Just watched the replay. It was definitely a called play. The pass was a good one. However, I think ASU was aware that this play was a possibility, so a second player was prepared to help out if the lob was thrown. She did, and the play didn't work. I frankly think that that play has a 3 out of 10 chance of success against a well coached team, and ASU is well coached. If it had a higher success rate (7 out of 10) I would think we would use it more often on side court out of bounds plays.blungld said:We were in a tough spot with the 4.5 and that call wasn't bad and I bet 7 out of 10 times KA catches and scores that. The problem was the possession before that could/should have decided the game, but even with a timeout and full shot clock ended without a shot. That is inexcusable and has happened other times this year.IssyBear said:It was an out of bounds play from the side court. There was 4.5 seconds on the clock. The game was on the line. So what was the play that was called? Was the lob to the post the designed play, or was it a desperation pass because no one else was open?ncbears said:Exactly, and it wasn't a bad play. The pass got fairly cleanly to KA. KA may have rushed it. It was not a "wild one" into the post. Indeed, in the second half, I think there were few "wild" passes to the Post. Credit to ASU defense - and demerits to Gottlieb for another last minute failure of execution.stu said:Nobody else was open. Kristine caught the ball but was in an awkward position and didn't get a good shot off. Probably had time to come down, pivot, and go back up.IssyBear said:
One note Gottlieb lobs another wild one into the post with 4 seconds left.
If we had another play called that was stymied by good D, and the toss to the post was our only option, I accept that it was a positive effort. To me at the time, and with our history of forcing passes to the post, it looked like more of the same. Hope you're right and I'm wrong. BTW, it was a decent pass considering the degree of difficulty. I therefore retract the word "wild".
The first 5-10 minutes and last two minutes of games have not been well-coached or what a senior-led talented Cal team should look like.
I agree that our offensive ineffectiveness is killing us. It seemed to me that much of the fourth quarter was spent dribbling the ball on the perimeter looking to get the ball into the post. When we couldn't make a safe pass as the clock ran down, we either turned the ball over or threw up a desperate shot from deep. We never seemed to run a play to get one of our other shooters open for a shot. I will say that after watching the replay, Anigwe was fouled almost every time she took a shot, but few were called. I guess this is the burden of a dominant front court player. Based on this pattern during the game, if Anigwe got fouled on the final play, the chance that it would be called was unlikely.