Jay Wright blunders away key game
posted by Pete @ LetsGoNova.com2/28/2009 02:12:00 PM
If there were ever any question about how poor an end-game coach Jay Wright is, that question was answered today, and then some.
Jay Wright made just about every possible end-game error in the final minutes of a close game against Georgetown.
From right off the top of my head:
I would love to hear any argument that Jay Wright didn't cost the team this game. The five above points don't even go into how lazy, lackadaisical, and unmotivated the team seemed to play the entire game. Len Elmore, calling the game, even said the Wildcats seemed "content" out there while trailing, lacking any hunger to win the game. Embarrassing.
Villanova just lost a game where the winning team scored TWO field goals in the last 9:22 of the game. You read that correctly. It's quite an accomplishment, to lose such a game.
I have been saying for the entire year that Wright's poor end-game tactics would cost this team in a big spot. Well, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Villanova was in the absolute driver's seat for both a double-bye in the Big East tournament, with a double-bye all but guaranteed by winning out. The Wildcats also were in position to land the top-3 seed in the NCAA tournament likely needed to stay in the Wachovia Center.
A lot of good playing at home in the Wachovia Center did today. Thanks to Wright's tactical and strategic blunders, Villanova is now on the outside looking in for both a double-bye, which is unlikely now, and a top-3 seed for the NCAA tournament.
But neither of those tournaments will matter much to Villanova fans if Jay Wright continues to cost his team close games by end-game mismanagement that would make a grammar-school jayvee coach cringe. I know my grammar school coach would not have been happy watching this game.
And neither was I.
A traditional recap with player grades will be up by Sunday night. Forget the grades; you all know how I feel about this game, and most of you disagree with me. Let's move on with the Notre Dame preview.
Feel free to discuss the end-game situation in the comment thread.
Jay Wright made just about every possible end-game error in the final minutes of a close game against Georgetown.
From right off the top of my head:
- Failing to make sure his team knew the shot clock was running down in a timeout huddle. What was he doing in there? What is being discussed in timeouts if not the immediate tactical consideration of the current possession? Reynolds was forced to hoist a 30-footer upon realizing at the last second the shot clock was nearly down to zero. Horrendous tactical coaching.
- Ridiculous "offense-defense" substitution, yanking both point guards for defense. On a crucial possession, Georgetown point guard Chris Wright was able to blow by Reggie Redding for an easy layup because there was no one quick enough to guard him. This is why point guards typically guard other point guards, especially ones as talented as Wright. Horrible coaching.
- Down three with under a minute to go and coming off a timeout, Villanova's offense is routed through Reggie Redding? Is that serious? And Redding just throws the ball away. And this is off a timeout? That's the best you can do, Jay? Terrible coaching.
- Down three with under 30 seconds left, Wright keeps Corey Fisher on the bench. Why? Fisher is the team's best penetrator. Clearly, in that situation, there is plenty of time left for a drive to the basket. Just score quickly. Instead, Villanova wastes 10-15 seconds, and Corey Stokes takes a horrible, off-balance, guarded three, which misses. Some of the worst coaching of the year.
- Down by five with under 10 seconds to go, Stokes hits a long three to pull the 'Cats within two points with exactly 3.5 seconds left. Wright, properly, calls timeout, and then benches Reynolds and leaves Fisher out. Result? No one on Villanova can even catch Chris Wright to foul him, and the final 3.5 seconds (eternity in a basketball game) tick away with Villanova unable to even give a foul. Off a timeout! And, may I ask, what was Jay Wright's plan if, miraculously, his team was able to get a turnover? His two best scorers were on the bench! If we got a turnover with 2 seconds left in Georgetown's back-court, there was no one to shoot it but Stokes! Was Wright's plan to call a timeout there, with 1 second left? Horrible, horrible, horrible.
I would love to hear any argument that Jay Wright didn't cost the team this game. The five above points don't even go into how lazy, lackadaisical, and unmotivated the team seemed to play the entire game. Len Elmore, calling the game, even said the Wildcats seemed "content" out there while trailing, lacking any hunger to win the game. Embarrassing.
Villanova just lost a game where the winning team scored TWO field goals in the last 9:22 of the game. You read that correctly. It's quite an accomplishment, to lose such a game.
I have been saying for the entire year that Wright's poor end-game tactics would cost this team in a big spot. Well, it doesn't get much bigger than this. Villanova was in the absolute driver's seat for both a double-bye in the Big East tournament, with a double-bye all but guaranteed by winning out. The Wildcats also were in position to land the top-3 seed in the NCAA tournament likely needed to stay in the Wachovia Center.
