Best and Worst

[Capt. Tuttle]

Its a slow day. The thread about JB recalling the WVU loss after surrendering a big lead got me thinking about my most remembered best and worst JB coaching moves. (I could be wrong, but these are how I remember these events.)

My worst move: I remember my dad taking me to Philly to the NCAA to watch SU. We played Iowa with Ricky Green, who was a really, really good college player and future pro. Ass I recall (some 30 years ago) the game was back and forth, with Iowa's lead staying between 6-8 points. After Iowa scores to go up 8, (so SU has the ball) JB gets a "T". Iowa makes the tow FTs, then (under the old rule) they got the ball, and scored. The score went from 6 to 12 points in a heart beat. SU never recovered. (It took me a long time to recover from that and get into JB's camp. This trip was in lieu of spring break.)

Best Move: Playing in the Maui Championship game, against Indiana. Back then we played man to man almost exclusively. Indiana has the ball last, trailing by 1 or 2. Mid court in bounds after a time out. Indiana has no time outs left. JB comes out in a 1-3-1. IU can't figure it out and only manages a very long, bad shot that isn't close. SU wins.

 

[CorduroyG]

The worst one that comes immediately to mind is running stall ball against butler up 4 with 5 minutes left. We FINALLY get a lead. We FINALLY take somewhat control of the game. We FINALLY get a some transition scores. Pretty sure KJ had a breakaway dunk off a turnover to put us up 4. Butler was on the ropes, they were waiting to get knocked out. But instead of going in for the kill, jb decides to play not to lose, playing right into butler's hands, and you can make a case it cost him his 2nd title.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

You need a best

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[Guy Fawkes]

Best Move: Calling the play for Jason Cipolla to knock down the long J against Georgia. The play call, the pass, the shot all needed major onions.
Worst Move: Vermont game. Everything about it.

 

[pfister1]

Best Move : wasting that scholarship on Leo's kid.

Worst Move: Not finding a way to get it done with Kenny Anderson.

 

[CorduroyG]

You need a best

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uhhh the decision to go man to man in the 2nd half against kansas a couple years ago

 

[jordoo]

uhhh the decision to go man to man in the 2nd half against kansas a couple years ago

Jonny abused Collins (the so called AA pg). I remmember Collins being so rattled and outa sorts after Jonny picked him twice in a row that Self had to call a TO and sit him.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Best: Comeback against Oklahoma State in the 2nd round, 2003. He had to yank Melo who was shooting us out of the game. Pace made some critical plays and he had a hard time getting him off the court ever again.

Worst: Vermont. Very little in the way of adjustments and Brennan lit him up that night. That VT team was so prepared and used the proper passing angles/lanes, knew exactly where the dead spots were to get clean shots off. Really a thing of beauty, what a team like that was able to do against our vaunted zone.

 

[Marsh01]

Best move: knowing Kelvin Sampson couldnt coach for and obliterating his team in front of an almost all SU arena in Albany.

Worst move: Not verbalizing more to the team (and Moten in particular) that we had no timeouts left against Arkansas.

 

[OttoMets]

Worst: Vermont. Very little in the way of adjustments and Brennan lit him up that night. That VT team was so prepared and used the proper passing angles/lanes, knew exactly where the dead spots were to get clean shots off. Really a thing of beauty, what a team like that was able to do against our vaunted zone.

This was not even two months after we blitzed Rutgers to the tune of 14 points in 90 seconds via the press. Choosing not to press Vermont was...questionable.

Not sure what my all-time best and worst Boeheim coaching moves would be. My three big quibbles with him have always been lack of emphasis on free throws, short bench, and poor clock management late in games. The first two don't lend themselves to an "all-time worst move" sort of thing (losing seven games by a total of 17 points as the team shot 61% in 1988 was excruciating, but not a "coaching move," per se). And the clock management - meh, those all blend together.

I will say that the 2000 Michigan State game - which often gets tossed around as a Stubborn Boeheim Loss - doesn't belong on this list. People offer that second half as an indictment of the zone; it isn't. We lost that game with a stretch of offensive ineptitude in the last quarter of the game - bad turnovers and Blackwell throwing up wild shots.

 

[KingOtis]

The worst one that comes immediately to mind is running stall ball against butler up 4 with 5 minutes left. We FINALLY get a lead. We FINALLY take somewhat control of the game. We FINALLY get a some transition scores. Pretty sure KJ had a breakaway dunk off a turnover to put us up 4. Butler was on the ropes, they were waiting to get knocked out. But instead of going in for the kill, jb decides to play not to lose, playing right into butler's hands, and you can make a case it cost him his 2nd title.

You're obviously not the first person to bring it up, but I think this one has been blown out of proportion. Yeah, they were running some clock, but they were also running plays with about 15 seconds left each of those possessions. And it was only two or three possessions, wasn't it?

 

[AlaskaSU]

This was not even two months after we blitzed Rutgers to the tune of 14 points in 90 seconds via the press. Choosing not to press Vermont was...questionable.

Not sure what my all-time best and worst Boeheim coaching moves would be. My three big quibbles with him have always been lack of emphasis on free throws, short bench, and poor clock management late in games. The first two don't lend themselves to an "all-time worst move" sort of thing (losing seven games by a total of 17 points as the team shot 61% in 1988 was excruciating, but not a "coaching move," per se). And the clock management - meh, those all blend together.

I will say that the 2000 Michigan State game - which often gets tossed around as a Stubborn Boeheim Loss - doesn't belong on this list. People offer that second half as an indictment of the zone; it isn't. We lost that game with a stretch of offensive ineptitude in the last quarter of the game - bad turnovers and Blackwell throwing up wild shots.

The MSU game was brilliant coaching. He inserted Griffin as a second ball handler after sitting him all season and we raced out to a 1st half lead on their turf.

 

[moqui]

Best: hiring Troy Weaver
Worst: conceding the rebound to Indiana when DC was at the line . . . that was a panic move, because on the previous possession Keith Smart had grabbed the rebound on Triche's miss and raced for a quick basket on the other end to cut the 3 point lead to just 1.

Keith Smart. It wasn't just the last shot, it was the bucket before that, that killed the Orange that night.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

Best: Recruiting Carmelo Anthony

Runner-up: Telling Warrick to haul his a$$ out to the 3 point line and block the **** shot...(ok, so I made this one up)

Worst: Richmond...his fault or not, being the first 2 to lose to a 15 really sucked...and it didn't help that my two rommates at the time were Richmond grads...