Happy to see them come back, but will we ever win a close game?

{Sigh}

If we were sitting with an RPI in the 50s or 60s, the UK, Ole Miss, MTSU, and UT games would be killing me.  As it is, honestly, this is a rebuilding year; our guys are playing hard and fighting to the finish.  No complaints...in terms of a longshot, my only goal for us now is to avoid finishing in the bottom 4 so we don't have to play on the first day of the revamped SEC Tournament.

Not to make an obvious point, but our basketball team has become what our football team used to be.

We don't win close games.

Lord knows we've been there... and stayed there for a LONG time.

They did just about everything they needed to do in the last minute (except for KJ's long 3 point miss)--good ball handling, calling the appropriate timeouts, and going inside for the final shot. 

Tough break--would have been great to beat Tennessee on the road--and in a down year.

atlantadore wrote: They did just about everything they needed to do in the last minute (except for KJ's long 3 point miss)...

I wonder if he was having 2-for-1 possession dreams on that one. We take a quick shot (& make it, of course) with more than 35 seconds left, so that in the worst-case scenario (UT scores), we still have a final possession.

So close. It seems these kids are learning a lot about how to handle defeat with grace after trying really hard, and maybe they'll work their way to (1) a few victories before this season ends and (2) some success next year -- i sure hope they get some recruiting help too to bolster what we have if there is room for scholarships. I understand UK and Univ. of Memphis had some strong recruiting this year.

I've said it before, but if we're in a tight game down by 1 or 2 in the last minute then Kevin Stallings is about the last coach in the country I want drawing a play on the clipboard.  When's the last time we won one of these?  Did he even suggest a play in that last TO?  KJ just passed it off, got it back outside the arc and just drove solo to the hole.  I know less than nothing about hoops, but I can see that that was not a high percentage play.

Sorry to be such a downer.  Pissed since I put the kids to bed, didn't look at Twitter so I could watch the game on TiVo.  Waste of freaking time.

I really think it was a high percentage shot, honestly. I'm surprised it didn't go in. Johnson not only was extremely close in with a clear shot at the second he took it after losing the defender (and a history during the same game of making harder driving shots than that one where he had been much more off balance) but there was an opportunity to draw a foul in this case and he had Odom and Bright follow him, who both got their hands on it before the buzzer, and all three missed. Had nothing to do with percentages. I believe this was an excellent play and we just plain missed lay ins. THREE. I cannot blame that on the coach in this particular play, not that I am someone who never sees fault in Stallings but that particular final play was in my opinion an excellent play. What a drag all three shots from point blank failed. (Could we have had anyone better under there for the tip-in than Odom and Bright such as maybe Siakkam and Jeter? I do not know. It may have wound up the same.)

Watch the play again, slow it down if you have that option on your VCR. It's just plain old bad luck, not a bad play in this particular case.  I'm not saying everything done was perfect that night, but that final play call was not the problem. Perhaps there were other options but Johnson had done well on driving tonight and had a hot hand in the second half other than the foolishly extra long range 3 pointer he tried.

I agree with you GerryN.  I thought the play call and the timing were excellent.  Having watched the replay, I'm not sure how we failed to score on that play.  I haven't read the player quotes, but I bet Kedron would say it was a shot he makes most of the time.  I bet Bright says he can't believe he missed it.  Of course, the play also created an opportunity for a foul on Tennessee.  In this case, the Vols defended pretty well.

If it could be recreated 10 times, I bet Vandy scores more often than not. 

In my mind, great call.  One of those guys make the most of the next opportunity like that because of this experience (at least, that's what I hope for).

Guys don't brother some of the people posting on this thread just want to bash the coach. They have never played sports or maybe they could not remember that teams with all young players had a hard time winning most games especially close games. They just think anytime a Vandy team steps on the floor nothing matters they will win. They will never be satisfied so there is no need to try to explain it to them. This team will be better by the end of this year and much better next year. And guess what these same people will still not be satisfied.

sidedoretoo wrote: I agree with you GerryN.  I thought the play call and the timing were excellent.  Having watched the replay, I'm not sure how we failed to score on that play.  I haven't read the player quotes, but I bet Kedron would say it was a shot he makes most of the time.  I bet Bright says he can't believe he missed it.  Of course, the play also created an opportunity for a foul on Tennessee.  In this case, the Vols defended pretty well.

