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Help me with this basketball problem.

john carr
This has been nagging at me for the past week. I can't believe that a college basketball coach could make a mistake like this, so it may not have been a mistake. Bear with me:

Kansas played the Texas Longhorns a week ago last weekend. It was a close game all the way after the Longhorns blew a fifteen point lead. The game came down to the Longhorns completing two free throws giving them a three point lead with FIVE seconds remaining in the game. Kansas came out with the ball, ran the length of the court and made a three pointer tying the game and going on in overtime to win.

Now the nagging question: Could the Texas coach have instructed his players to immediately foul the Kansas player, let Kansas have two free throws and if made both, Texas regains control of the ball and Texas wins the game by one point?

I think the Texas coach erred but need someone with better basketball knowlege than me to settle it.
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Comments

23 comments

Date Votes
  • Colt Super
    That is a foul and unsportsmanlike suggestion.

    D.
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  • Odawgp
    I'd a fouled. even if they fouled while the other team was in the act of shooting. make them earn the 3pts the old fashion way. and then if they still tied and then lost they at least tried to win it in regulation. tuff call for the coach either way it is a gamble.
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  • newtgingrich
    quote:Originally posted by john carr
    This has been nagging at me for the past week. I can't believe that a college basketball coach could make a mistake like this, so it may not have been a mistake. Bear with me:

    Kansas played the Texas Longhorns a week ago last weekend. It was a close game all the way after the Longhorns blew a fifteen point lead. The game came down to the Longhorns completing two free throws giving them a three point lead with FIVE seconds remaining in the game. Kansas came out with the ball, ran the length of the court and made a three pointer tying the game and going on in overtime to win.

    Now the nagging question: Could the Texas coach have instructed his players to immediately foul the Kansas player, let Kansas have two free throws and if made both, Texas regains control of the ball and Texas wins the game by one point?

    I think the Texas coach erred but need someone with better basketball knowlege than me to settle it.


    I have been saying this for YEARS. I used to be an assistant high school basketball coach and I saw that exact same scenario play out many times. I ALWAYS told our head coach if we were in the position to FOUL. He always said it was a bad idea. One game it happened. We didnt foul and we lost.
    You are correct, you should foul.
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  • woodshermit
    No reason not to foul in that situation, especially in such a significant game.
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  • Don McManus
    An intentional foul, if so assessed, will result in the opposition getting the free throws and retaining possession. One must be careful in those situations.
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  • shoff14
    There are a couple of trains of thought on this.

    one is what you have stated, foul and let them shoot two.

    The next one is not to foul due to the fact that you can't lose the game at that exact moment, your up by 3. If the game goes into overtime, you should play your game and win it there, if that happens.

    Thirdly, if you do foul, with 5 seconds left, the player makes the first. He then misses on purpose, the team tips the ball in with a foul called as time expires. Player makes the extra free throw to win the game.

    Personally I think it matters about how much time is left on the clock. If you foul with more then 5 seconds, you put yourself in the position to do it all over again after the player makes his two free throws. What then happens if the winning team misses their free throws? The losing team has a chance to win it.

    It also so happens, that most of the time in these situations, the losing team has their best shooters on the court. I mean do you really want to put someone that shoots 70+ % at the free throw line?

    I think that playing solid defense allows your team the highest % chances to win in most cases. However, if I was the coach, and I had say two of my starters in foul trouble or fouled out, I would not want to go to overtime, period.

    Saying all that, college coachs know what they are doing. They didn't get to be a college basketball coach by not knowing. I am sure it was in his thoughts at the time and there are always chances afterwards that coachs might have done differently. There are also a lot of arm chair coachs out there that think their option would have been better. Bottomline is that you have to look at your current situation and whose on the floor at the time.
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  • shoff14
    quote:Originally posted by newtgingrich

    I have been saying this for YEARS. I used to be an assistant high school basketball coach and I saw that exact same scenario play out many times. I ALWAYS told our head coach if we were in the position to FOUL. He always said it was a bad idea. One game it happened. We didnt foul and we lost.
    You are correct, you should foul.


