Dumb & Dumber....& Dumbest

[Phantom Warrior]

I'm sure Kneel and the rest of the apologists will attack this post, but I don't give a crap. I've watched/followed MU hoops for 56 years, and I have seen 10 - 12 maybe 15 - 20 games in which MU has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. But at crucial junctures in tonight's game, I witnessed some of the dumbest basketball I've seen over the years.

1. With 10 seconds left in regulation and the score tied, Derrick WALKED THE BALL UP THE COURT! He didn't push the ball up the court to give us an extra few seconds to either execute a play, or, Heaven Forbid, get an offensive rebound. I watched the clock tick down...six...five...four... and there was still no sense of urgency. We end up with a 23-24 footer with no chance for an offensive put back. I'm sorry, but that was just plain DUMB! Was it Buzz's call? "Hey, Derrick, walk it up"? I just can't imagine that, but who knows? If not, then it's on Derrick, and if so, what the hell was he thinking?

2. We have the lead with nine seconds left in the second overtime and get the ball into Jake. What does Jake do? Ultimately he bends over at the waist and holds the ball waist high with both hands. Obviously, he was waiting/hoping to get fouled. I realize I only coach seventh/eighth grade girls, but even I know enough to teach them to never bend over and hold the ball waist high when pressured by a defender, let alone two defenders. You use your pivot foot to move, and you keep the ball moving. Make them move with you. That's the stuff of Basketball 101. And what do you teach your players to do if an opponent bends over at the waist with both hands on the ball? Grab the ball and tie them up. What Jake did is even DUMBER than Derrick's walk-the-ball-up-the-court routine at the end of regulation.

3. Now we get to Derrick's foul. Frickin' game is on the line with something like seven, eight, nine seconds left, and the opponent has the ball with double bonus. We're talking about one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country. What do you absolutely NOT want to do? Foul. And if that's not bad enough, he fouled one of the best free throw shooters in the country. He fouled the second leading scorer in the conference. On top of that, he had virtually no chance for the steal in the first place. In my mind, this was the DUMBEST of the three plays.

Until tonight, the individual play that has stood out in my mind as the dumbest I've ever seen by an MU player was Amoroso's turn-and-push foul on an Arizona free throw near the end of the Arizona game. We had that game pretty much won. I still can't imagine what he was thinking.

But these three tonight will also stick with me for a long time, not only because they killed our already minuscule chances for an NCAA bid, but also because all three were in one game. Watching each one, I just shook my head in astonishment.

I've seen MU teams shoot themselves in the foot before, but tonight they shot themselves in both feet and a kneecap for good measure.

Now, Kneel et al, you can start defending both players and question my fanhood. But if you don't agree that all three plays were really dumb, then I question your objectivity.