I remember that 4 corners, I think one year they had scores like 10-8 before they finally did something.
USA Basketball loses 1st game in 13 years
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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Funny, I remember doing that in a summer league as a kid, we where playing this team that beat us 89-42 early in the season, they where loaded with talent, later in the season, they where 10-0 and we decided we'd just pass the ball around and not shoot until we had a wide open shot, we won that game 42-39, damn they where pissed. They weren't prepared for that LOL
It's easy to score when teams just jacked the ball up like crazy and defense was non-existent.
Why was it criminal? Smith used it when he had a lead to shorten comeback time. I hated it but it was sound coaching.
Because Smith's teams were almost universally better than the teams they were playing against. And when you are better than the teams that you are playing against shortening the game is stupid. If your team is better than the other team you want as many possessions as possible, because fewer possessions means more variability (think Villanova - Georgetown).
And it was also criminal because the four corners isn't basketball, it's anti-basketball. If people want to see a dribbling exhibition or a passing exhibition they can go see that. Oddly enough, pretty much no one ever does.
Who was the only person who could hold Michael Jordan under 20 points? Dean Smith. And if you can't see how stupid stuff like that was, well, I don't know what to say.
Good Points! A good coach should maximize possessions if they have superior talent, and minimize possessions with inferior talent. That goes for other team sports as well.
If you have the superior talent and you try to win the game 12-8, it doesn't take a whole lot for that 12 to become 10 and that 8 to become 11. But if you try to win the game 90-70 and that 90 becomes 86 and that 70 becomes 74, no one other than perhaps some gamblers really gives a crap.
The 1979 game against Duke is the classic example of this. UNC held the ball almost the entire first half and were losing 7-0 at halftime. This was against a Duke team that they had already beaten playing a normal style earlier in the season. Dean Smith’s lame reason was that he wanted to get Duke out of their zone defense.
This is mostly true! Though it's one number on an island, where reality is a little more complex.
If you can score on a higher percentage shot on a fast break, even if you are the inferior team, you should do that. Statistically, not only is 3 on 2 better than 5 on 5, even 3 on 3 opportunities result in more points per shot than 5 on 5. So there is an argument for uptempo basketball at least at TIMES, even if the inferior team may benefit from a game with less total possessions.
Of course, at the highest levels of the game, everyone understands the math of scoring with tempo, which is why the offensive rebound is such a low priority in the NBA. Almost everyone gets back on defense.
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