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Arizona vs. UAB Ending
There is a classic line in the all-time great comedy Dumb and Dumber. Lloyd Christmas has just sold Harry and his van for a moped and comes up on Harry to convince him to continue on to Aspen.
Harry to Lloyd: “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any dumber, you go and do something like this…and totally redeem yourself!”
Last night, while watching the end of the Arizona vs. UAB basketball game, I felt like I was watching Dumb and Dumber.
Arizona was down 67-55 with about 7 minutes to play in the game. Arizona went on a run to close the gap to 71-68 with 45 seconds left with the ball. Point guard Nick Wise missed a 3-point try off the rim, an ill-advised shot that did not come within the offense (First dumb play). On the rebound, Arizona’s Buddinger was able to tie up the ball, but UAB had the possession arrow (Dumb rule by NCAA). When UAB inbounded the ball, Arizona quickly fouled sending Kinnard to the line who missed the front end of the one and one.
Arizona got the rebound and quickly pushed the ball upcourt. Freshman guard Garland Judkins was fouled when driving to the basket. He hit his first free throw to bring the game to a 2 point difference. Judkins then missed the second, but Arizona’s Fogg got the rebound and lays it in to TIE THE GAME.
REMEMBER THE GAME IS TIED
When UAB inbounded the ball to Aaron Johnson, Fogg fouls the ball handler on purpose (Second dumb play)!! Johnson goes to the free throw line with 17.4 seconds left and ends up missing the first of the one and one and Arizona gets the rebound.
REMEMBER THE GAME IS TIED
Arizona calls timeout to set up a play. Wise takes a “last second” shot to win the game and misses. UAB gets the rebound and only has a chance at a 3/4 court shot, however Arizona INTENTIONALLY FOULS THE BALL-HANDLER, REMEMBER THE GAME IS TIED (Third dumb play)!!
UAB hits the first free-throw and the game is over.
I knew Arizona was going to struggle with the loss of Lute Olson, but this ending to the game was ridiculous. I don’t think an 8th grade team would make these kind of mistakes.
Check out the highlights below from the game to see for yourself.
Just when I thought Arizona couldn’t get any dumber….
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November 19th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
As George has pointed out many times before, players are being over-Coached and under-Taught.
While the play was not smart, I can almost gaurantee the player was never explained when or when not to foul at the end of a game. I do not think I was ever taught what to do at the end of the game. One would think that a coach should spend much of his time teaching players what to do at the end of a game. Instead, I only remember running through end of the game scenarios in practice without ever being told how to react. We were expected to already know. I am willing to bet that many players do not fully understand why they are fouling at the end of the game, other than the fact that the coach told them to do so.
The players should have put a little thought into what they were doing, but in the end I blame the coach for not educating the players well enough (both the current Arizona coach and their previous high school and AAU coaches).
November 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I agree with Conor, but the kid does deserve some of the blame, especially since his teammate made the same mistake less than a minute prior. This kid I played with in college would never make that mistake, I think his name was Jaime.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:02 am
i thought that AZ’s strategy was amazing….when the AZ players bet 100K on the game, you want to foul….