The Mistake Of The Tournament: 11.2 Seconds

Frankly, I am surprised that this mistake has not gotten more coverage in the press today, as after all, this dumb mistake is the reason why the Tennessee Volunteers lost to the Michigan State Spartans. Tennessee made one grave and avoidable mistake in their elite 8 game against the Spartans, and yet, it cost them the whole game. Check out the video below, and before you get intimidated by the 9-minute length, I have set it up so that it begins at the relevant part of the video.



Seeing as CBS and/or the NCAA will likely take it down in a few hours, here is what happened. With the shot clock off and Tennessee with the ball and 28 seconds left, they had the perfect opportunity to win the game. But then Scotty Hopson made one mistake that ensured that his team would not go to the Final Four.....

He shot the ball. With 11.2 seconds left. Thus I ask the rather obvious question, WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU SHOOTING THE BALL WITH 11.2 SECONDS LEFT???? What sense does that make? In this game? Against this team? How dumb can you get?

All you have to do is ask a Maryland fan what happens when you attempt a game winning shot with too much time left on the clock. And the Terps only left Sparty with 6.6 seconds in that ill-fated 2nd round game of 8 days ago. Why are you giving Michigan State 11.2 seconds to work with? Again I ask, how dumb can you get?

I don't care if it was the best look in the world, you wait until at least the clock says 5 seconds before shooting that ball, that way if you miss on the initial shot, you have a chance for a rebound or a tip in. It's a 1-point lead, Sparty is not going to foul you in that situation, you hold to ensure that either you have the last shot or you force them to outdo Christian Laettner on the 18th anniversary of his game-winning shot at the Spectrum. But under no circumstances do you give Michigan State a whole 11.2 seconds to work with. If they buried a team in 6.6 seconds, what on earth made Scotty Hopson think their defense could hold Michigan State for 11.2 seconds?

But Hopson is not the only one to blame for this grave mistake. Tennessee had timeouts left (emphasis on the plural), why on earth did Bruce Pearl not call a timeout there? Make sure everyone on the team is 100% aware of the situation. You have to make sure there are room for no errors there. You can't just trust that all your players know the situation. Let them know, no matter what, you have to hold the ball for the final shot of the game. And if it's not the final shot of the game, ensure that the last shot of the game is nothing but at least a half court heave or an attempt at a miracle catch and shoot. Under no circumstances do you give a tournament tested team with the best tournament coach of our time 11.2 seconds with which to work and get his team to the Final Four. And for all those people claiming that this is just hindsight, let me ask you this, after Hopson let that ball go with 11.2 left, was there anyone in the country that felt like Tennessee was going to win that game? Or was it a foregone conclusion that Michigan State would drain the last shot of the game, even if it had to be from the free throw line like it turned out to be? I knew instantly Sparty was winning at that point.

And lastly, as evil as it would seem for me to be to call out one of my favorite analysts in any sports, I have to call out Bill Raftery for this one. Maybe he was in NBA mindset for a minute where he was thinking that common strategy would be each team trying to score as quickly as possible and did not say anything because Sparty would make the same mistake that Hopson made and leave Tennesse with more than 1.7 seconds to score again, but how did he not mention that error at all? And even if was the strategy of each team wanting to score as quickly as possible, why wait a whole 17 seconds before shooting with 11.2 seconds left? Here's the link to the MMOD video of the game. Fast forward to the end and this moment and see if there is ever a moment where Raft talks about Hopson's grave error. I can save you the time and tell you there is no mention of it. But if you think I am stupid, you can click on the link, jump it to the end, and see for yourself that in the near 10 minutes from the time of Hopson's mistake to the end of the broadcast, there is no talk of Verne or Raft of that mistake. You are one of the best analysts in the game.....how do you not bring that up????

And it's not just Raft. Hardly anyone mainstream is talking about that mistake, and yet, it is something that everyone should be talking about. If not for Hopson shooting too soon, the refs never have a chance to call a questionable foul on Prince sending Sparty to the line and the win. You never give Michigan State another chance to do what they did to Maryland. You control your own fate and destiny in this crazy mixed up world. The Vols had that chance. Scotty Hopson and Bruce Pearl choked. Majorly. Tennessee fans can cry foul to the refs all day long for calling that questionable foul, but it's like I said, why even give that chance? Better yet, why are you giving a team skilled in buzzer beaters a whole 11.2 seconds to score one???? Tennessee did it. Question that foul all day long, it does not matter, Hold the ball longer. Take that last shot with less than 5 seconds left. Hope it's a buzzer beater or Evan Turner did not transfer to Michigan State overnight. If it's a miss, fight for the rebound or the tip in. You have timeouts, use them! Bottom line: Tennessee deserved to lose that game. They made the fatal mistake, the biggest mistake thus far in the tournament. They gave Michigan State too much time. You never do that. Never. Just ask Greivis Vasquez about what they can do in 6.6 seconds. And you can now add Scotty Hopson to that list. Only he will tell you about 11.2 seconds.