The second weekend of the 2006 N.C.A.A. Tournament provided pertinent coaching lessons, good and bad. Ben Howland, Jim Larranaga, and John Brady made their first Final Four and one coach (and team) will grab the brass ring for the first time.
Duke: The Blue Devils were burnt by their seven-player rotation. They rolled seven guys all year and it seemed as if they were tired and flat when they played L.S.U.. Perhaps they won a few more games in the regular season by shortening the bench but they might have been more prepared had they entered the Tournament with a 22-7 record and nine experienced players.
I thought that Duke ran some nice out of bounds stuff that kept them in the game when their half-court offence totally disintegrated when faced by L.S.U.’s shot-blocking and their own shooting woes.
L.S.U.: Coach John Brady recruited some athletic players that play well together. The team’s chemistry and the players’ talent create the energy that propelled a good (but not great) team to the Final Four. The Tigers defend well, but their offence is horrible. Excellent college players like Glen Davis (Tyrus Thomas will be a better pro) generate opportunities but the system is stagnant. They would be on a 1997 Arizona roll if they could score better.
UConn: Jim Calhoun blew Sunday’s game vs. George Mason and it had nothing to do with what happened on the court. Calhoun went on and on about George Mason’s “home court” advantage (since George Mason is located in Fairfax, Virginia). This was inaccurate; George Mason has a student population of six thousand so even if the entire school attended the game, they would not fill more than a third of the twenty thousand seat Verizon Center. No matter what the situation, Connecticut should have been a double-digit favourite against George Mason.
Due to his complaints, Calhoun gave confidence to the underdog Patriots and deflated his own team. Calhoun’s message echoed themes put forward by the media affected the mental preparation of the Huskies.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers played to the best of their abilities against Texas. Although they lost at the buzzer, they defended the last play well. Texas made a wise decision to push the ball after West Virigina’s basket. In these cases, defenders usually converge on the ball and someone stepped up to stop the ballhandler’s penetration. The ball was passed to Kenton Paulino and he made an off-balance N.B.A. distance three pointer. West Viriginia chose not to cover a shot that had a twenty percent chance of going in (which it did, one of the risks if you choose to help from the strong side) instead of a higher percentage shot by Daniel Gibson, P.J. Tucker, or LaMarcus Aldridge.
Gonzaga: Mark Few’s team gave up the last eleven points of the game and lost by two. Nice run but an unfortunate ending. Why was a post handling the ball in the back-court against pressure? J.P. Batista (or any player who coughs up the ball against pressure like that in a late-game situation) should have given the foul. There was no way Gonzaga would have recognised that turnover and been able to defend U.C.L.A.’s possession five on five. Putting U.C.L.A. on the line would have been a better option, even in a one point game.
Washington: The Huskies missed one key lesson of the 2005-2006 N.C.A.A. Men’s Basketball season: Rashard Anderson is an assassin. How could he get those two looks late in regulation? Washington lost some of their focus when Brandon Roy picked up his fourth foul early in the second half and totally collapsed as the clock wound down. Although Roy might have fouled out, sometimes you have to play a player in foul trouble because the team needs them.