A lot of good playing at home in the Wachovia Center did today. Thanks to Wright's tactical and strategic blunders, Villanova is now on the outside looking in for both a double-bye, which is unlikely now, and a top-3 seed for the NCAA tournament.
But neither of those tournaments will matter much to Villanova fans if Jay Wright continues to cost his team close games by end-game mismanagement that would make a grammar-school jayvee coach cringe. I know my grammar school coach would not have been happy watching this game.
And neither was I.
Feel free to discuss the end-game situation in the comment thread.
Labels: Big East, bracketology, Georgetown, Jay Wright, something rotten in the state of villanova basketball
53 Comments:
Lets not forget that in basketball there is 1 head coach and 5 players on the court at a time. The coach makes the decisions off the court, the players execute...not a SINGLE Nova player executed today..not even your precious Corey Fisher who was finally rewarded for his solid play the past few games with HUGE MINUTES. Aside from Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher was by far the worst on the court. To your points:
1. How do you know Jay Wright did not tell his team about the shot clock? Were you in the huddle? Was it poor coaching or terrible execution by a team that looked unmotivated to win from the tip off?
2. Don't know. Granted Redding has done a great job this year locking down PGs, having one of them guarding the PG would have been nice.
3. It wasnt a 'throw-away'. The ball was deflected by the G-town defender and the call was not made. Had it not been touched it would have gone to its intended recipient.
4. Again, Corey Fisher was having an awful game. Would it have been my call to give the ball to Redding, probably not, but I wouldnt have given it to Fisher either.
5. Speed does not equal defense. Anybody (including you I bet) would have assumed that we would have gotten the foul off that inbound regardless of who was on the floor. The teams inability to commit the foul was a testament to how poorly they played for 40 minutes.
Again, just another ridiculous post that does not look at all aspects of the game. At the tip you wanted to hate the coaching and you sat by a tv (or in the upper deck) with a pen and paper and jotted down every mistake made by the team and used Jay Wright as the excuse. Jay Wright by no means coached an A+ game...more like a D...but he didnt lose the game. He wasnt the one shooting 33% from the field, 77% from the line and committing 20 turnovers. The team did.
It was an awful game with awful execution and imperfect coaching. It happens but ultimately Jay Wright is not the cancer that plagued the team from the tip as you make it sound. The execution of the team did.
We have 2 tough games remaining in the regular season. Do not be surprised if the results are not what we'd want (narrow wins or tough losses). Both opponents can not afford to lose and they will be playing wiht alot of intensity. It will take near perfect games by every aspect of our team to win them.
To respond,
1. Well if he did tell them, they sure didn't look like they knew. Even the announcers ripped the team for that. Either way, it comes back to the coach to prepare for the shot clock running down.
2. Agree.
3. Take another look at the play. If the ball was touched, it was barely grazed. The flight of the ball was not affected significantly. And even if it was touched significantly, it was still thrown away! Throwing the ball to where it can be altered by a defender is just as bad.
4. No matter what kind of game he was having (and I think he had a good game compared to his teammates), Fisher is the best scorer/finisher on the team -- you have to have him out there. And giving Redding the ball on the prior possession was horrible.
5. Yeah, it is inexcusable not to get a foul there no matter who is on the floor -- but I guarantee we would have gotten one if we had a point guard out there. And that doesn't even address my point about what happens if we get a turnover. Our entire offense is on the bench!
The team played bad the whole game, no doubt. Some of that is the coach's fault, and some of that is the team's. However, this post focuses specifically on the end-game coaching. So no, I didn't start out at the beginning of the game jotting down every mistake Wright made -- though he did make a lot -- because this posts only addresses the horrible end game coaching when we were still in position to win.
So as bad as the team played, we were in a position to win at the end -- and the coach blew it. So in my view, Wright is 99% + to blame for this loss.
1. As a coach all you can do is tell them what the shot clock is at (something college basketball players should be aware of anyway and do not need to be told about). You're not the one on the court with the ball.
3. Did see the replay...3 times. It was deflected. Defedners make good plays. Discussing the trajectory and flight path of the ball is irrelevant. It should have remained Nova's ball. You have no argument here.
4. I'd elect to have Dante be the one to take a final shot down in the paint any game of the season; not your precious Corey Fisher.
5. Entire offense on the bench???? You sure about that? Again, both Fisher and Reynolds had terrible games. I believe Dante was on the court, as was Redding and Anderson...all of which are more than capable of putting the ball in the basket.
Corey Fisher is a good player...he will be a GREAT player too...but he is not the engine of this team. He is not responsible for our 23 wins. Stop sensationalizing him.
