Monday, April 7, 2014

The General Was Out Of Line

The two most important games of the basketball season, the NCAA men's and women's championship games, will take place tonight and tomorrow night.  Yes, I realize that many fans consider the men's semi-final games held last Saturday to be more important than all but the men's final.  Might they be overlooking the fact that the undefeated Irish women are are in Tuesday's title tilt?  Regardless, it's time for a basketball post.

Last Tuesday night the Gophers defeated Florida State in an NIT semi-final game at fabled Madison Square Garden.  One of the two courtside TV analysts was Bobby Knight, referred to by Dick Vitale and other hoops celebrities as "The General."  Anyone who has watched Knight over the years, and especially those who have read John Feinstein's "A Season On The Brink," knows that The General is a horse's patootie.  A case in point illustrates the epithet.
 
The Gophers were clinging to a three point lead with seven seconds remaining, and the Seminoles inbounded the ball on the opposite baseline from their basket.  Both teams were in the double bonus.  Knight opined as if it were gospel that the Gophers needed to foul the Seminole player with the ball before a shot was attempted.  However, the Gophers elected not to foul, choosing instead to play straight-up defense.  Of course, as luck would have it, FSU guard Devon Bookert drained a low percentage three pointer with 0.3 seconds to go, thus forcing the game into overtime.  The gloating Knight immediately castigated head coach Richard Petino for not instructing his players to foul when the Noles inbounded the ball.  "The Minnesota coaches really fell asleep on that one," scolded Knight.  The TV viewers were then treated to Knight repeating his point ad nauseam during the interlude between the end of regulation and the beginning of OT.
 
Wouldn't you know, an almost identical situation then presented itself at the end of the overtime period. Minnesota led by three as the Noles inbounded the ball from the far base line with 6.1 seconds to go. Presumably for the benefit of those late-comers who missed his commentary at the end of regulation, The General reminded us once again that the Gopher coaches "fell asleep" by not fouling at the end of regulation. Yet once again, the Gophs chose not to foul, only this time FSU missed their last desperation field goal attempt.  Final score: Gophers 67, Seminoles 64.
 
The point of fouling the trailing team is to shorten the number of seconds in which they have a chance to run a play before time expires.  Ideally, the leading team wants to limit that very last play to a "catch-and-shoot," for which the chances of success are minimal.  No time to reverse the ball, no time for a dribble drive, no time for screens or a pick 'n' roll, and no time for an offensive put-back.
 
Notwithstanding The General's unhesitatingly harsh vocal opinion regarding the wisdom of having the leading team intentionally foul in end-game situations, the proper strategy is not as cut and dried as Knight would lead us to believe.  There are plenty of head coaches who would have done exactly what Petino did, i.e., instruct his team to play straight-up tenacious defense for the opponent's last possession.
 
Here are some considerations which go into the decision of whether or not to have the leading team foul in end-game scenarios:
 
1. Does my team have "fouls to give," i.e., is the opponent in the bonus?  If my leading team has fouls to give, then having them foul intentionally makes a lot more sense.  (Such was not the case in the Gopher-Noles game.)
 
2. How much time is left?  If it's less than four or five seconds, the need to foul decreases, especially if the ball is in the back court. 

3. Where is the opponent inbounding the ball?  If the location of the inbounds pass is in the back court, it will take at least a few ticks to get the ball into the front court.
 
4. Is our lead three points, or less than three?  If the leading team is up by three points, all the leading team has to do is defend the three; two points won't beat you.  Therefore, the wisdom of intentionally fouling is at least questionable if the lead is three.
 
5. Are any of my players in foul trouble?  This could present a huge problem if the game goes into overtime. Therefore, the leading team's coach, if he opts to foul, might consider inserting a designated fouler (usually a deep reserve with quickness).
 
6. Whom to foul?  This is where a scouting report becomes important.  Try to force the opponent to inbound the ball to a poor free throw shooter.  Double team the opponent's best free throw shooter.
 
7. The Two Worst Things That Could Happen are (i) fouling the opponent while he's in the act of shooting (especially if his shot goes in), or (ii) being called for an intentional foul, even though it is an intentional foul.  The guy who commits the intentional foul has to make it look unintentional so that he doesn't get whistled for an intentional foul, and he has to commit the foul before the opponent goes into the act of shooting.  To mitigate the risk, fouling in the back court is more desirable.
 
8. Is my team good at "playing small"?  The strategy of intentionally fouling is easier to execute with a smaller (and therefore quicker) lineup.  The trade off is that your chance of grabbing a defensive rebound is diminished with a small lineup.  That is a trade off which you, as the coach of the leading team, might not want to accept. 
 
9. Similar to point # 8, is my team good at executing the intentional foul in end-game situations?  By April, the coaches have seen their teams in practice and in thirty or so games since last autumn.  Some teams are good at the execution, and some are not, and no one knows better than the head coach where his team falls on the spectrum.  If my team simply is not good at pulling off the end-game intentional foul, I would not instruct them to to it.
 
I don't have a problem with The General imparting his wisdom to us laymen.  After all, the man did win three NCAA championships.  But to castigate (repeatedly) a head coach for failing to employ the end-game strategy deemed necessary by The General, particularly when there are many smart coaches out there who would consciously instruct his team in the same manner Petino instructed the Gophs, was uncalled for.  Give me the smooth Bill Raftery instead of The General, please.

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