Nebraska (13-17 5-13 12th) vs Penn St. (16-15 4-14 13th) Game Thread

[PimpMario]

Why do coaches always wait until the ball is in bounded before they foul the guy who catches the ball? Why don't they just foul the worst free-throw shooter befall before the ball is ever thrown in bounds? Stupid. Obviously Penn State is going to inbounds the ball to their best free-throw shooter. Just find where shooter and file him before the ball is thrown in.

Because than it is an intentional foul or whatever

[NUdiehard]

No it's not. Not in college basketball.

[The Polish Rifle]

That was a very Nebrasketball way to lose a game. And I love Shavon, but can we stop trying huge game tying 3s with a 20% 3 point shooter?

[jayschool]

I listened to the national radio broadcast, and the last play went like this:

 

"Newbill in the lane, jumper, no good. Defensive rebound by Rivers. Ball is loose. Tie up. Possession to Penn State."

 

Pray tell, what happened to David?

 

(I think I know, given the way Penn State's bigs generally crash the boards.)

[husker11]

You don't foul due to the chance of a turnover

[The Polish Rifle]

He secured the board, brought it low enough to where one of their guards (Newbill I think) could tie it up. Could have been fouled on it, but it was a no call.

[jayschool]

He secured the board, brought it low enough to where one of their guards (Newbill I think) could tie it up. Could have been fouled on it, but it was a no call.

Thanks, Pike.

[Silverbacked1]

Actually I think David had the ball and then two of our guys ran into him while he still didn't quiet have it, then he fell to the floor then a scrum.

Also this was my 50 th season of going to games. Wished it would have been different but for some reason I really feel generally good about what is coming in the years to come.

Will miss David and the other seniors like I do every year.

[Norm Peterson]

 

 

(Norm is sad.)

[HuskerFever]

You have to applaud the effort and heart throughout that game. I'm surprised it was so close with as many missed opportunities as we had.

[jayschool]

Thirty percent from the field again.

 

Yikes.

[jayschool]

We shot 30 percent from the field against Maryland on Sunday, as well.

[jayschool]

A scorching 43 percent in both Champaign and Columbus, 33 percent at home against Iowegia. 

 

All of those are better than the 29.4 percent we shot in State College.

 

Sigh.

[Red Don]

I would much rather finish the season with a close Nail-Biter (than a Blow-Out Loss )

Kudos to the Team for Fighting to Stay In the Game!  

Farewell (and Best Wishes), Seniors!  

[brfrad]

Seriously miles so far is worse than Sadler end of game. And Sadler was terrible

It would help if we had someone to grab the rebound, and a shooter.

[Red Don]

 

Seriously miles so far is worse than Sadler end of game. And Sadler was terrible

It would help if we had someone to grab the rebound, and a shooter.

 

We out-rebounded PSU 50-35!    How many do you want? 

 

(I know;  just one more RB    Well, And Score!)

[hskr4life]

[ballgame]

Sad. Just sad.  And pretty pissed too.

[colhusker]

Well what a crappy end to the season.  No excuses to lose that many in a row other than we just need more talent.

[NUdiehard]

 

Fouls "away from the ball" (fouls that do not occur on the shooter or near the ball) are handled like the second case above in most situations. Many times defenders hold their opponent to prevent them from catching an in-bound pass or fight through screens and thus are called for fouls. These fouls are almost always treated as normal personal fouls. In the NBA, when there are only two minutes left on the clock of either half, off-ball fouls when the fouling team is over the limit are rewarded with one free throw and possession of the ball. It is therefore common for a losing team to deliberately single out its opponent's poor free throw shooters, regardless of their dominance in other aspects of the game (as in the cases of Ben Wallace and Shaquille O'Neal), as the targets of deliberate fouls until the two-minute mark, after which the losing team plays intense defense for the rest of the game (see Hack-a-Shaq). It is believed that this rule was instituted because of Wilt Chamberlain. Previously teams had been allowed to foul any player on the court regardless of whether that player had possession of the ball, with only two free throws awarded to the fouled player. This motivated teams to chase poor free throw shooters, such as Chamberlain, around the court in attempt to foul him in an effort to extend the game. To discourage this practice, the NBA changed the rule to award one free throw and possession of the ball to a player who is fouled away from the ball in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. This rule does not apply in international or NCAA play and in fact plays a very vital strategic role in the NCAA Tournament.

 

NU has had multiple games this year when it had to foul the opponent with only a few ticks left on the game clock and every single time it allowed the ball to be inbounded before committing the foul. And every time I would be yelling (either from the crowd or from at my TV) to foul the worst free throw shooter before the ball is even inbounded. 

 

 Virtually every single time, the ball was inbounded to the opposing team's best free throw shooter and then of course we had no option but to foul that player who had the ball and he went on to make both free throws.  I don't get it.  Why is this so complicated?  Why does every coach and every team think you need to allow the ball be inbounded before you can commit a foul?  This is not rocket science.

 

The odds of getting a steal are very low and not worth the risk if there are only a few seconds left in the game.  For instance, yesterday, there we only about 5 seconds on the game clock and we were under the other teams basket.  The ball was inbounded to Penn State's best free throw shooter (86%) and over 1 second ticked off the clock before fouled him, now leaving only 4 seconds on the clock.  Of course, he made both free throws.  And considering we had to go the length of the floor to get off a shot, that 1 second we lost was critical.

 

If we would have fouled their worst free throw shooter on the floor before the ball was inbounded, we give ourselves a better chance that he will miss at least one shot and preserve that extra second or two that otherwise ticks off the clock before when you wait until the ball is inbounded before fouling. 

 

I love Miles and this is not a shot at him personally because I see virtually every game go this way and almost never see any coach teach his team to foul before the ball is inbounded.  But sometimes I pull my hair out and wonder why coaches get paid $2million plus. 

[royalfan]

Agree Diehard.  You do have to work on the art in practice a little though, as it certainly can be called an intentional foul.  It is a judgement call. 

[AuroranHusker]

Many times refs are going to call a foul prior to the ball being in-bounded as an intentional foul w/ 2 shots & continued possession. I think it was a point of emphasis for them to do so.