We Wuz Outcoached: Marquette 76- UCONN 67 in OT

It pains me to write this but the blame for a disastrous loss in a game that UCONN had in the bag with 3 minutes to go rests squarely on the shoulders of Associate Head Coach George Blaney.(Blaney had the helm because Jim Calhoun was attending a family funeral) My great respect for Blaney goes back to my adolescense when I frequently went to Madison Square Garden to watch college double headers in which Blaney coached at Holy Cross and then Seton Hall, both national powers in the 50's. I always and still do admire Blaney's technical knowledge and patient, encouraging approach to his players. Having said all that, I think that Blaney was not comfortable in the role of head honcho creating judgment impairing anxiety; in addition, he did not have sufficient sense of authority to stand up to Kemba Walker and insist that he stop trying to single handedly dribble through the Marquette defense at crunch time.
I had barely settled into my seat, two rows behind the UCONN, bench, when UCONN got off to a hot start and an 11-3 leaad. I liked Blaney's initial moves; he started JCM and had Lamb handling the ball up top with Walker on the wing leading to good ball distribution and four quick points by Walker on good shots. Oriakhi came out energized and was banging the offensive boards. Suddenly the Huskies went cold and scored 12 points in the last 16 minutes of the first half to fall behind 34-23 at the break. As the cold spell continued, UCONN reverted more and more to Walker trying to beat a 2-3 zone by driving the lane. JCM had started the game 2-5 and Blaney pulled him; I could not understand why Blaney stood by watching a now too familiar disaster unfold; Walker dribbled too much,tried to drive the lane when he was triple teamed, the big men stood motionless,Kemba took poor shots and was 30% from the field. Finally, Blaney read my mind, put JCM at the foul line and he hit a quick hoop against the zone- too little too late as the Huskies went into the locker room down 11 at the half.
At the beginning of the second half, Blaney had made some good adjustments. He put Walker back on the wing, brought in Napier, the defense stiffened and the Huskies went on a 20-4 run to turn an 11 point deficit into a 5 point lead. Napier made some beautiful dish offs in transition leading to (S)Lamb dunks. Giffey was having a break out game, passing well and finishing with a season high 9 points. Unfortuneately, Blaney seemed to freeze and in my opinion completely under utilized the bench. JCM virtually sat the entire second half and and Napier played 11 minutes. Walker ended up playing 43 minutes; combined with his over handling of the ball he was completely out of gas with two minutes left in regulation time. I don't know if it was evident on TV but from court side it was clear he could barely stand-up and Blaney did not rest him and give Napier more time.
As the game came down to the last three minutes, the Huskies still led by about 3 yet completely reverted to Walker dribbling to try to beat the zone on every possession. In the last 3 minutes of the game Walker got trapped twice and lost the ball and missed three forced shots. Of the Huskies last 9 shots Walker took seven and yet Blaney just could not bring himself to insist that Walker give up the ball.
The Huskies last shot in regulation time was an absurd off balance drive off the dribble; Walker never looked up to try to find an open man. In overtime, the same pattern continued and Marquette pulled away for a 7 point win.
Although Walker ended up with 27, he was 10-27 from the floor with at least 6 turn overs. Oriakhi finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds in a very good effort and Giffey broke out with 9 points. Roscoe Smith continues to disappoint. He had 4 points on 1-8 shooting from the floor but Blaney had him on the floor for 27 minutes while JCM only played 19 minutes; inexplicable and unexcusable.
The Huskies fell to 8-7 in the Big East with Cincinnati and West Virginia away and Notre Dame at home remaining in the Big East regular season. The Huskies only need to win one of the three to finish at .500 in the conference and secure an NCAA bid. But let's say the worst happens and they lose the last three and end up 8-10 in conference play. I have to believe that they would be very much on the bubble and might lose their Dance Card. Let's take a look at the current Big East standings.

) Pittsburgh Panthers 13-2 25-3
(9) Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11-4 22-5
(16) Louisville Cardinals 10-5 21-7
(23) St. John's Red Storm 10-5 18-9
(17) Syracuse Orange 10-6 23-6
(11) Georgetown Hoyas 10-6 21-7
Cincinnati Bearcats 9-6 22-6
(15) Villanova Wildcats 9-6 21-7
(14) Connecticut Huskies 8-7 20-7
West Virginia Mountaineers 8-7 17-10
Marquette Golden Eagles 8-7 17-11
Seton Hall Pirates 5-10 11-16
Rutgers Scarlet Knights 4-11 13-14
Providence Friars 3-12 14-14
South Florida Bulls 2-13 8-20
DePaul Blue Demons 1-14 7-20
an 8-10 record would put them 11th in the conference and certainly put things in jeopardy. I think that if this team has any chance in the Post-season the Husky brain trust has to give up the almost delusional wish that Walker will suddenly return to early season form, drive the lane at will and score 30ppg. The incredibly smart group of Big East coaches watched Jim boeheim's Orangemen shut down Walker and the Huskies on Feb.2 with a match up 2-3 zone. Every team (except Georgetown) since then has successfully employed the same strategy. Calhoun has to insist that Walker stop dribbling against the zone, alternate Lamb and Napier at the point, and use JCM at the foul line against these zones. He has to commit to this and not revert to "give the ball to Kemba and pray" when the game gets close at crunch time. Calhoun and Blaney are in love with Walker but if they don't commit 100% to these changes it is going to be an early trip home to Storrs for this year's Huskies.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve