College Basketball 2025-26 season thread

[Centerpiece]

You play the first half to get to the 2nd half. A quote widely cited as being uttered by Coach Dean Smith. I don’t think gaming the 2 for 1 shot at the end of the first half as being so critical. And it’s certainly nothing to be critical of Coach Davis for not yet utilizing that strategy in a game. There are other things to be critical of Coach Davis, but that ain’t one of them.

 

[Bigs23]

No practice time needed. The coach just calls a TO.

I agree that it is unusual. I haven't seen a coach execute this strategy correctly. But as usual, when there is a cutting edge coaching strategy, Nate Oates is on top of it.

I was referring to letting the clock run after a made basket to get the last shot.

 

[Calheel]

You play the first half to get to the 2nd half. A quote widely cited as being uttered by Coach Dean Smith. I don’t think gaming the 2 for 1 shot at the end of the first half as being so critical. And it’s certainly nothing to be critical of Coach Davis for not yet utilizing that strategy in a game. There are other things to be critical of Coach Davis, but that ain’t one of them.

All points in a game matter. The use-it-or-lose-it time out doesn't carry over to the second half so you get no benefit in not using it.

Is it the biggest flaw in Hubert's coaching tenure? No, not even close. But it is a good rebuttal to @superrific's point that Hubert knows basketball strategy better than any fan. He certainly knows SOME strategy better than the typical fan, but that does not mean that he knows all strategy better than all fans.

 

[Calheel]

I was referring to letting the clock run after a made basket to get the last shot.

Gotcha. Certainly some teams are very well schooled on the concept. Ohio State was. In the linked videos I posted, Colorado State and Illinois were also schooled on it. And there was an even more egregious example in the mentions in which Davidson managed to burn 20 seconds off the clock to get the last shot.

 

[Ramrouser]

It’s a quirk of the first half that is now coming to light. Hubert should now be aware of this trick and not get fooled again.

Making more than 57% of our FTs might help as well.

 

[Calheel]

It’s a quirk of the first half that is now coming to light. Hubert should now be aware of this trick and not get fooled again.

Making more than 57% of our FTs might help as well.

This is not the first time this has happened to us. And in general, I have not seen Hubert be particularly strategic with 2 for 1 situations. I'd bet it happens again this year.

 

[Centerpiece]

All points in a game matter. The use-it-or-lose-it time out doesn't carry over to the second half so you get no benefit in not using it.

Is it the biggest flaw in Hubert's coaching tenure? No, not even close. But it is a good rebuttal to @superrific's point that Hubert knows basketball strategy better than any fan. He certainly knows SOME strategy better than the typical fan, but that does not mean that he knows all strategy better than all fans.

How do you know Coach Davis doesn’t know about it? Because he’s yet to use it? Are you criticizing him for not using it, or are you saying he doesn’t know about it at all?

Of course points matter. But just gaming the 2 for 1 at the end of a half doesn’t necessarily score anymore points. It may (may) provide one more opportunity with the ball, but it guarantees nothing more than that.

You like Bama? I’ve always liked them. Especially their football team. But mom was from Talladega, so I’ve got my reasons.

That said, I’ll take Coach Davis over Oates. You can have ol Nate.

 

[Heelsandeers]

Wake sucks but damn

 

[Calheel]

How do you know Coach Davis doesn’t know about it? Because he’s yet to use it? Are you criticizing him for not using it, or are you saying he doesn’t know about it at all?

Of course points matter. But just gaming the 2 for 1 at the end of a half doesn’t necessarily score anymore points. It may (may) provide one more opportunity with the ball, but it guarantees nothing more than that.

You like Bama and Nate? I’ve always liked them. Especially their football team. But mom was from Talladega, so I’ve got my reasons.

That said, I’ll take Coach Davis over Oates. You can have ol Nate.

I hate Nate Oates. If we hire him to replace Hubert, I will seriously consider rooting for another college basketball team while he is here. But despite that, he is very strategic and cutting-edge. His use of analytics and analysts has been groundbreaking. I watched it all unfold in 2023 when our No. 1 seed team lost in LA to his No. 4 seed Bama team. Maybe if Hubert were using more analytics he could have convinced Withers not to take that 3 pointer.

My best guess is that Hubert just has never thought about it. I suppose it is theoretically possible that he thought about it and decided the better strategy was to save the TO in case the other team shot early and we needed the TO on offense. But I doubt it.

 

[Centerpiece]

I hate Nate Oates. If we hire him to replace Hubert, I will seriously consider rooting for another college basketball team while he is here. But despite that, he is very strategic and cutting-edge. His use of analytics and analysts has been groundbreaking. I watched it all unfold in 2023 when our No. 1 seed team lost in LA to his No. 4 seed Bama team. Maybe if Hubert were using more analytics he could have convinced Withers not to take that 3 pointer.

