billiken_roy Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 the duke/uconn game was ultimately decided tonite because coach k foolishly played his only two credible inside players in the first half after they got their second fouls. both got their third before halftime and fouled out of the game. uconn took their guy out when he got his two fouls, didnt bring him back until the second half, and down the stretch he could do what he wanted. to play both of those players especially considering duke had a 10 point lead in the first half, was stupid imo on coach k's part. what was he thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 When you've got the talent that UConn has, you can afford to sit one of your stars with two fouls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 duked didnt have talent? they were winning the game and continued to play their inside guys with two fouls. both got the third and it ultmately cost them the game. i am not saying uconn did the right thing as much as duke did the wrong thing. you have to sit those guys. especially if you are winning the game. now if k would have taken them both out and uconn would have went on a huge run because they were taking advantage of the middle and regained the lead plus, then maybe think about bringing either randolph or williams back in, but to play both when you have a ten point lead was stupid imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Sorry, I was being a bit myopic. I was focusing on UConn and didn't realize that your comment was really about Duke. I agree, K must have had a brain cramp to leave those guys on the floor in the first half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobile-iken Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Roy, I believe you brought this up because of a thread concerning Soderberg's use of Reggie in the SMS game. If I remember correctly the opinion of the people that were dissapointed with the fact that Reggie sat out most of the first half with 2 fouls stated that the 2 foul rule should be a case by case basis. Last night Calhoun did the right thing and in this case it worked...Against SMS we lost, it didn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 i indeed did bring it up because of the questioning throughout the season of why coach soderberg adheres to the rule. and maybe the billikens did lose a game or two where he sat someone with two fouls in the first half. but the point is, you have to have your horses down the stretch. in the example you used, we were very much in the game until the end, had brad used reggie in the first half and he garnered his third foul, it would have set up a scenario like last nite where we wouldnt have had reggie to even make a late game run. that is my point. at least give us a chance at the end. my point wasnt as much about uconn as it was proof of what will happen if you let the guy play and he indeed does get the third or even fourth foul. you have to be traditional and save those players. another example of rolling the dice on the fouls and losing was xavier in the elite 8 game vs duke. they let their inside player play with four fouls early in the second half and lost him when he fouled out shortly after that. up until that point, i really felt that xu had the advantage in that game and could have won, but after that, it really seemed to change to desparation. no, i will side with coach calhoun and coach soderberg. save the kids for the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 I don'r see how you can have a standfast rule ... If The 2 would not have picked up their 3rd fouls we would be talking about why there are times when you should leave them in. This was one game and he gambled and it didn't work. Had he taken them out UConn may have closed the gap and taken a lead and won the game anyway. I think it depends on how foul prone the player is ... and do you have a place where you can hide him defensively. It also depends on what is happenning in the game. I would have taken them out ... but the flow of the game would have dictated wether or not they came back in ... at least one of them. Games are not just won or lost in the last 5 minutes. In the SMS game ... I would have sat Reggie initially ... and it would have been a tough decision on when to put him back in. With Reggie it is not just his defense where he fouls ... he commits an awful lot of offensive fouls. I do know I would not have let the opponents lead get to over 6 or 8 points with Reggie on the bench. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H. Waldman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Calhoun mentioned that the usual protocol is to bench guys with 2 fould for the rest of the first half (John Cheney has done this for years) BUT he had decided that if Duke had stretched the lead to 9 or more Okefor was coming back in the game. Besides, UConn had solid players (Villaneuava and Anderson plus Boone) who could hold their own in place of Okefor and they kept the game relatively close. In the SMS game at that time we didn't have an adequate replacement for Reggie in the scoring department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 with 2:31 to go in the first half duke was indeed up by 10. so i dont think that was true. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/gameLog?gameId=244000062 i dont see how it can be assumed that duke would have lost the lead by taking them both out. the fact that okafor was on the bench made it less plausible than if okafor was there as well. a ten point lead and okafor out? no way. sit both williams and randolph and play the hovfarth kid to finish the half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 I'll bet that if it were a 10 point lead with 6 minutes to go rather than 2 Okefor comes back in. Brad made a similar adjustment during the season, keeping Fish out against Louisville, and the touney games against Memphis and Cincy (and possibly Iowa too??) and in other games even after he got 2 fouls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBand Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/7230083 In case you didn't know who was refing the game... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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