It happens to everyone. We get old and we can’t remember things. For example, I know I’m supposed to take my cholesterol medication every night before I go to bed but increasingly there are nights when I can’t remember if I already took it. I can’t remember birthdays, restaurant names, movie titles, if I already masturbated earlier in the day. It’s sad. And scary. But it’s even worse when you’re a Hall of Fame head coach in your last year at one of the biggest brands in college basketball.
Take Duke’s last loss to Florida State. Forget about the fact that the game should never have been this close because Duke has superior athletes at every position. Duke still had a great chance to win in regulation, and overtime, and save my 3 team moneyline parlay. Only they didn’t. And if I’m being honest, I have to say it was due to some questionable coaching decisions.
Decision #1: Switching back to man-to-man on the last possession in regulation
Duke spent the majority of the second half playing zone because they couldn’t keep the smaller, nimbler FSU guards in front of them. Sure, it’s a sad day when you have the #1 recruiting class in the country but your guys aren’t athletic enough to play man-to-man defense against an unranked opponent. And sure, you feel like you’re stealing from the Syracuse brand whenever you play zone for more than a few possessions. But if you’re going to play zone, and it’s sort of working, why not stick with it? Up by 2 with 20 seconds left in regulation, coming out of a time out, Duke switched back to man-to-man and wouldn’t you know it, a Florida State guard got around Banchero and hit a (highly contested) running layup to send the game into overtime. If you believed in making FSU shoot contested perimeter jumpers for the entire second half, why not stick with that strategy on the final possession? What changed? Was the man-to-man supposed to surprise them into taking a bad shot because they’ve never played against man-to-man defense? Was it supposed to throw off their rhythm? Is that what the analytics say? It didn’t work.
Decision #2: Not getting the ball to the #1 pick on the final possession
In overtime, you’re down by one, with the ball, with over 12 seconds left. You have the #1 player in the upcoming NBA draft on your team. He’s 6′ 10, agile, great handle, feathery touch and generally really, really fucking good. I haven’t been coaching for 30 years but something tells me the ball should probably be in his hands to either take the last shot or draw a double team and kick to a wide open shooter. Instead, Banchero inbounded the ball to Moore and was never heard from again. I know the modern way of handling late game situations prohibits calling a time out so you don’t allow the defense to get set. But in this instance, after a made free throw, the defense is already pretty much set. And while you don’t need to call a time-out if everyone knows to run the play that gets Paolo Banchero the ball in space, you do if Wendell Moore Jr. decides to run the I’m-a-junior-I-don’t-need-any-help set and doesn’t even get off a shot.
There are other examples. In the home loss to Miami, Duke gave up a key late game offensive rebound off a missed free throw. It can happen to anyone but before the free throw, I didn’t see Coach K do the little chicken wing thing with his arms and mouth the words ‘box out’ to his players. Sure, I think that’s one of the funniest things a coach can do in late game situations. Doesn’t every player know when you’re up by 1 and someone is shooting a free throw, you have to box out? Of course they do. But the Hall of Fame coaches always remind their star players to ‘box out’ lest Miami grab an offensive rebound, take the lead and go on to ruin another moneyline parlay.
Look, I love Coach K for a variety of reasons. He’s from Chicago. He consistently recruits Chicago kids (Maggette, Dockery, Scheyer etc.) He still has hair. He looks good in a pullover. He’s an amazing teacher. He knows how to laugh at himself. And, he mostly wins. But is he still a great coach capable of going out on top? Not so sure about that.
2 responses to “Is Coach K Still A Good Coach?”
The masturbation comment should have never been in this article, truly unacceptable!
3 games by a total of 8 points and knocked off a number one. I would said yes. Coaching needs players to do what they are told. Sometimes freshman are freshman. Dm