Additionally, games are not necessarily won and lost in the final minutes of the game. If that were the case we should just elminate half time and only play 3 minutes of basketball. There are 40 minutes and the teams inability to execute over 40 minutes is what lost the game, not any decision or play that was made in the last 2. If the team hit 36% of their shots instead of 33%, you wouldnt be having an 'end of the game debacle' comments because G'Town would have been the ones trying to claw their way to the finish line.
For #3. I have no argument here? At very best, it was a bad pass. How do I have no argument? Either Redding made an ill advice pass into a defender, or he threw it out of bounds. Either way it was a bad pass. My point is you don't want the offense to be directed by Reggie Redding at such a key possession.
Yeah, sure, if we played better it wouldn't be an issue.
But we didn't. And the bottom line is, with the game within 1 point with under 2 minutes to play, that's a new game right there. It was Villanova's to win. And Wright's decisions at the end of the game cost us the win. Can you say we would have won it if we shot better? Sure. But we didn't, and at the end we still had a chance -- it's not like Gtown was on fire -- they had TWO baskets in the last nine minutes!
So then that means for 9 minutes (all of which we were within at least 4 or 5 points) our team could not execute either. Again, the last 2 minutes are not what lost the game. And if you still want to make that argument, wouldnt it have been the players fault who was tasked with guarding Wright on the inbound pass who did not commit the foul? Using your reasoning that the game was lost in the final 30 seconds, shouldnt we put the L on him for not doing what he was asked to do? Or why not Corey Stokes (he does shoot 88%) for missing a FT with 60 seconds left? That would have changed the circumstances of the game and put us down by 2, not 3 and offensively we would not have had to create a 3 point shot. Again, it is a sequence of events and 40 minutes of basketball that lost the game. Not the final 30 seconds. Athletes understand this, armchair quarterbacks do not.
"If we had played better it wouldnt have been an issue...but we didn't so..."
Playing better is the bottom line man. We didnt play better and that is why we lost.
For #3
Get off your BS platitude of games aren't won or loss in the last minute. Sure there are 40 minutes but the game was there to be won in the final two minutes and VU choked. The Reynolds 30 ft bomb, the garbage pass by redding, the laughable stokes lean in three pointer, and the inability to foul chris wright in the end with the flat-footed crew jay wright had in. That's how you lose a game in the final two minutes - same BS almost happened with CUSE...pathetic. So get off ya high horse, realize jay wright is a pathetic game time coach and that this team isn't as good as you think and that you are headed for a second round tourney exit.
Jay has done a nice job all year. He did not do a good job today. Also, he has done a terrible job of coaching (or the team does a terrible job of executing) in tight games.
1. Louisville - should have won but fumbled that away
2. at 'Cuse - almost gave that one away
3. & 4. at Depaul and at Providence - we need decent leads at the end because we almost gave those away.
5. Today
Bottom line: We will lose on Monday to ND. We will likely lose to Providence. We end on a 3 game losing streak.
We go 1-1 in the BE tourney and a 6 seed in the tourney. We lose in a close, but mismanaged end to a game in the first round to the 11 seed.
This game is today is going to kill the rest of our season.
Pretty much agree with everything #7 and #8 said.
Here is a strong recommendation to those of you that want to make some money in a bad economy.. do not buy stocks.. sell Nova Hoops.
ND will be a slight favorite on Monday (probably 3 or 4). Take ND!! We will get beat by double digits...guaranteed.
I love this play.. I would have loved it more if we beat G'town, because the spread would have been a little lower. It does not matter. It is the lock of the season.
Pete if you think Fisher had ANYTHING but an awful game today, you are either blind or so biased you can't see the truth. Aside from one made three and a reverse layup, that was the worst Corey Fisher has played all year.
I won't go crazy arguing, though, that Jay coached a good game today. He certainly did not.
OK Mike, well Fisher was 2-8 with 3 turnovers. Not a very good game.
But Reynolds was 2-10 with SIX turnovers! So I think it's clear who had the better game. I did say 'in comparison to his teammates'
No one did anything today to step up, the team was flat and uninspired like vs Depaul - only Georgetown is not Depaul and it cost them today. Len Elmore was correct, the team seems content in their standing. Maybe this is a good wake up call for them, but honestly, I never thought this team was as good as its record shows. Take it as it comes, Notre Dame and Providence are not going to be easy games.
Maybe Pete should replace Jay since he has more credentials than Jay I mean he obviously should be out there coaching!
Is Roy Williams perfect? UNC threw away that game at Maryland in the last minute or so.
Is Coach K perfect? Duke hasn't been the same for awhile but he has 3 titles. Duke has had terrible games to.
