Bzdelik To Blame For Loss
by ebuff on Feb 3, 2010 11:57 PM MST
Email
Print
Jeff Bzdelik showed every basketball coach in America at any level how not to execute a final possession with the game on the line tonight. Let's examine what he did and what he should have done on the final possesion of regulation.
First, calling a timeout with 8 seconds left on the shot clock was way too late. Eight seconds gives you very little margin for error if your first play doesn't work.
Second, after the timeout, they waited too long to get into the offense. Higgins held the ball for 4 seconds 50 feet away from the basket before he made his move. That left CU with only 4 seconds left on the shot clock to get a shot off. They eliminated any margin of error.
Third, Higgins didn't penetrate. You can't settle for an off-balance, contested 23-foot jump shot. The fact that they never passed the ball with any intention of running a play and that they never penetrated the 3-point arch is inexcusable.
Fourth and most disturbing is Bzdelik's thought process during that final possession. It's crystal clear to me that his number one goal was to leave Kansas with as little time remaining as possible. You only get so many opportunities in a game against the number one team in the nation to win. This was their opportunity. Instead of playing not to lose, Bzdelik should have had his team playing to win.
You have to give yourself time to run a play with more than one option. The Buffs should have called a timeout with 12-15 seconds left. Then, after the timeout, they should have gotten into their offense right away by passing the ball or penetrating or better yet both. They couldn't have run an easier play to defend. They made it was too easy on Kansas' defense.
Ultimately I think Bzdelik was scared to lose rather than being excited to win. That's probably the worst mindset a coach can have especialy considering his pedigree and experience. They pay him good money to come up with much better plays than that.
All comments, FanPosts, and FanShots are the views of the reader-authors who create them.
21 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
So, by your logic.....
does he then get the “blame” for us having a chance to win with a last second shot against the #1 team in the country?
The only true thing you said above was:
“Third, Higgins didn’t penetrate. You can’t settle for an off-balance, contested 23-foot jump shot. The fact that they never passed the ball with any intention of running a play and that they never penetrated the 3-point arch is inexcusable.”
Was this Bzdelik’s fault? I don’t know and you don’t know (unless you were in the huddle). Given that Bzdelik is a highly successful basketball coach at the college level, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he called a more well designed play and that it was the 20 year old kid from my hometown in CA that cracked under pressure and failed to execute the play properly.
I agree, that wasn’t the look we wanted and it certainly wasn’t a high percentage shot. But, rather than trashing our coach with a poorly constructed argument, how about we celebrate the fact that CU basketball is relevant again for the first time in 15 years and we just took the #1 team in the country to OT. AND we might get to play them in the conference tournament in a couple of weeks to take another crack at them.
He absolutely did the right thing by running the clock as close as possible to 0. Any other coach in the country would have done the exact same thing and the announcers last night were saying as much. In fact, they were bemoaning the fact that there was a 3 second differential and it was too bad that we had to leave KU that much time……
by Buff-in-CA on Feb 4, 2010 8:12 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
Plus we were playing at home
Of course you leave them with as little time as possible. If you miss you get overtime at home with the crowd on your side.
Apparently it has become acceptable here at CU to blame a coach for every lose. After 3 years Bzdelik has the basketball team playing competitive with top 25 teams and giving fans a legit reason to be excited.
As for the last play of the game. If they were going to draw up a play for an isolation and wanted a jumper Higgins is the man but with the way the game had gone i’d like to have seen Relphorde get the ball coming off a screen and going to the front of the rim.
The loss sucks but it was a good showing for CU basketball
"No Rebounds, No Rings"
Totally Agree
I watched the game last night @ a bar w/ a buddy of mine. We were essentially the only ones into it and thought the exact same thing – he was playing not to lose and that was an awful play at the end of the game. however, he did an excellent job for the first 39:30.
I think the fact that the Buffs were
leading with 38 seconds left without arguably their best player against the #1 team in the country is a pretty good testament for Bzdelik’s ability to get his team prepared.
Yes, the last play in regulation was pretty bad and the fact they almost got a ten second violation was ridiculous but I don’t question the timing of the timeout or when the shot was fired. Can’t give Kansas a chance to win the game. You play for the win or overtime, those were the Buffs two best options.
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
by Bob_Bell on Feb 4, 2010 9:16 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
The last play was terrible, but Its not all on Bzdelik
Agree on some things. There is no doubt in my mind that Higgins should have gone to the basket. Not only would have he gotten a better shot but there would have been a 30-40% change he gets fouled and goes to the line. I didn’t catch any post game but I just can’t see how the Bzdelik’s last play in a tie game was that jumper. I have to imagine he had something better drawn up and Higgins just choked and chucked up the ball.
exactly...the play was probably different in the huddle than what was executed
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
Really, we're blaming Bzdelik?