If it could be recreated 10 times, I bet Vandy scores more often than not. 

In my mind, great call.  One of those guys make the most of the next opportunity like that because of this experience (at least, that's what I hope for).

Yeah, I'm with you guys. Griping about the play-calling at the end is a classic example of Monday morning quarterbacking. Focus on the strategy and execution, not the results. In football, when the best strategy is to go with a field goal and not try for a first down, if a coach does that and the kicker misses, it doesn't mean the coach made a mistake. The best strategy in any late-game situation includes the risk that the shot won't go down, or that the other team's shot will. In our three tight SEC games this year, we're 0-2 on last-second shots and our opponents are 1-0. It doesn't mean we made any tactical mistakes or that we were outcoached. We got better shots at the end of those games than the other guys did. Ours just didn't go in (except the one against Ole Miss, which everybody has forgotten about) and Henderson's did. It happens. Close games are a crap-shoot. That's why a lot of coaches and scouts go with point-differential as the true measure of a team's quality. Eventually we'll win our share of them.

VandyFitz wrote: I've said it before, but if we're in a tight game down by 1 or 2 in the last minute then Kevin Stallings is about the last coach in the country I want drawing a play on the clipboard.  When's the last time we won one of these?  Did he even suggest a play in that last TO?  KJ just passed it off, got it back outside the arc and just drove solo to the hole.  I know less than nothing about hoops, but I can see that that was not a high percentage play.

Sorry to be such a downer.  Pissed since I put the kids to bed, didn't look at Twitter so I could watch the game on TiVo.  Waste of freaking time.

You proved true.  Stallings is an inbounds and play-calling genius.  He has gotten multiple great looks at the end of games over the years.  Not every shot goes in, but we get good looks every time the play is executed properly. 

Earlier this year Stallings was voted by ESPN college basketball writers as just outside the Top 10 X's and O's coaches in the nation.

http://espn.go.com/mens-colleg...lege-basketball


Stallings's play design and out of bounds schemes are fun to watch, and very impressive.

CKS' career record in close games at Vandy (decided by 5 points or less, or in overtime) is 60-45, or 57.1%.  

But until the 2010-2011 season, it was 64.3%, which was actually quite good. (Only once during his tenure through 2010 did he have a season where he was less than 50% in close games, the disastrous 2002-2003 campaign.)  The last two and a half seasons have been either an aberration or a continued downhill slide, depending upon your perspective, with his teams going 3-7 (in 2010-2011), 2-4 (in 2011-2012), and 1-4 so far this season during that stretch.  And, obviously, those records have now been compiled with both highly experienced and completely raw squads.

Thanks Auric, your stats actually do explain my Debbie-downer attitude with CKS lately.  The 2002-3 season was the last time I lived near Nashville and was able to watch games.  I've been able to listen to games mostly since then, but as I'm primarily a football fan I probably let some games go by until ESPN3 came along in 2010.  Curse the course of life that took me out of viewership during the 6-7 years when Stallings wasn't losing close games.

I've talked with friends before about how CKS's seasons are like his games (ie we play worse down the stretch).  See our horrific postseason win percentages.  I've always thought that the players really got tired of CKS as the seasons wore on.  I'm not advocating letting him go or anything (although I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel that way some seasons in the past).  I don't know if we could attract a better coach unless we offer Brad Stevens some Saban-caliber money.  It just seems like the seasons always end with me thinking we could have done more.  I always get frustrated by things like that stretch where we lost senior night game for close to a decade straight, repeatedly letting big leads build up against us without a TO and inexcusably not holding onto one single player in an entire class.

As I said above, I'm more of a football fan and most of y'all have probably forgotten more about hoops than I ever knew.  Just griping I suppose.