I feel I have to write this. Yesterday's Vandy game emphasizes my point. With 9 min to go Vandy was in control with a 9 point lead. 2 min later they were down by 2 and got down 7. If they had got the 10 sec call on Downy at the end of the game they might have pulled it out. They shouldn't have been in that situation to start with. Kevin Stallings is an advocate of what I call the Dean Smith school of coaching. He believes in the platoon system. He's not by himself, most modern day coaches have bought into that. They want depth but they want it for all the wrong reasons. They think if they keep running their players in and out the other team will be wore out by the end of the game and they can beat them. The three best coaches I can remember all agreed on one thing. That would be John Wooden, Adolph Rupp, and Al McGuire and they agreed that you take your five best players and play them as much as you can. Woodens teams full court pressed the entire game and he said that if a kid couldn't play 40 mins he couldn't play for UCLA. When Bill Walton was asked who the best center was that he had played against, his answer was the guy he practiced against everyday. Very few people knew who that was because they very seldom got to see him. Yesterday Vandy got beat because they were out of sync for 7 and half out of the last 9 both offense and defense. By the way, Downey didn't look the least bit tired at the end of the game and he played 39 mins. On the other hand, Dean Smith had the best talent in the country for 20 years and only won 2 Championships. The second was his final year of coaching when he did something no body seemed to notice. He threw the platoon system out and went with 7 players all the way.
My reason for writing this at this time is because I made it through the NCAA tourn without losing a bet last year. I don't play a lot of games just to have a play but here's the way I approach them. 60% coaching, 20% talent matchups, the rest is lines and line movement. It sure helps if you know at least one of the teams in the game. A lot of you are going to look at the talent first and the lines second and then maybe the coach. If you are old enough you might have witnessed the greatest coaching ever done in the tourn. That would be Jimmy Valvano coaching NCST to the championship. I was lucky enough to get to see every game. I don't remember them being a fav in any game yet they won it all on his coaching moves. I remember the game against Hou who had Olajuwon, Drexler, and Mahorn and were picked to win it all. They were terrible foul shooters and I do mean terrible. At the 10 min mark of the second half Hou had a pretty good lead and Valvano started fouling them everytime down the floor. The anouncers all thought this was the craziest move he could make. He was going to foul his whole team out. It was too soon to start fouling. He fouled several out but came back because Hou could'nt hit a foul shot and won the game on a last second layup by Charles.
Hope this helps some of you and good luck in the Big Dance.
My reason for writing this at this time is because I made it through the NCAA tourn without losing a bet last year. I don't play a lot of games just to have a play but here's the way I approach them. 60% coaching, 20% talent matchups, the rest is lines and line movement. It sure helps if you know at least one of the teams in the game. A lot of you are going to look at the talent first and the lines second and then maybe the coach. If you are old enough you might have witnessed the greatest coaching ever done in the tourn. That would be Jimmy Valvano coaching NCST to the championship. I was lucky enough to get to see every game. I don't remember them being a fav in any game yet they won it all on his coaching moves. I remember the game against Hou who had Olajuwon, Drexler, and Mahorn and were picked to win it all. They were terrible foul shooters and I do mean terrible. At the 10 min mark of the second half Hou had a pretty good lead and Valvano started fouling them everytime down the floor. The anouncers all thought this was the craziest move he could make. He was going to foul his whole team out. It was too soon to start fouling. He fouled several out but came back because Hou could'nt hit a foul shot and won the game on a last second layup by Charles.
Hope this helps some of you and good luck in the Big Dance.