I will say Jay is not perfect but he is a top 15 coach in the nation. Jay does not have magical powers he cannot make a ball go through a hoop with his mind. Not to mention that the Big East is anti Villanova and would love to get Gtown, ND, and Providence into the Big Dance.
At @ 12.. Fish played 21 mins and had the 3 TOs, Scottie played 35 mins and had 6 TOs. Fish was essentially on pace for as many turnovers as Scottie. Scottie also had a good day from the foul line, and grabbed 4 boards. I wouldn't really say it was "clear" Fish was having a better game than Scottie.
4 of scottie's turnovers came in about a 3-min bunch, so you can't really say fisher was on pace. fisher should have gotten more than 21 mins, period.
If Villanova was number one in the country and undefeated, Peter Cilento could still be mad and criticize Jay Wright.
Except we are not undefeated and #1 in the country. We just lost to a team that had 2 wins in its last 11 games, at home, and we only scored 50 points. And we lost at the end of a close game.
Let's keep it to reality, please.
Somebody's Negative........
i just thought to myself, i wonder what pete will say jay did to cause us this game,and laughed aloud upon reading "jay wright blunders away a key game." to be honest i dont think much about the coaching while im watching the game. i see that we made terrible forced shots and didnt take care of the ball. Fish should be playing a lot more than he does, theres no arguing that, but i think there is a lot more to this loss than jay not putting him in.
Mrs Dante,
Well what about the five points in the post? Don't you think any of those factored into the loss?
If you told me in the beginning of the year that we would be 11 and 5 in this conference with this team, I would make it in a second. Lets not forget that this same team scored 102 against Marquette and Syracuse, which are 2 top 25 teams. We will be ready when we need to be. As I have always said, any game that Burr refs will cost VU 5-6 points...and he did it again.
Ha, Zab, good to know that without Burr, we would have scored 57 points instead of 52.
Pete, you give fisher too much credit. He played terrible today. If he started like you suggested in previous posts, and played more then he has been, the outcome would still be the same. You are also too critical of a coach that has over achieved with the level of talent this team has.
Overachieved? We have two mcdonalds all americans, a national player of the year candidate, and a former NJ player of the year.
u failed to mention that fisher had ZERO assists and ZERO steals, scottie had 4 of each, fisher had a terrible game as all players have once in awhile he is a very good player but on this given day he did not earn the minutes towards the end of the game, not to say scottie did perform but up to that point scottie absolutely earned them more so than fisher, of fisher's six missed shots 5 of them were terrible shot selection and his few TOs were awful passes, I actually agree with you to an extent that he needs more minutes but sometimes thats gonna change within a game and the bottom line is that he did not earn them today
Dante did not come to Nova as a National Player of the Year candidate. Upon his arrival here at Nova, would you ever have thought that he would develop into such a player? Don't you think Jay deserves some of the credit for his development?
Scottie played a tremendous game today on the defensive end. His anticipation of passes was disrupting GT all freakin' day. The fact that we literally had two jumpshots fall for the entire first half and still were only down 5, and the fact that the game was within 2 pts at the end on a night where we literally did not play offense, is clear and convincing credit to Nova's good defense. Offensive games like this will happen. Nova has a good shot at going deep in the tourney for the simple fact that we can play good defense. If we couldn't play defense, we would have been blown out by 30 today. But GT's 25 turnovers was great to see, and the lack of fastbreak points off our dismal offensive performance of 20 TOs for ourselves, ment the guys were getting back on D, and that the D was good.
Everyone who didn't go to St Joes (yah I'm talking to you Pete) just take a deep breath, and keep your expectations of a 4th Sweet16 in the last 5 years.
Oh yah, everyone, don't forget that Pete is a Hawk and that is why he is always subverting Jay and Nova. He is trying his best to kill our recruiting and our program.
@29
You got me! You finally figured out the entire purpose of this Web site! You win the prize!
@30
Well at least you're honest:)
Pete went to Nova. He's just being an ass and said he when to St. Joes to provoke more people.
1. "HORRENDOUS" coaching
2. "HORRIBLE" coaching
3. "TERRIBLE" coaching
4. "WORST" coaching
5. "HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE"
Pete, did you lose your thesaurus for your fifth point?
Who thinks we lose the next two??
I do.
We have been in a funk since the WVU game. With the exception of at 'Cuse, we have flat out sucked beginning with at WVU.
Tomorrow Night: ND 85 - Nova 73
Thursday Night: Providence 86 - Nova 80
The boys ran out of gas
The boys just stunk yesterday. I think Jay would have had to coach flawlessly for us to win. Why all the negativity towards Jay? Has he been taking stupid pills since be named Coach of the Year? I think not.
