TSUN +11.5 vs Duke (ov/un 136.5), Sun 2:45, CBS

[Fungo Squiggly]

I love how you still blame the SEC even though they weren't involved with this game.

It's the SEC's fault I was rooting that hard for UM. It's gross.

 

[buckeyesin07]

Yep. Morris had the hot hand, no faulting him for taking that shot. Good comeback by the Skunk Bears.

I think he can be faulted for that shot. Not only is it a difficult one, but it was absolutely the wrong decision in that case. When you're the heavy underdog, you don't play for OT--you play for the win. Best case scenario if he hits that shot is that the game goes into OT where UM still likely loses; best case scenario if he kicks it out to another UM player for a wide open three is UM wins and pulls off the upset of the tournament. Terrible decision to shoot that runner, IMO.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

It's the SEC's fault I was rooting that hard for UM. It's gross.

this.

I get pissed off enough during football season that they made conference wars actually matter. now I can't root for upsets in the tournament? fuck the SEC.

 

[Gatorubet]

this.

I get [censored]ed off enough during football season that they made conference wars actually matter. now I can't root for upsets in the tournament? [censored] the SEC.

Oh - don't come crawling for board forgiveness on my back, you 'Cuse traitor.

 

[bkochmc]

I think he can be faulted for that shot. Not only is it a difficult one, but it was absolutely the wrong decision in that case. When you're the heavy underdog, you don't play for OT--you play for the win. Best case scenario if he hits that shot is that the game goes into OT where UM still likely loses; best case scenario if he kicks it out to another UM player for a wide open three is UM wins and pulls off the upset of the tournament. Terrible decision to shoot that runner, IMO.

You take the shot that is given to you. Yes Novak was open on the wing but Morris had a wide open shot in the lane. It's easy to say from your couch "When you're the heavy underdog, you don't play for OT--you play for the win" but when a player is in the heat of the moment and knows what the team needs for at least a tie they go for the best shot possible. You're kidding yourself if you don't think Lighty or Buford take the same shot in that situation.

 

[buckeyesin07]

You take the shot that is given to you. Yes Novak was open on the wing but Morris had a wide open shot in the lane.

It was still an incredibly difficult shot to make on the run. Much more difficult than a 3-pointer by a guy who had no defenders anywhere near him. And, hence, a bad decision.

It's easy to say from your couch "When you're the heavy underdog, you don't play for OT--you play for the win" but when a player is in the heat of the moment and knows what the team needs for at least a tie they go for the best shot possible.

...and what Morris took wasn't "the best shot possible." Thanks for making my point for me.

You're kidding yourself if you don't think Lighty or Buford take the same shot in that situation.

You're kidding yourself if you think your statement is anything but pure speculation. That (major) point aside, even if Lighty or Buford did the same thing wouldn't make it the correct decision. Diebs shooting a wide open three would be the correct decision.

 

[bkochmc]

It was still an incredibly difficult shot to make on the run. Much more difficult than a 3-pointer by a guy who had no defenders anywhere near him. And, hence, a bad decision.



...and what Morris took wasn't "the best shot possible." Thanks for making my point for me.



You're kidding yourself if you think your statement is anything but pure speculation. That (major) point aside, even if Lighty or Buford did the same thing wouldn't make it the correct decision. Diebs shooting a wide open three would be the correct decision.

Video will make my point for me... a wide open runner in the middle of the lane was the better choice over attempting a pass to Douglass (I errantly said Novak earlier) on the wing while Singler was between Morris and Douglass waiting for the kick-out. Watch Singler as he goes down the court, he spots Douglass camping out at the 3-point line and takes that option away.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFyyl2UfeI"]YouTube - Duke Survives Late Michigan Rally[/ame]

 

[buckeyesin07]

Video will make my point for me... a wide open runner in the middle of the lane was the better choice over attempting a pass to Douglass (I errantly said Novak earlier) on the wing while Singler was between Morris and Douglass waiting for the kick-out. Watch Singler as he goes down the court, he spots Douglass camping out at the 3-point line and takes that option away.

First of all, that video doesn't support the notion that Singler spots Douglass and takes that option away. He never even sees Douglass (his head never turns in Douglass's direction--he was entirely focused on Morris) and collapses on Morris as he drives, leaving Douglass wide open from 3-point land with over 3 seconds to go (plenty of time to get off the game-winning 3-pointer). And I note that you conveniently fail to mention Novack, who doesn't have a Duke defender within 15 feet of him when Morris makes the bad decision of taking the shot. He also would have had a wide-open three to win it. Instead of kicking it out to either of those two wide-open options, Morris elects to take a difficult running jumpshot over top of a Duke defender who did a good job of stepping up to challenge the shot.

Morris's decision was also bad, as I said before, because in that situation, you play for the win, not the tie. Even if his shot goes in, great--now UM's faced with an extra 5:00 against a team to which they were double-digit underdogs.

Any way you slice it, Morris made the wrong decision.

 

[BB73]

I think that Morris should have driven to the basket, since he would have been able to get by Kelly, who's not a shot blocker, and may have had a better chance at getting an And-1 than he had of passing to either Douglass (who was moving) or Novak (who was behind him and hard to spot) and having them hit a 3-pointer. I think that Singler would have been able to contest a 3-point shot from either one of them. I think Singler would have recognized the passing motion and closed out quickly enough to bother the shot of either one of them.

It's easy to criticize Morris since the shot was missed. But he's driving with a guy on his left, approaching a big in the middle of the lane, and Douglass is drifting away from the corner because a guy was watching him. Morris knows there's only a couple of seconds left, and he may have looked to Hardaway, who was well-covered. There isn't time to look to pass to a couple of different guys, protect the ball, avoid the charge, and make the pass/shoot/drive decision within a fraction of a second. He took an open 12-foot runner in the middle of the lane to try to force OT. I'm not a TSUN fan, but I was pulling for them to win that game, I was hoping they'd get a 3-point attempt to win instead of playing for OT; but I'm not complaining about his decision.

Opinions will differ, but it can be 'sliced' a few different ways.

 

[WolverineMike]

Duke is out now anyway. So i'm happy about that