    So your saying in the years that you coached, only once did the scenario of not fouling lose the game? If that is the case, I would say your odds of winning are very very high.
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  • Cubslover
    quote:Originally posted by john carr
    This has been nagging at me for the past week. I can't believe that a college basketball coach could make a mistake like this, so it may not have been a mistake. Bear with me:

    Kansas played the Texas Longhorns a week ago last weekend. It was a close game all the way after the Longhorns blew a fifteen point lead. The game came down to the Longhorns completing two free throws giving them a three point lead with FIVE seconds remaining in the game. Kansas came out with the ball, ran the length of the court and made a three pointer tying the game and going on in overtime to win.

    Now the nagging question: Could the Texas coach have instructed his players to immediately foul the Kansas player, let Kansas have two free throws and if made both, Texas regains control of the ball and Texas wins the game by one point?

    I think the Texas coach erred but need someone with better basketball knowlege than me to settle it.


    What if he made the first, missed the second one and someone tipped the ball in or got an offensive rebound? They could potentially tie it or take the lead with a 3.
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  • Horse Plains Drifter
    quote:Originally posted by Doug Wilson
    That is a foul and unsportsmanlike suggestion.

    D.
    PLUS++++TEN MILLION ON THAT!!!!! Exactly what is wrong with this country. If you have to resort to crap like that to win you shouldn't be playing. No wonder there is so much BS going on in high school sports with people thinking it is acceptable to play this way. Truly sad what this country is coming to.[V][V][V][V]
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  • cmd66
    Gotta foul.
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  • Huntingnerd33
    Definitely FOUL!! Not even a moment's hesitation, BUT make sure it's not an intentional foul. That opens up a nasty can of worms that no coach would want to deal with. Any time that a team is up by three to, I'd say six points with less than fifteen seconds, FOUL THEM. At worst, you're only up by one with about 10 seconds left. Then it becomes a freethrow contest. With the athletes Kansas and Texas have, it would have been much better for Texas to foul. FOUL FOUL FOUL.
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  • fishermanben
    Since when is fouling in basketball unsportsman like? It happens all the time "intentionally" so that a team can stop the clock, and regain possession. I always thought that it was part of the game.

    Ben
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  • newtgingrich
    quote:Originally posted by fishermanben
    Since when is fouling in basketball unsportsman like? It happens all the time "intentionally" so that a team can stop the clock, and regain possession. I always thought that it was part of the game.

    Ben


    you are correct. MT is just a douche bag
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  • fishermanben
    There's no need for name calling, newt. I've never had a problem with MT357. He seems like a genuine person.

    Ben
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  • Warpig883
    Fouling is the reason many games are won in the final seconds. It is an effective, acceptable and ethical strategy.
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  • Horse Plains Drifter
    quote:Originally posted by newtgingrich
    quote:Originally posted by fishermanben
    Since when is fouling in basketball unsportsman like? It happens all the time "intentionally" so that a team can stop the clock, and regain possession. I always thought that it was part of the game.

    Ben


    you are correct. MT is just a douche bag
    Careful now, you're showing your IQ to the rest of the board.
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  • john carr
    Thanks, lots of good analysis. I wonder too if what was going thru the Texas coaches mind was that the chances of that Kansas player going the full length of the court and making a three was slim and none. But before Kansas took possession of the ball I hollered at my wife, "watch Texas foul and win by one! But as one of the above posters said, a decision like this one can be a coach's nightmare.
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  • iluvguns
    Tennessee did exactly what you suggest when they played Virginia the other day. Virginia got a rebound with Tennessee up by 3 with about 5 seconds to play. Tennessee player immediately fouled the VA player. He made one shot, intentionally missed the second, TN got the rebound...game over.
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  • Colt Super
    Does no one know what the word "foul" means??

    These are not good lessons to teach our already mixed-up youth.

    D.
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  • mrseatle
    "I think" it's all rigged, that would explain it.
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  • Mercury
    If you have to foul to win, YOU SUCK and have no ethics.

    It is NOT a "strategy" for anyone with any class.

    Disgusting.

    Merc
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  • select-fire
    What would Bobby Knight have done?? Throw a chair and get a techical foul??[:0][:0]
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  • Glock23Expert
    quote:Originally posted by fishermanben
    Since when is fouling in basketball unsportsman like? It happens all the time "intentionally" so that a team can stop the clock, and regain possession. I always thought that it was part of the game.

    Ben

    Sadly, this style of play is what has gotten basketball away from the finesse and skill game it once upon a time used to be. Now it's no different than football except it's played on a wood floor with a round ball.
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