WAS THAT A FOUL OR DEFEND?

No matter who you talk to or listen to, everyone has an opinion on the late game situation; up three points, on defense, and less than :07 to play.

Last night in the MSU-Indiana game the Hoosiers were up three, on defense with less than seven seconds to play in the game. Spartans guard Gary Harris pulled up for a possible game tying three-point shot from the left-wing.

Will Sheehey, the Hoosier defender put his hands straight up. The refs thought he fouled the shooter; a foul was called with 3.7 seconds left on the clock. Three shots for Harris.

Now, where do I chart that?

Under the “foul” category?

Defend category?

Or leave it alone?

Harris missed the first, made the second then had to miss the third on purpose.

Victor Oladipo of the Hoosiers secured the rebound, was fouled and made two free-throws at the other end, game over.

Last night we had four foul or defend situations in college and the NBA.

The Milwaukee Bucks led the Brooklyn Nets and had a decision to make. They elected to defend, Joe Johnson banged a three and the Nets went on to win in OT.

College:

-Longwood fouled Liberty and came away with the win.

-Missouri, who I thought was a foul team defended Florida. The Gators got a clean look from the corner but missed.

-Neveda up three on Fresno State decided to defend but gave up a three-point shot to Kevin Foster with 6 seconds left. In the extra session the Bulldogs won.

Overall stats: (As of 2/19/13

Division One Games: 

363 situations

25 fouled – 23 won

338 defended

56 made three’s

16%

NBA:

79 situations

10 fouled – 10 won

69 defended

16 made three’s

23%

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Twitter: @CoachFinamore

SUNDAY’S SHARING OF THE BALL

Jeremy Lin, a guy who was sleeping on his brother’s couch just a few months ago signs an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets, so the Knicks get Raymond Felton. Will Lin be back in the Big Apple? If not, there will be a lot of upset fans on 33rd and 8th.

The Nets pick-up C.J. Watson as a back-up to Deron Williams.  Some are calling Brooklyn’s backcourt of Williams and Joe Johnson the best in the league.

Can you imagine coaching a basketball team with Kevin Durant coming off your bench?

Kyrie Irving wants to play Kobe Bryant one-on-one with the loser promising to pay $50,000 to the winner’s charity.  That challenge brought me back to 1995 when Shaq was going to play Hakeem, Kevin Garnett vs Joe Smith & Kenny Anderson vs Nick Van Excel. It was to be televised on Pay-Per View in Atlantic City. I was at the press conference at the All-Star Cafe. Never happened. It’s funny because the chain restaurant wasn’t even complete yet. The players pulled up in limo’s and there was no one there to greet them.

Irving, the NBA’s reigning rookie of the year will not be playing anyone one-on-one for a while; he broke his hand out of frustration by slapping the padding on the wall during the Cavs practice in Las Vegas.  Keep those emotions in check!

Have you been watching the NBA Summer League? I have. It’s been interesting to say the least. Mike Dunlap is the only head coach running the show on the sidelines for his team. I love how hard he has the Bobcats playing. They are also sharing the ball, defending and running good stuff on offense. Rookies Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeffrey Taylor looked good. Interesting tidbit on Dunlap’s hiring. After sitting down with Michael Jordan, MJ mentioned that Dunlap was a guy he could play for.

AAU season is in full swing with tournaments all over the country.  Big ups to Camp Darryl out of Michigan; they are in the championship game of the Hoosier shootout. Darryl Matthews, the head coach and director of the program told me this morning that he’s been taking his team to the shootout for past 10 years.  In his first four years Camp Darryl was 0-16.

Watched Outside the Lines on ESPN Sunday morning; their topic? College athletes who transfer schools. Norm Chow and Jay Bilas were guests.  I think the NCAA should examine this issue and look to make some changes.

Reading a lot of quotes from college basketball coaches on how happy they are to be able to work their players out in the summer. What took the NCAA so long to put this rule into place?

HOOPS135@HOTMAIL.COM

TWITTER: @CoachFinamore

REST

While watching the Jazz and Spurs Thursday night,  I kept hearing Doug Collins of TNT talk about giving guys a rest.  I hate this kind of talk.

Do guys really need a rest?

In 1962, Wilt Chamberlain played 48.5 minutes per game.  Yes, you read that right.

Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas broke his forearm during a weight lifting session.  Yikes…

Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks via Bleacher Report:

“I don’t know when we all of a sudden just really became a selfish team,” Johnson said. “Now everybody wants to go one-on-one. It’s me, me, me. It’s crazy, man.”

“Everybody who touches it wants to score,” Johnson said. “I really think guys on this team don’t know their roles, so it’s killing us. And it’s going to continue to kill us.”

Hawks are 4-2.  This has nothing to do with killing the team; this may get ugly.

Cheryl Miller on NBA TV said Carmelo Anthony is the second best player in the NBA.  Ummm, Miss Miller, if Kobe and LeBron are the two best, how is Carmelo 2nd best?

-Coach Finamore

Hoops135@hotmail.com

I’m on Facebook and you can follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore