re: May I suggest that it's possible to really like WW and point out his flaws concurrently...

They're all cheating in one way or another. What Wade was allegedly caught saying is probably mild in the grand scheme of things.

His flaws hmmm well he needs to get his team to stop giving up huge leads and play some defense and stop continuously going after the 3 pointer repeatedly if it don't work and their game has been working at what they do best and shoot the 3 sparingly. That is one of few

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If Nick Saban is cheating

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Now "probably" has turned into "if."

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Where does it end?

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Good question. It will never end if the NCAA refuses to "do anything." MLB has the same issue with Houston/sign stealing. If the controlling entity refuses to enact a "strict" penality, the bad behavior will continue.

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Who got indicted?

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Nobody....I was using that as a non-legal description of my own view(s).

Good post.

Skylar may be smart in the classroom but it’s obvious he lacks the basketball IQ to handle situations like yesterday.

Taking a 3 in that spot was just stupid.

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So you’re saying don’t guard them at the 3 pt line?

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In a way it’s like calling timeout before an opposing kicker attempts a game winning FG.

NBA players are too good for such a strategy to work, but at lower levels, giving a guy time to think about his shot before he shoots can most definitely negatively impact the shot. It throws the shooters timing off and gives him a moment to think about the shot and about why no one is rushing to get a hand in his face.

Basketball players and most athletes are at their best when they’re not thinking, only reacting. If the guy takes an extra half second more than he would if his shot was contested, a lot of guys will miss a wide open shot they likely make if they are rushing to get the shot off.

Won’t work on everyone. Won’t work all the time. I’m not even arguing that it’s a good strategy.

Personally, I would’ve fouled with 9 seconds left, and at least had possession with plenty of time to get the ball up the court and get a good look if the guy made both free throws. I wouldn’t have wanted them taking threes period. Give them a maximum of two points if they manage to make both free throws and try to win it in the end. At least that’s how I would have played it as coach.

Maybe that’s why I’m not paid millions to coach. Maybe it would’ve resulted in a win. We’ll never know.

My point about not defending the arc was more rooted in my own anecdotal experiences, which of course are not scientific, are not guaranteed to apply to anyone else, much less a majority of people, and are not an apples-to-apples comparison.

I was asking the question, not lobbying for that particular strategy to have been deployed.

When I played, I was at my best offensively against the best defenders. The less time I had to get a shot off the better my percentages were from outside. I preferred a defender be close enough that I had to act and couldn’t think than to be left alone with all day to shoot.

I don’t know if others have had any similar experiences. Just asking the question because this is a message board for discussion.

I like Wade and I haven’t been one of those melting about the last two games. I’d defer to his decision making a hundred times out of a hundred in a game situation.

It was just a hypothetical question that crossed my mind based on anecdotal experiences from when I played 20 years ago.

That being said, nobody here knows how the game ends if such a strategy were to be deployed. Same goes for fouling immediately after the inbound.

It’s easy to second guess after the fact. That’s what this forum is for. I get that a lot of posters say stupid shite as though they know better than the coach how to handle a situation. I tend not to be one of those types of posters.

I can however have a discussion, ask questions and wonder about the answers.

I mean, the idea is not unprecedented. You see similar thinking in football games all the time. I’d be willing to bet that kickers would miss more often after a timeout if the defense didn’t line up to block the kick or even rush it. The kicker likely wouldn’t have seen such a look before, and with no hurry to kick the ball once the holder spots it, maybe his timing is throw off by a tenth of a second and he hooks it.

I don’t know, it’s just a theory. Obviously at least one other person has wondered something similar since it’s common practice to try to “ice the kicker” in late half and late game scenarios.

Sometimes an athletes mind is his own worst enemy. This is especially true for basketball players. It’s not preposterous to think that showing a guy who is on a hot streak a look that he’s never seen before and doesn’t make logical sense might get him thinking just enough to disrupt his rhythm and make him overthink it. Is it a smart play? Probably not, but it could work occasionally.

Like I said though, I want the ball last so I’m fouling and sending them to the line with 9-10 seconds and hoping to win it on the offensive end.

Idk why people are reacting like they can’t wrap their minds around the fact that a team without a bench blows leads down the stretch

Sorry. Opinions on the rant can only be black or white. There is no middle ground.

That said, I'll attempt to find some. Wade has been a great coach thus far at LSU. He has exceeded all reasonable expectations as to the state of the program. His recruiting has been tremendous. He's obviously won a lot of games. He's been masterful at putting together OOC's schedules that, while they don't look like much on paper, they are very strong in the ratings metrics. He's brought some degree of excitement back to the program, The mere fact we can even remotely dream of a Final Four appearance somewhat astonishing. If LSU announced today that Wade agreed to a multi-year extension I'd be thrilled.

