Sunday, April 04, 2004
Did Calhoun outcoach Kryzewski?
Pete Thamel seems to think so. His argument is that Connecticut's coach adjusted to the refs calling a tight game, whereas Duke's coach did not.Coach K blamed this time on the refs, lambasting them at the end of the game: "You killed us. You killed us. You killed us. You killed us." Duke's coach stood by his call to keep his big men in the game despite the risk of picking up more fouls.
But while Coach K complained, Calhoun adjusted. He resisted temptation, kept his big man on the bench and ended up the game being able to exploit that Titanic mismatch. After losing for the seventh time in a Final Four, Coach K snapped at a media member, "Obviously you didn't see the game," after the reporter referred to Duke's loss as a "collapse." Calhoun did see the game. He saw there were 44 total fouls called, 22 in each half. He saw a game being called tight and stashed his best player on the bench.
In the end, he saw Okafor vs. Horvath. He saw a Player of the Year candidate do what he should, abuse a stiff reserve who hadn't scored in Duke's past two games. And now, Calhoun will see Monday night.
That being said, I would not look forward to playing the Dukies next season. Deng will a year wiser, as will his supporting cast. Losing Duhon won't have much of an impact...
