Bill Self lost this game

I'm with you Murph. Very very angry at Self. I was yelling at the tv to sit Dok. I felt so sorry for him and hate that Self allowed Dok to suffer that humiliation knowing he couldn't make those free throws. Shame on Self!!!!!! These guys have proved time and again they can pull off a win at the end but how can you compete with INTENTIONAL FOULING not being called over and over again. Refs were terrible at the end allowing that to continue. I would appeal!!!!!!!!!!

Yes coach lost the game and he said so. I encourage everyone to listen to the post game session. He also made it clear in his session with Gurly that this one was on him.
Having said that, I am not angry or upset with coach, Yes I would prefer a win, because he is playing Chess. Most, or all, of the posters here want him to play Checkers. We should be thankful we have a coach that is looking ahead and positioning the team for future successes.

Again, listen to the postgame and then react.
RCJGKU

Chess v. checkers, I like the analogy. Hope you are correct!

RC

Self made a mistake, with the right intention of giving Dok some confidence. It wasn't a mistake to have him in the game when they fouled him at first. The mistake was not taking him out after the second missed FT. At that point, Dok had to be mentally, as well as physically, unable to make any more FTs.

Senex, my opinion on the intentional foul rule is that we made it easy for the refs not to call it. We needed dok on defense more than on offense getting fouled. Keep him in for defense, but on offense he should have stood outside the three point line with his hands in the air, making any foul obviously intentional. Instead, he assumed his post up position under the basket and the OU kid just had to pretend to defend him from behind and push him in the back, which is a point of emphasis foul for post defenders. An easy call for the ref.

Lots of 20/20 hindsight going on, but then again, that's why HCBS makes the big bucks.

I will say this, if he's shooting 41% and missed two, he's due to make the next attempt. That combined with Dok's supposed solid desire to stay in there, and having to make a snap judgement, and it's a coin toss.

A few weeks ago, Svi couldn't hit water with his 3 point shot, yet HCBS called his number to take a game winner and it worked out. Had he missed, I imagine some (including myself) would have been critical of calling a play for Svi when he was obviously not shooting well. Instead, Svi makes it, and has been shooting lights out since.

HCBS made an almost identical decision yesterday based on almost identical logic. This time it didn't pan out. Such is life.

Put it behind you and move on. I do hope Dok puts it behind him.

It just didnt pan out last night NotO. Self is playing the long game. At some very critical point in dokes long tenure with us selfs confidence last night (and letting him get failure phobia out of his system which everyone needs at some point to be able to relax once they know failure doesnt kill you) will pay out huge dividends. And what a guy devotnte is to take the loss on himself. Doke will literally kill for his captain now incl working even harder on his FTs. Ive watched andre drummond get much better shooting them this year so it is possible. Plus keep in mind that hack a doke doesnt work as well in college with the double bonus etc. anything that gets us faster to bonus late in games when devonte has the ball is good for me.

I have to totally agree with big g on this one. This was a marathon vs. sprint decision. I will totally agree that HCBS probably knew the team’s chances of winning were reduced by leaving Doke in, but I also agree with his post game comments on wrecking a players confidence by pulling him. So yes, they lost this game. Yes, they allowed the rest of the conference to stay in the running. But IMHO this was a coach playing to win in March, not worrying about January. Again, even after Freeman fouled out and Doke missed his last FT, they were still up by one. I am as huge a complainer about offensive efficiency as you will find. There were far too many empty possessions due to Doke’s FT shooting, but they weren’t the only issue.

I for one wondered why the coaching staff didn’t work on this with him after his injury last year. He wasn’t shooting lights out from the line last year either. I believe he injured his left wrist, so to me that would have been the perfect time to get in some extra work with and without a guide hand. I also found it a little troubling that in HCBS comments there was a ha ha moment as to who the FT shooting coach was. I have long suspected that it wasn’t something he placed a huge priority on and that little diddy didn’t do anything to change that opinion.

Regardless, I thought it was a good move. To me its like the football coach who opts to kick a FG on 4th and goal from the one. It sends the wrong message to your team and the opponent.

As for the intentional calls, I get the frustration with the refs. But I also get that it would be next to impossible to legislate intent. I have never understood why during end of game scenarios teams always chase the ball to foul. As long as the rules are what they are and refs continue to call what they do today just grab the nearest player! Until a rule is made to truly penalize a team that fouls players without the ball I am afraid this will continue.

yes i must say after reading all the give and take with self on this including espec his wed exchange with doke on the subject i still think he knew exactly what he was doing. so for the record i completely agree the right move to win the game was to take him out. the best long term move i believe will turn out to be letting him play. only time will tell