[Rosiak's Blog] Looking back, looking ahead

[ToddRosiakSays]

Looking back, looking ahead

Written by: Todd Rosiak


Losing a heartbreaker like the one MU did to Georgetown on Saturday leaves everyone -- coaches, players and fans -- raw and emotional.

It also leads to lots and lots of second-guessing. Did Dominic James really foul Jonathan Wallace? Why didn't the officials call Jeremiah Rivers' grab of David Cubillan? Or Jessie Sapp getting into the free-throw area too early? Or what seemed to be an obvious charge taken by Lazar Hayward?

Probably the most-discussed part of that game aside from the James-Wallace play was coach Tom Crean's decision not to foul Georgetown while nursing a 63-60 lead with 7.9 seconds left, at least based on all the emails I received about it.

Crean has never shown an inclination to use that strategy throughout the years, and when I asked him following practice Monday whether he considered it he, not surprisingly, said no.

"We never foul in that situation. First off, at home you want to trust your defense as much as possible. I don't think you ever want to put your team in a position where they could lose the game," he said. "It was not anybody's intention for there to be a foul at the end of the game, OK? The judgment call was made, which is what they made, so you deal with it that way. But we had done everything right up to that point.

"If the shot goes in, it's probably going to have to pretty much go over the top of the backboard to go in. So no, I'd never remotely second-guess that. We had 13 team fouls at that point. They're an outstanding rebounding team. You can lose the game on a missed free throw, rebound, tap-in, kick out, and I don't think that's worth it. That's not something we practice.

"Now, not in the bonus? Different story. But we had 13 team fouls, so it wasn't like that was an option. But that's the way it is. Do I have any regrets on that? It was a tough play at the end. The foul wasn't anything that was contrived, and it wasn't anything that was planned."

As far as James, I asked Crean it he specifically addressed the two game-turning plays in which he was involved, and how the junior guard has handled the aftermath. 

"We rehashed some of the crucial plays on the court, and then certainly on film," Crean said. "Totally tried to make it a teaching-type situation. That's where the buy-in comes in: can you be better the next time? And we as coaches need to keep examining and reaffirming that all the time as much as we can, because that's what so many games come down to this time of year.

"Everybody took it hard, but nobody took it harder than him. So the bottom line is to just learn from it, teach the best you can with it and regroup. I'm glad we're playing. I'm glad we're playing. I'd hate to be sitting here waiting to go to Syracuse on Saturday."



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/03/03/looking-back-looking-ahead.aspx

[romey]

Looking back, looking ahead

Written by: Todd Rosiak




It also leads to lots and lots of second-guessing. Did Dominic James really foul Jonathan Wallace? Why didn't the officials call Jeremiah Rivers' grab of David Cubillan? Or Jessie Sapp getting into the free-throw area too early? Or what seemed to be an obvious charge taken by Lazar Hayward?





http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/03/03/looking-back-looking-ahead.aspx

I think I may have blocked out some things - can someone tell me what he is referring to with the Rivers' grab of Cubillan and Sapp getting in the free throw area too soon?