That is total garbage. The Buffs have lost 40 of 41 games to the Jayhawks and Kansas has shown they are the best team in the country, and by a wide margin not counting last nights uninspired performance.
I am incredibly pleased with how Bzd is doing as our coach and where this program is headed. The off balance jumper with 3 seconds left wasn’t caused by poor play calling, it was caused by a great switch and stay up top by the KU defense. If either of those defenders reaches in or gets off balance Higgins blows by them an scores with a few seconds left.
You have to credit KU’s D, not Bzd here. Keep in mind that the Buffs would not be anywhere close in that game if it weren’t for the hard work by the team, excellent coaching and preparedness of the players for what is arguably the biggest game for CU hoops every year. Oh, and the fans rocked the house last night and it was great to see on national TV.
That kind of showing by both players and fans is sure to help CU recruit that big time inside piece they really need to compete for the Big 12 title next year. Let’s not criticize the coach here because without him you wouldn’t have even been inspired to post.
NorCal CARDS FAN
For sure
we have no place to criticize the coach, without him, we lose that game. Hell, we have no place to blame anyone on this team. The fact is KU is a better team, and we played out of our minds to bring us to their level, and i cant find anything at all wrong with that. We’re a building program, and a major part of that is BZ. This team WILL be good, and coach Bzdelik will lead us there.
"It's like an owl without a graduation cap; Heartbreaking!!" -Tracy Jordan
Respectfully you're dead wrong.
Higgins had no time to go to the basket after the pick. He didn’t start his move until 4 seconds left on shot clock. The pick wasn’t set until 2 seconds were left. At best he’s driving towards basket throwing up desperation floater from the foul line.
They wasted too much time and gave themselves only one option. Again he coached not to lose rather than coaching to win. Why? What did we have to lose? If we lost in regulation because we took the best shot we could get and missed and gave ku time to score then what did we lose? WE get a “moral victory” either way.
You either coach to win or not to lose and Bzdelik coached not to lose. If he wants to change the losing culture that surrounds our basketball program he needs to do much better than that. After the game he talked about learning how to win, well the first person he needs to critique his himself. That decision making and play was not a winning formula.
We made KU defend one rushed and poorly executed pick. That’s it. Way to put some pressure on the defense. I’m not so enamored with KU’ s defense like you are. We didn’t put any pressure on them. You need to give yourself more time and more options. THAT was our opportunity to win the game and we certainly didn’t treat it that way.
Also, we wouldn’t have been close if KU hadn’t missed 20 FT’S! Bzdelik’s coaching had nothing to do with that. I give him and the players credit for hanging tough and battling back after being down 24-7. I do think Bzdelik has this program going forward for the first time in 3 or 4 years. But i’m not about the let him off the hook for what was one of the most poorly designed plays with so much on the line that i’ve ever seen.
Go Buffs
So why are you blaming Bzdelik?
you said:
Higgins had no time to go to the basket after the pick. He didn’t start his move until 4 seconds left on shot clock. The pick wasn’t set until 2 seconds were left. At best he’s driving towards basket throwing up desperation floater from the foul line
You can’t fault Bzdelik if the screen came late. I highly doubt in the huddle he said “Lets wait til 4 seconds are left and look for the 30 footer.”
As for the timeout not coming til 8 seconds were left; we didn’t get the ball across half court til then. Its kinda hard to draw up a play if you are inbounding the ball in the backcourt.
We don’t have to find someone to blame for every loss. Granted KU missed 20 free throws we also only made 58% percent of ours and shot an uncharacteristically low 37.5% from the field. We kept ourselves in the game and give ourselves a chance to win.
"No Rebounds, No Rings"
Rewatch the final possession please.
First, 38 seconds left in game and 35 seconds left in shot clock. We get ball barely across half court. So let’s say that takes us 9 seconds. Okay we now have 26 seconds left. Plenty of time to call a timeout earlier than when we did. We don’t call timeout until 8 seconds left. That’s 18 seconds where we did nothing but hold the ball 40-45 feet away from hoop.
Higgins catches ball out near half court and stands there for 4 seconds. Everybody else is standing too, including Bzdelik. He is showing no signs that he wants them to proceed with anymore urgency. The pick came on time it just wasn’t a solid pick and was rushed because we began the play with only 4 seconds left.
