By John Gottlieb
The Phanatic Magazine
I’ve got to admit it, I drank the Kool-Aid.
I believed John Calipari that the team that won more games in a single season than any other college basketball team in history wouldn’t be done in by their woes at the charity stripe.
Memphis had the third-worst free-throw percentage in Division I heading into the tournament, but Coach Cal said that anyone who focused on that one weakness didn’t know anything about basketball.
Then they went on to have a wonderful tournament from the line (considering where they were coming from), including 50-of-59 combined against Texas and UCLA. For a team that was shooting 59% from the line it was no small miracle that the Tigers shot 69% from the foul line in the tourney.
However, we wouldn’t be having this conversation if the two best free-throw shooters on the team and surefire future NBA players in Chris Douglas-Roberts or Derrick Rose, could hit just one more free throw in the final two minutes, when the two put together an ugly 1-of-5.
Nobody was writing or talking about the free throw woes heading into the game. Coach Cal duped us all. We believed the hype that his team would hit the clutch freebies when it counted the most.
You could look back at a number of occurrences and say that Memphis lost at that occasion:
The Tigers had no chance once they hit the extra session. Their body language showed that immediately. That coupled with the fact that they missed their first four shots from the floor in overtime. They felt the pressure and couldn’t deal with it.
But yet I’ll still focus on the four free throws missed within the final 72 seconds in regulation.
A motivational speaker is just that because they can convince any audience to buy into any of the crap they’re peddling. Not only did Calipari pull the wool over the media but he swayed his team into thinking they weren’t that bad at the line.
Were coaching mistakes made…yes. Cal should’ve called timeout after Rose’s free throw to ingrain into his team’s head that they were still the ones with the lead with 10.8 remaining
, and that under no circumstance should the Jayhawks be allowed to take a shot beyond the arc. That’s one that will be forever attached to Calipari…or until he wins a championship.
Memphis should be the one celebrating today. They should be on top of the basketball world, but Rose disappeared during the middle of the game, CDR was shutdown at key times by Brandon Rush and the rest of the Kansas defense, and Calipari was outcoached in every fashion by Bill Self.
Congratulations Jayhawks…you just stole the National Championship. What are you going to do next?
The Phanatic Magazine
I’ve got to admit it, I drank the Kool-Aid.
I believed John Calipari that the team that won more games in a single season than any other college basketball team in history wouldn’t be done in by their woes at the charity stripe.
Memphis had the third-worst free-throw percentage in Division I heading into the tournament, but Coach Cal said that anyone who focused on that one weakness didn’t know anything about basketball.
Then they went on to have a wonderful tournament from the line (considering where they were coming from), including 50-of-59 combined against Texas and UCLA. For a team that was shooting 59% from the line it was no small miracle that the Tigers shot 69% from the foul line in the tourney.
However, we wouldn’t be having this conversation if the two best free-throw shooters on the team and surefire future NBA players in Chris Douglas-Roberts or Derrick Rose, could hit just one more free throw in the final two minutes, when the two put together an ugly 1-of-5.
Nobody was writing or talking about the free throw woes heading into the game. Coach Cal duped us all. We believed the hype that his team would hit the clutch freebies when it counted the most.
You could look back at a number of occurrences and say that Memphis lost at that occasion:
- Memphis lost when Rose’s circus shot with 4:15 left was correctly called a two.
- Memphis lost when Sherron Collins made a huge steal and then drained a trey
with 1:49 to play, cutting the deficit to four. - Memphis lost when the heart and soul of the team, Joey Dorsey, picked up a silly
foul some 30-feet away from the hoop with under a minute-and-a-half to play. - Memphis lost when foolishly the team didn’t foul Collins once he crossed
half-court before feeding Mario Chalmers. - Memphis lost as soon as Chalmers’ three tied the game with 2.1 ticks on the
clock.
The Tigers had no chance once they hit the extra session. Their body language showed that immediately. That coupled with the fact that they missed their first four shots from the floor in overtime. They felt the pressure and couldn’t deal with it.But yet I’ll still focus on the four free throws missed within the final 72 seconds in regulation.
A motivational speaker is just that because they can convince any audience to buy into any of the crap they’re peddling. Not only did Calipari pull the wool over the media but he swayed his team into thinking they weren’t that bad at the line.
Were coaching mistakes made…yes. Cal should’ve called timeout after Rose’s free throw to ingrain into his team’s head that they were still the ones with the lead with 10.8 remaining
, and that under no circumstance should the Jayhawks be allowed to take a shot beyond the arc. That’s one that will be forever attached to Calipari…or until he wins a championship.Memphis should be the one celebrating today. They should be on top of the basketball world, but Rose disappeared during the middle of the game, CDR was shutdown at key times by Brandon Rush and the rest of the Kansas defense, and Calipari was outcoached in every fashion by Bill Self.
Congratulations Jayhawks…you just stole the National Championship. What are you going to do next?
No comments:
Post a Comment