No one played up to their abilities and the suckiness fed on itself. GU looked bad as well but we were just worse. It does not mean that we will not play better ever again.
While human nature unconsciously attracts us to freak shows, those who regularly frequent this site should know that by doing so, you enable Pete. LetsgoNova is the ultimate oxymoron and represents antithesis of a Villanova basketball fan site. Even if you believe that Coach Wright made tactical errors in yesterday's game, the disrespectful and disgraceful crap that Pete publishes has not even a passing resemblance to objective commentary. One can only conclude that Pete's purpose is discredit Villanova basketball. Sadly, people who do not know better may come here and mistaken this crap for something more than it is. Let this lunatic rant in isolation.
This team has exceeded expectations that any of us could have had with being in the BE without a center. Dante has done a great job by exceeding what any of us could have expected of him this year. Jay has built a long-standing winner at Villanova. I'm glad for that. He has made errors this year at various points of both wins and losses. Yesterday against the Hoyas and sitting Dante in the WVU game while the game got away from us are two examples. One game could be won (yesterday) and one was going to be lost. Pete and gang, its a long season of nearly 40 games these days. There are many great players and coaches. We've go to take the good with the bad. For my dollar, I'll take Jay who has ensured our future by piling up 20 win seasons and getting fine Villanova student-athletes.
One editorial on Pete is that he can't possibly have gone to Villanova or else he wouldn't be spewing all this dislike of our coach. He is truly the only person in 8 years that I know feels this way. Loosen up Pete.
Prediction:
I'm afraid to say that the DePaul game was our last win of the season.
- Loss at ND
- Loss against Providence to break the home streak
- Loss in the Big East 1st round
- Loss in NCAA 1st round to a tough 13 seed
We're paying the price for a soft Nov/Dec. schedule.
I sure hope none of the Nova players read this. Hey, I believe the kids do the best they can on any given day. Some teams are better than others, so we live with that. We want out team to win all the time, that's loyalty. Every team has bad games, down times. Some never rally. In '85 Nova played "horrible" at the end of the regular season, and then reappeared in the NCAA. Remember?
It is only a game played by college students, 99% of whom better be getting the classroom education if they want to eat later in life.
I will bet my life that we win the Providence game.
Wow, Gregg... that's a bit extreme.
"Pretty much agree with everything #7 and #8 said."
#7 is a Georgetown fan you fucking simpleton. And no need to respond with, "doesn't mean I cannot agree with him." Of course you can agree with him, but that is why we all hate you. You are not a Villanova fan yet you created a site called LetsGoNova where you bash the program to pieces. Get a job, go to the gym (assuming the guy before is correct in your fatness), or just simply enough get a fucking life.
#42,
How can I "enjoy" being unhappy? That makes zero sense.
#43,
I would wager I am a bigger Villanova fan than you -- or have you also devoted three years and thousands of hours writing about the team? Oh, I didn't think so.
Pete...dude....please, one thing you are not is a fan of Villanova baketball...no way, no how, simple as that.....don't kid yourself.
Yeah, I just run this blog about villanova basketball, watch/attend every single game this entire decade, and spend all my time doing this because I hate Villanova basketball.
Do you ever even think before you type?
Look.. it was one bad game.
We have some great kids and they usually work hard and never quit. Remember the Clemson game in the tourney last year. They are tough and will bounce back.
The ND game will be tough, but they will play better and have a good shot to win that game. Keep the faith.
Uh...yeah....I think before I type...you're not a fan....your blog is evidence of that.....if you agree with pretty much everything 7 and 8 said you're not a fan you idiot.....listen to 48...that's a fan!
C'mon guys. Please don't jump off the bandwagon after one game. Losing each of our next four? Maybe possible, but let's not go too far.
anons...you guys seem concerned about pete's impact on recruits.
well, your craziness would concern me if i was a recruit. You kind of remind me of the De Niro character in The Fan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116277/).
a confederacy of dunces!!
I love Jay Wright, but straight up, he blew that game. Its part of Jay's coaching style, which he is continuously refining. Sometimes don't work out right but you have to man up and learn from the mistakes.
As far as placing blame on the players for not "executing", thats pretty unfair also. Thats like the Eric Mangini excuse for losing a game. Jay's decision weren't playing to the strengths of his team at that time.
I don't get why people get so wound up about Pete comments. You want some really really negative comments about a sports team, take a look at a Knicks blog or Jets blog. Some of those guys make Pete sound like Mr Rogers.
Haha, 53. Very nice analysis.
Whats the author of this blog going to think when Jay wins Coach of the Year?
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