April 10, 20196 yr 18 hours ago, Longhorn Fever said: I asked this question earlier.I am completely stupid about basketball, but... Looking back, I think that there was about 22 seconds left in regulation when Tech shot free throws to go up by 3. I know that is a good bit of time. I wondered why not immediately foul and let Virginia take two free throws rather than potentially give up a game-tying three-pointer. At worst tech makes one, misses the second and puts up 2 more to tie. At that point Tech has 15-20 seconds to go score/get fouled by Virginia. If Virginia does not tie, they are forced to foul Tech to prevent Tech from running the clock. Play the back and forth fouling game in the waning seconds, best free-shooters deserve to win at that point. Please tell me what's wrong with this strategery? I think 22 seconds is way too much time to do that. You would literally turn the last 20 seconds into a 5 minute free throw shooting contest. If your guys miss more than the other team, your strategy gets blown up by the fans and media. I think it only make sense if the opponent is inbounded with, say, 5 seconds left and you can get the foul in with under 3 seconds maybe under 2. Thus, they can only get within one with free throws (or try a very low percentage intentional miss) and you can maybe run off the last 2 seconds, or you're at the line yourself with under 2 seconds with the inbound on the other end of the court. Also, I'm sure Beard's instructions were to defend the 3 point line and UVA just found a clutch way to get wide open. Finally, there was still tons of time for Tech to win in regulation after the tying 3. They just couldn't pull it off. Edited April 10, 20196 yr by 'stache
April 10, 20196 yr It wasn't anything Virginia did really, two guys just rotated to help instead of communicating. A simple but crippling mistake at the wrong time.
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