You can doubt what bzdelik said in huddle but if he didn’t want the play to start so late why did higgins waste 4 seconds out of the time out and why wasn’t bzdelik, who was standing only 8 feet away, tell him to get going? The answer is because that’s how bzdelik drew it up. He wanted to make sure first and foremost that if we missed KU would have the least amount of time left to score. He coached not to lose in that instance not to win.
I think it’s pretty simple and obvious. Rewatch that possession with a critical eye and tell me where I’m wrong.
Go Buffs.
We must agree to disagree
I agree the timing was as planned. I disagree with you that the timing was an ill advised strategy.
If you leave time on the clock and miss, and KU gets the rebound, then it is an EASY break away layup to win the game for them. This would be an INEXCUSABLE coaching error. You are correct, the plan was to leave no time left on the clock. Every coach, and analyst, in D1 basketball would tell you it was the right strategy.
We disagree on the play that was called and we disagree on the merits of the strategy of the timing. We’re just going to have to leave it at that.
I do think it is time for Bzdelik to get his team ready to play on the road as well.
That record is inexcusable. I do have a feeling though that they will start winning on the road soon
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
I have a hard time blaming the guy
Lets face the facts, if that was Patton, we would of been down by 20 and nowhere close, maybe not an ideal call at the end of the game, but I admire the ability to be in it to the end with a No. 1 team missing your best player. I don’t agree with moral victories, but if there ever a moral victory, maybe this game qualifies.
"Me fail english, that unpossible" - Ralph Wiggum
"Duffman is thrusting in the direction of the problem" - Duffman
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun" - Ash from Army of Darkness
"H.I., you're young and you got your health, what you want with a job?" - Evelle from Raising Arizona
"It happens sometimes. People just explode. Natural causes." - Agent Rogersz from Repoman
Free throws
If we made a few more free throws we could have won. If Burks played we could have won. What if. what if. Unoless you are in the huddle then you have no idea what the last play was. Blaming Bz for this one is plain ignorant. But then again, based on most of the posts on this site it is not surprising.
If kansas would have made more free throws
we would have lost by double digits
So you're happy with the exectution during the final play?
A guy who knows more basketball than you and I will ever know, John Wooden, said the caoching during the game is way overrated until the final minutes. If a coach does his job well during the week and during practices, the game is easy. A coach has the biggest impact on a game at the end.
You’re right about one thing, I dont’ know what was called but here’s what I do know. He wasn’t upset with the timeout being called with 8 seconds left on shot clock. He didn’t appear upset when higgins held the ball until 4 seconds left on shot clock. The play was designed for Relphorde to set pick for higgins.. By that time, though, Higgins didn’t have any time to do much else. If KU defends the pick well, which they did, you’re forced to throw up desperation heave because you’ve left yourself time wise with no other options. If the play they ran wasn’t what he wanted then that’s a bigger problem. He called a timeout to get what he wanted. So, if what happened wasn’t what he called then…higgins ignored the play and ran whatever he wanted? I don’t believe that and Bdelik certainly didn’t act like he was upset with any individual for not running what he wanted.
You play to win the game! Bzdelik coached not to lose. Why? WE HAD NOTHING TO LOSE! All the pressure was on Kansas and we coached that final possession with casual indifference. We “forced” and i use that word loosely, KU to switch one pick. One! That’s all we forced them to do on defense. Wow, great coaching! That’s gonna work every time. We were fine if we didn’t win as long as we didn’t give KU time to score at the end. That’s inexcusable. That was our golden opportunity to win, beat number one kansas and put a real signiture win on this program. Yet bzdelik was more concerned with not losing right then rather than winning. He’s paid to win, not to try not to lose. If he wants to change the losing culture that surrounds our hoops program he didn’t do a very good job. If he wants this team to break thru he needs to set the tone by being aggressive and coaching to win. He certainly didn’t do that in the end vs. Kansas.
Did anyone think we would pull it off once we went to OT. At that point KU had all the momentum. Of course, they scored the first 7 points in OT and the rest is history.
You can call me ignorant all you want, but if you’re happy with how bzdelik coached that final possession then crack open that beer and enjoy another “moral victory.” I choose not to.
Go Buffs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Welcome to The Ralphie Report, an unofficial blog for fans of the Colorado Buffaloes. Established April 24th, 2008.
Winner - Best Sports Blog In Colorado - 2011 Westword Web Awards
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
SHOP THE RALPHIE REPORT STORE
Facebook and Google+
The Ralphie Report Google+ Page
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
