end of story. Take what you learned about yourselves, (which was almost all positive), and get on with prep for the Texas game!!

Fred and the staff were the reason we had a lead at the end of the game to protect. Their defensive strategy of keeping the big man away from the basket allowed us to stay with them all night.

If we keep up the improvement at this rate, and with these athletes, we'll have a good shot at a decent run in the tourney. Gotta pick up the d, tho'.

[Cydkar]

Nobody, other than ISU fans and Iowa fans think Fred is anything but a superb coach. I've read and heard it too many times from people who know these type of things.