Hannah Huffman

[ClayK]

I wondered if Hannah Huffman had made the right choice by going to Notre Dame, because she risked sitting on the bench for her whole career in a program like that -- and isn't it more fun to play a lot?

Well, Hannah and her family clearly made the right choice, because even though she doesn't get big minutes, she was the one on the floor, guarding SEC Player of the Year and WNBA first-round pick Tiffany Mitchell, with Notre Dame up one and 15 seconds left (or whatever).

I think Notre Dame might have been in a box-and-one (I haven't tried to look), but Huffman, not noted for her defense at Carondelet, made Mitchell have to use a screen, and then tipped away a pass when she double-teamed her, sending Notre Dame to the championship game.

Congrats to Hannah and the Irish ... I don't know if you can ask for more than making a huge play on national TV that gives your team a shot at a national title.

 

[personalogic]

I had similar thoughts. A memorable 13 seconds. Nice to see a local kid shine on the big stage.

Did you notice that on the prior possession ND did not use a time out, but rather relied on their players to make good decisions? As SC was bringing the ball back down the floor with the ND defense strung out a bit I was thinking they had plenty of time and should just attack the basket. When they called time and let ND set their defense my thought was they were handing the advantage back to ND.

 

[ClayK]

Originally posted by personalogic:
I had similar thoughts. A memorable 13 seconds. Nice to see a local kid shine on the big stage.

Did you notice that on the prior possession ND did not use a time out, but rather relied on their players to make good decisions? As SC was bringing the ball back down the floor with the ND defense strung out a bit I was thinking they had plenty of time and should just attack the basket. When they called time and let ND set their defense my thought was they were handing the advantage back to ND.

I couldn't agree more. It's one of my pet peeves about late-game coaching.

If my team has the ball and needs to score late, I don't want to call a timeout because the odds of the defense making a mistake -- in general, trying too hard to make a play, or just watching the ball and not playing team defense -- go way up if the opposing coach doesn't have time to calm everyone down.

But if the offense does call a timeout, the defense now controls the situation, because the coach can go man, zone, full court press, halfcourt trap or, as I think happened here, box-and-one on the star. With no timeout, they're playing the defense they were on the previous possession with no way to adjust if necessary or desired.

 

[CW Golden Eagles]

I agree with both of you on attacking without the time out, however, watching live I thought ND took a terrible first shot and were very fortunate to come up with the offensive rebound. Had SC grabbed the rebound off the panicked shot, we would be talking about how they should have taken a time out to set up.

Really, you have to know your team. Do you have veterans and playmakers that you trust? Do you see a match up you want to expose? Does your team look panicked after the other team just took the lead? There's a lot that goes into that decision I think.

But I did think ND got lucky because I would not have wanted that initial shot as my potential game winner.

 

[personalogic]

Of course, the right decision does not always produce the right result. The ND shot was bad, but better than what SC wound up with.

I could see taking the time out with some teams - particularly very young, inexperienced ones. But hopefully kids in the final four have a good understanding of what they need to do in the final seconds of a close game.

The other issue that comes into play when you call the time out is having to inbound the ball safely in five seconds. The inbound pass under pressure is one of the toughest plays in basketball. Why add that to your challenges?