The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Basketball Blog - Donnie Marsh
1/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
January 14, 2011
I had every intention of writing another blog before now but I just finally caught my breath from that triple OT thriller against UTEP last Saturday! Quite a game and even better that we came out on the high side of the score. I'm really proud of our guys for staying after it through two (2) tough shots that created the overtime situations. Of course my first thought both times was "get the rebound"! Had we done that either time there of course would not be an "instant classic" to talk about and certainly there would not have been an onslaught at Snoozy's during the week. Late game three point lead situation strategies are always interesting discussions. Some like to foul in those situations to not allow an attempt that could tie the game. Others prefer to rely on their defense to get a stop. I sat with Butler coach Brad Stevens this summer at an AAU event in Orlando and we talked about it. He had interesting perspective saying he had always been a "Trust my defense get the stop" kind of guy (as am I), but he talked with one of his college professors about the percentages involved with fouling in those situations. I won't share all of the conversation because I don't want to breach a confidence, but suffice it to say that I have seen it work both for and against the team that fouls, and for and against the team choosing not to foul. It becomes a coaching "feel" for your team and your philosophy. Suffice it to say that the UTEP game provided plenty of fodder for future discussion on both sides of the debate.
But we move on and now we find ourselves in a stretch of games that will test our physical, mental and emotional toughness. Thanks to "mother nature" we were unable to get into Greenville, NC for our ECU game scheduled for last Wednesday. We tried every possible option we could to get there but once they closed the Charlotte and Raleigh airports, there was no recourse except to postpone the game. We tried to work through the open weeks for both teams but they didn't match up so we were forced to find the next best option. That is Monday January 17th. That now gives us four (4) games in a week's time. Certainly not ideal at this time but you will recall we have been there before. This season in fact...We played Arkansas on the 26th, Troy 3 days later (29th), JSU 2 days after Troy, and Georgia 2 days after JSU. Oh and for good measure throw in Kent State 2 days after Georgia. Three of those first four games I mentioned were on the road. At least this time around we'll get the final 3 games of this stretch at home. We have a great opportunity ahead of us and it all starts on Saturday at Tulsa. Hopefully at the end of this 7 day stretch we will have put some serious distance between ourselves and every one else. We'll take them one game at a time and "bring the fight" each night. Let's hope there aren't any triple OT affairs during this stretch...unless we are on the winning side of course.
GO BLAZERS!
