I'm hearing he didn't want him to foul out and was saving him for overtime.
That's the only logic I could come up with in real time. That being said, his logic isn't very logical in a single elimination game. You never truly know what Cannibal Tom is thinking.
Quote from: WILD on March 24, 2025, 05:42:16 PMI'm hearing he didn't want him to foul out and was saving him for overtime.
Hindsight being as it is - it worked out.
However, we had to rely on Caleb Love hitting a couple MAJOR 3pt shots and also needed some lucky bounces too.
We even had to survive after maybe the dumbest goof up in bracket history where Oregon threw us the ball and we raced down the floor 3 on 0 / 3 on 1 and couldn't even perform a Layup, Dunk, or even just pull the ball out and eat 30 seconds off the clock with around 1:40 left up 7 points.
There is NO universe where Tommy was saving ANYONE for Overtime with 4 minutes or less to go and especially after Dana Duck burned his own last time out with 2:27 to go when we got a dunk and went up 7 points. That is literally WINNING TIME where you put in your best shot to stop Bittle who was EATING FREE LUNCH on Henri and if he holds up for 1, maybe 2 possessions, we win the game by 10 points or more.
We knew up 7 that Bittle was going inside against Henri with over 2min to go. Awaka could have stopped that once. Dana would have went inside to try to get Awaka fouled out regardless at least 2 times before starting to chuck.
Zero chance Tommy thought "oh, if I put in Awaka, then Dana will signal his guys to start chucking 3's on us". Bittle was happening regardless.
The idea makes no sense.
The comment by Lloyd is lip service.Lloyd knows he would have been on the hot seat if we lost that game. There would be endless articles about a massive squandering had we not finished that game with a Win.
Lloyd does some questionable things he still is a good coach, I thought Tobe rebounding an defense on nate bittle was great, veesar struggled an had a bad game.
Lloyd waited to long to put him in.
My guess is that Tommy was willing to trust Henri to play better and truly was saving Awaka for overtime. It seems like the one real gripe against Lloyd is how he gives some players too many chances or opportunities to figure it out. Case in point this season has been ADO. I was pretty baffled by the minutes he was getting all year, but I have to admit it seems to be paying off. Delly is really confident and pretty damn crafty around the baskets with his back cuts and reverse layups, and he has ice in his veins. His defense is much improved by Delly standards.
Quote from: Jdmarti on March 25, 2025, 06:50:58 AMLloyd does some questionable things he still is a good coach, I thought Tobe rebounding an defense on nate bittle was great, veesar struggled an had a bad game.
Lloyd waited to long to put him in.
Henri is the better player. The odd thing to me was how Henri was reffed throughout the game when he wasn't even playing that physical... but Awaka was damn near clotheslining and clubbing whoever he had to in order to snatch the ball.
Bittle was playing like a grizzly bear ogre too. Mean. No calls on him early on so many Over the Backs and push offs / elbows to the neck and head area.
Just a weirdly reffed game and bizarre Awaka shined so bright. Henri will have to hit some of those 3s vs Duke I suspect.
It was definitely odd how Awaka could use his body to prevent Bittle from entering the lane.
Veesaar's long limbs awkwardly fly and I assume the refs are quick to blow the whistle because his exaggerated motions "look" like fouls. I expect Henri to improve his defensive footwork during the offseason. With time in the weight room, he'll be a force on the inside.
Quote from: KansasCityCats on March 25, 2025, 07:48:58 PMIt was definitely odd how Awaka could use his body to prevent Bittle from entering the lane.
Veesaar's long limbs awkwardly fly and I assume the refs are quick to blow the whistle because his exaggerated motions "look" like fouls. I expect Henri to improve his defensive footwork during the offseason. With time in the weight room, he'll be a force on the inside.
Every round should have better referees. Anticipating fouls is not in the rule book. But Tony Paid-illa would digress.
Lost in the narrative is that Arizona increased their lead with Awaka out. At least until we started making mistakes at the end of the game. The loss of a substantial part of the lead had nothing to do with Veesaar (other than those missed free throws which hurt, but are hard to predict).