My best guess is that Hubert just has never thought about it. I suppose it is theoretically possible that he thought about it and decided the better strategy was to save the TO in case the other team shot early and we needed the TO on offense. But I doubt it.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. You’d have to ask him. I’ll not speculate on what somebody else may or may not know.

 

[donbosco]

I have several long-time friends who are IU grads and Indianans. Bobby Knight was tough on them.

 

[superrific]

Is it the biggest flaw in Hubert's coaching tenure? No, not even close. But it is a good rebuttal to @superrific's point that Hubert knows basketball strategy better than any fan. He certainly knows SOME strategy better than the typical fan, but that does not mean that he knows all strategy better than all fans.

Come on. I was talking about macro factors like "throw the ball inside against smaller teams." That 2-for-1 preservation is more of a situational tactic, not a strategy. It won't come up all that often, and when it does, it makes little difference -- at most an expected point (but probably less since the last possession has such a short clock).

This is more like when fans developed the "should you go for two" model for extra point decisions in the NFL. The fans were ahead of the curve (that, and fourth down too), but nobody was saying, "Sean McVay is a bad coach because he uses timeouts poorly." He's just bad in-game in this one specific sense.

Also, this 2-for-1 preservation is really new. Most of Hubert's career he didn't even see it.

 

[Calheel]

Come on. I was talking about macro factors like "throw the ball inside against smaller teams." That 2-for-1 preservation is more of a situational tactic, not a strategy. It won't come up all that often, and when it does, it makes little difference -- at most an expected point (but probably less since the last possession has such a short clock).

This is more like when fans developed the "should you go for two" model for extra point decisions in the NFL. The fans were ahead of the curve (that, and fourth down too), but nobody was saying, "Sean McVay is a bad coach because he uses timeouts poorly." He's just bad in-game in this one specific sense.

Also, this 2-for-1 preservation is really new. Most of Hubert's career he didn't even see it.

So we are going to distinguish strategy from tactics?

I agree with your larger point that Hubert is not the idiot that his critics like to portray. As you rightly point out, you can't be around that many basketball geniuses (Dean, Roy, Riley, Nelson, etc.) and not learn an awful lot about the game. But on the flip side, that does not mean that he is the strategist/tactician of those other coaches. I'd say he is average on strategy and below average/incomplete on communication.

 

[finesse]

I expect that if it gets egregious, they'll institute a rule where in the last minute of the half more than X amount of seconds costs you either a TO or a tech if you don't have one. It alerts everyone and the coaches know exactly when they would rather call or save a TO.

 

[Calheel]

I expect that if it gets egregious, they'll institute a rule where in the last minute of the half more than X amount of seconds costs you either a TO or a tech if you don't have one. It alerts everyone and the coaches know exactly when they would rather call or save a TO.

I think they will just change the first half rule to mirror the second half. Clock stops after a made basket with under a minute to play. It is a simple rule change and it will not meaningfully lengthen game time.

 

[finesse]

I think they will just change the first half rule to mirror the second half. Clock stops after a made basket with under a minute to play. It is a simple rule change and it will not meaningfully lengthen game time.

I'd be good with that but thought if they wanted to leave a little more to the coaches, that was a way to do it.

 

[superrific]

So we are going to distinguish strategy from tactics?

For lack of better words. What you're talking about is an expected point at most. It's not even an expected point that might have other knock-on effects -- for instance, a team that runs full court press five minutes a game might not necessarily see much direct benefit, but as we know, mixing up the defenses can throw the other team off and there's also the need to prepare.

I was talking about those bigger strategies. Can the team get a good shot on offense. Can we be effective in a full court press, half-court trap, man to man, switching man-to-man, etc. These have big effects during a game. A single point just isn't the same thing at all.

 

[Bigs23]

All points in a game matter. The use-it-or-lose-it time out doesn't carry over to the second half so you get no benefit in not using it.

Is it the biggest flaw in Hubert's coaching tenure? No, not even close. But it is a good rebuttal to @superrific's point that Hubert knows basketball strategy better than any fan. He certainly knows SOME strategy better than the typical fan, but that does not mean that he knows all strategy better than all fans.

I'd bet he knows this strategy and chooses not to deploy it.

 

[CarolinaFever]

Georgetown's coach has been suspended a game for throwing a water bottle that hit a kid.

Georgetown suspends coach Cooley for bottle toss

Georgetown suspended coach Ed Cooley for one game after he struck a child in the stands with a water bottle in a moment of frustration.

www.espn.com