Fantastic Four – Best basketball weekend ever: Comebacks! Overtimes! Bad coaching! By Robert Weintraub. An excerpt:
Still, these questionable moves are small beer next to the plays “drawn up” in the endgame by Kentucky’s Tubby Smith and Arizona’s Lute Olson. Two coaches who have won national championships. Two graduates of the Andy Reid School of Clock Management and Game-Ending Infamy.
Don’t rail against Olson because the Wildcats blew a 15-point lead in the span of a single TV timeout. Perhaps owing to a home-court edge the tournament supposedly eradicated years ago, Illinois won late-game favor from whistle-swallowing referees who allowed the final minutes to turn into an episode of The Shield. Even with the historic comeback, Arizona still had the game in its hands with seconds left. So, what does Lute draw up? A clear-out for Salim Stoudamire, who was off during the game but hit game-winners in the regular-season finale and 48 hours previous against Oklahoma State? Perhaps a simple two-man game with Stoudamire and big man Channing Frye, who dominated inside all night? Nope, he put the ball in the hands of Hassan Adams, a brilliant offensive rebounder who can’t pass or sink outside shots. Adams should’ve been crashing the boards to tip in a potential Stoudamire miss. Instead, he heaved an off-balance chuckâand this crazy shot didn’t come close to going in.