10 seconds on the shot clock?

[GoRMU]

It seems common for teams with a lead and the ball in the final minutes of a game to wait until there are 10 seconds left on the shot clock to start to move the ball and set up a shot.

Pitt did this several times near the end of the game last evening, only to face tough defense and then to be in panic mode to get a shot off.

In the Central Connecticut game a couple of weeks ago, Coach Toole patiently waited until the shot clock wound down to 10 seconds before calling a time out. Then RMU had to inbound the ball to a player covered by a defender and then struggle to work the offense and get a shot off before time ran out.

I fully understand that if a team has the lead, especially a small lead, that it wants to use up as much clock as possible, but so often waiting until there are only 10 seconds left seems to put offenses in panic mode resulting in putting up bad shots.

With all of the numbers and statistics used in sports today, I suppose coaches know that with 10 seconds to go that is the ideal time to start the offense in motion, but I think if I were a coach I would give my team a couple of extra seconds and start the movement with 12 seconds to go.

 

[Andrew_Chiappazzi]

Toole does this occasionally, but it's usually in very specific situations, including the late game situation you detailed against CCSU. I think what happened with Pitt last night was more of a stagnant offense coming back to bite Pitt.

With RMU, you can tell precisely when Toole tells his team to wait to a certain moment, because they stand almost completely still while at least two of the players - usually the point guard and a veteran - look back to the bench for further instructions. I also don't usually see Toole do it for more than two possessions back-to-back. I also think the CCSU scenario - which puzzled me, too - happened later than Toole wanted. I seem to get the indicator he wants the guys to go around the 15 second mark, but sometimes there's a delay. There definitely was one against CCSU, which I think led to the timeout.

My memory might be a little faulty with the specifics on that one, though.

I didn't see that last night. I saw Pitt just look out of sorts. The Panthers have struggled with off-the-ball movement all season long, especially in the last few games. I just don't think they're a very dynamic offense, especially with Patterson hurt. I do think that's all on Dixon, though. He needs to recognize what he has on the floor and realize that there aren't many great options for the team late in the shot clock. Robert Morris is the opposite. I think Toole is perfectly comfortable with bleeding the clock out, if necessary, and having Karvel and Lucky take even a contested shot.

I mentioned this to someone else prior to Tuesday's practice as we were talking about the upcoming Pitt game. Robert Morris has more dynamic scorers than Pitt does right now. Whoda thunk it?