...first of all, he deserves credit for having his team ready to play and executing what appeared to be a bona fide college basketball offense for some portions of the night. However, he made 3 key decisions that hurt us as much as any officiating call:
1) Leaving Varnado in after he picked up 3 early in the second half. Varnado has to be smarter than that. He really does. But he is just not a player that can play passive and be effective. Minutes after that, Cousins picked up 3 and Cal pulled him. Cousins went on to contribute, while Jarvis did not.
2) Letting the air out of the ball over the last 3 minutes. When it's a 7 point game, you do that. When it's a 4 point game, you don't. When Kentucky hit that 3, you go back to playing basketball and looking for a good shot, not standing around and dribbling until the shot clock gets down to 5 and throwing up a prayer. Amazingly, we did it even when Kentucky cut it to two. This has been a consistent staple of the Stansbury era, and it's one of the worst things he does as a coach.
3) Not drawing up a play to get somebody open on the last possession. The ESPN reporter basically told America what we all knew was coming. We wanted to get the ball to Bost or Stewart on the wing and let them "create." What that means is that we will put the ball in somebody's hands and everybody else will stand there. There were no back screens. No cuts. No nothing. I know other coaches draw up plays. When Jamont was here, it was "put the ball in Jamont's hands and let him create," etc. This is extremely poor coaching with the game on the line. At least post Augustus up and let him try to get a higher percentage shot down low. His post move over Orton was beautiful. Instead we have Stewart trying to create a shot by himself that was horrible.
1) Leaving Varnado in after he picked up 3 early in the second half. Varnado has to be smarter than that. He really does. But he is just not a player that can play passive and be effective. Minutes after that, Cousins picked up 3 and Cal pulled him. Cousins went on to contribute, while Jarvis did not.
2) Letting the air out of the ball over the last 3 minutes. When it's a 7 point game, you do that. When it's a 4 point game, you don't. When Kentucky hit that 3, you go back to playing basketball and looking for a good shot, not standing around and dribbling until the shot clock gets down to 5 and throwing up a prayer. Amazingly, we did it even when Kentucky cut it to two. This has been a consistent staple of the Stansbury era, and it's one of the worst things he does as a coach.
3) Not drawing up a play to get somebody open on the last possession. The ESPN reporter basically told America what we all knew was coming. We wanted to get the ball to Bost or Stewart on the wing and let them "create." What that means is that we will put the ball in somebody's hands and everybody else will stand there. There were no back screens. No cuts. No nothing. I know other coaches draw up plays. When Jamont was here, it was "put the ball in Jamont's hands and let him create," etc. This is extremely poor coaching with the game on the line. At least post Augustus up and let him try to get a higher percentage shot down low. His post move over Orton was beautiful. Instead we have Stewart trying to create a shot by himself that was horrible.