That said, there one CLEAR flaw that very well could keep an otherwise great team from reaching it's full potential. One that has been here all 3 years. One that hasn't been fixed. That's his teams' inability to defend with any consistency. Just based on efficiency ratings alone his teams have been worse defensively than the teams under Johnny Jones. I remember when Jones was fired being thrilled that SOMEONE was going to come in and fix that side of the ball. Defense was one of the first things Wade mentioned in his introductory press conference. It's something he mentioned over and over. Yet, 3 years in, the numbers don't lie. (Currenty) LSU's average defensive rating under Wade in his time here is 117 . Jones averaged 105 in his 6 years and that INCLUDES his final year when the team/program quit on him and LSU finished with at 280 defensive efficiency rating. Point being, Wade's teams have been no better defensively than Jones' teams and, arguably, even worse.

After every loss we see posts about (insert player) needs to score more. Or, if only we could shoot 3's better. Or, Wade needs to call TO's in late game situations. But, until the Vandy debacle, everyone seemed to miss the actual, glaring, weakness. Defense. Wade's teams at LSU have not just been good on offense. They've been great. National Championship caliber great. At first I attributed the efficiency to Waters being a terrific PG. Then, LSU got EVEN BETTER this season without Waters. And without a "true PG", though people for some reason still think that is a big problem with this team.

Sure, a great PG may be of some benefit in late game situations. But has anyone ever stopped and thought WHY LSU often seems to find themselves in tight games in the final minutes, regardless of quality of opponent, regardless of if LSU has controlled the game for the most part to that point? Tight games despite the fact they are among the nations' leaders in scoring efficiency AND points per game? Close game despite the fact they put up huge point totals...even on the road (90 points on the Road twice just this week)? It's simply because they rarely stop anyone from scoring. Even average offensive teams can have good nights (particularly from 3) vs. LSU. It is mitigating his team's great offense.

It's cliche, but true. Defense wins championships. Go look at the Final Four teams over the years. Absent some fluke run, virtually all of them are at least top 50 defenses (most much much higher). Maybe the best example of this is Chris Beard at Texas Tech. He took over a program that was, at best, average defensively. In just his second season he had Tech in the Elite 8. In year 3 he had them in the National Championship game. Both firsts in the history of that program. How? In years 2 and 3 of the Beard era TTU was a top 5 defensive team. To bring things back close to home a bit, in the history of the KenPom ratings ONE LSU team has been top 10 defensively...the 05-06 team. I think we all remember what kind of season that team had.

Because this LSU team (and all of Wade's LSU teams for that matter) have been so, so good offensively they don't have to be one of the best teams in the country defensively. But there is NO REASON they should be this bad. It's clear Wade's approach to that side of the ball simply isn't working. It's forcing his teams to blow leads late and play in numerous nerve-racking finishes despite putting up big point totals. You just hate to see all of his good work potentially fall short because of what appears to be a refusal to tweak his approach to fix one glaring issue. In many ways it feels like the Miles years where LSU was such a great defensive team. They won a lot of games (many nailbiters). But he just refused to fix the offense. We finally saw this season the result of changing the offense approach.

The sky is the limit for Wade at LSU. And he's much closer to the top than anyone realistically thought he could be at this point. But to get there he is going to have to make a change in philosophy.

Absolutely. I love Will Wade. But I do believe he deserves some criticism for the 2 losses this week. I also understand he is limited due to his rotation and Manning and Bishop being injured. Just need better decision making at the end of these games. Especially with an experienced backcourt. Maybe fatigue plays a role with Mays as he plays so many minutes and also overcame two rolled ankles this week. That turnover (his only one) and not driving to the goal at the end of regulation are bad decisions. Hopefully they can overcome this week and get back to their winning ways but anyone talking about firing wade or program going in wrong direction is an idiot.

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Playing defense can be just as rewarding as scoring. Shutting down prolific scorers should be as worthy of bragging rights or praise as scoring 30 in a game.

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Remember how much run Garrett Temple got for shutting down JJ Redick? The kid for Ohio State a few years back was the same way but I forget his name. White kid, brown hair, always had red cheeks. Point is, people notice shut down defense and it is celebrated. Marlon Taylor got a bunch of recognition for it last year.

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LSU played terrible defense down the stretch of that game and it cost them a win.

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Auburn is also a very good team and they were playing to win and at home to boot.

Sometimes we forget that other teams have excellent players and great coaches too. Will Wade can be everything we think/hope he is and can be, and it’s still inevitable that his teams will sometimes lose games.

Even last year’s Duke team with three of the top seven draft picks lost a handful of games and ultimately didn’t even win the title.

This is not football. It’s nearly impossible to grade a team, a coach or a season until once the season is complete.

Could the defense have been better at the end? Sure. These are college players. Even the best of them have flaws or at least undeveloped elements of their game.

We’re still tied for first and in good position to make the tournament with a decent seed. If this past week turns into two or three, then I’ll start to worry.