Someday, perhaps, can’t miss NBA stars Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye will find a way to forget the pain they suffered tonight in Chicago. Will Stoudamire blame himself for having a disastrous 2-for-13 performance just two nights after lighting up Oklahoma State for a game winner as time ran down? Will Frye think of his dominant effort (11-for-14 for 24 points, 10 rebounds) in the Chicago regional final as a waste of a huge night? The team that had all the answers for the first 16 minutes of the second half tonight against #1 Illinois goes now to the offseason surrounded by nothing but questions.
It really is this bad. [Photo: ESPN.]
After Jawann McClellan hit two free throws to give Arizona a 75-60 lead with 4:02 to go, the main question was simple: “How the hell has Arizona done this to the number one team in the nation?” But the Wildcats packed it in from there, hardly even getting to shoot a free throw to pad its lead late. The last 1:13 were exceptionally telling. After getting two free throws to go up 80-72, Arizona gave up a quick three pointer to the Illini’s Luther Head. Dee Brown then made a steal and a layup for Illinois to cut it to 80-77. After a timeout, Salim Stoudamire inexplicitly tried to lob an inbounds pass into the center of the court. The pass was picked off, and Deron Williams buried a clutch three to tie the game and send the pro-Illinois crowd into a frenzy. Arizona chucked the ball at the basket three times in the last 10 seconds, but, predictably, nothing fell.
Illinois seemed to be about a 10 point favorite going into overtime, as teams rarely blow a lead like that only to win in OT. The Wildcats had just one lead in the extra stanza — coming on a Channing Frye dunk with 3:30 to go — but trailed by six with under two minutes to play. A couple of nice hoops (including a three-point play) by Hassan Adams, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the losing effort, cut the Illini lead to one. Illinois called timeout with 38 seconds to go, during which Lute Olson made what we at Slowplay considered to be a strategic blunder.
Arizona was guaranteed to get the ball back with around 20 seconds to go. If Illinois missed, they’d trail by one point. A Luther Head jumper with 20 seconds to play was no good, and Hassan Adams controlled the rebound for Arizona. He handed the ball to Salim Stoudamire and it seemed the mad dash would ensue. That’s when Stoudamire trotted the ball across half court and called timeout.
Huh?!
I began chirping during the timeout to a friend of mine (and anyone else who overheard), that Olson should have instructed Stoudamire to try to take the ball all the way, without calling timeout, perhaps on some sort of set play with Frye on a pick and roll. Frye’s range makes him a dangerous jump shooter, and the opportunity to give your two best players a chance against a defense that hadn’t had a timeout to set up seemed to be Arizona’s best chance. Coaches generally like to use such a strategy, but in some situations whether or not to call timeout is debatable. This, however, was not one such situation.
The reason Arizona needed to push the ball up with 20 seconds to go was the fact that they trailed by only one point. If Arizona rushed the ball down the court and missed, they could still foul with around 10 to 12 seconds left and be guaranteed another chance to win or tie, depending on how many free throws Illinois made. Instead, Olson called timeout, and the ensuing play involved neither Stoudamire nor Frye. Never at any time did a legitimate basketball play occur, as Arizona stumbled its way to a 23 foot fall away hip chuck from a player who had attempted 40 three-pointers all year.
Arizona fans will suffer for years to come as this one is replayed every March by networks like ESPN Classic. The saddest thing of all for the Wildcats was the fact that they dominated the floor game. This wasn’t a game in which — unlike West Virginia, who earlier in the night blew a 20 point lead against Louisville — an underdog rode a wave of hot shooting to an unlikely lead over a far superior team. Arizona was the better team tonight. They looked like national champions with four minutes to play: Frye was sublime; Arizona’s defense was forcing Illinois into a lot of tough shots; the ‘Cats were handling the hostile Chicago crowd. Alarmingly, Arizona was doing this without any contribution from Stoudamire. It was downright scary.
But the final horror the Wildcats inflicted was upon themselves. In spite of shooting 51.6% from the field, making 18 of 21 free throws, and controlling the board (36 to 26), Arizona threw its season away with its errant passing in the final minutes the game.
Illinois, at 36-1, is a great team, and they may well win the national championship. Whether or not that happens, Illini fans will long cherish this amazing finish — a finish coach Bruce Weber called a miracle. But twenty years from now, this game will not be mentioned next to Doug Flutie, Lorenzo Charles, or the Miracle on Ice. This game evokes ghastly images: Greg Norman at the Masters, Bill Buckner and Mitch Williams, any contemporary Cubs team in the LCS, the 2004 Yankees, Chris Webber’s timeout, Baggio’s shank at the ‘94 World Cup, and the underrated collapse that occurred in 1957 when jockey Bill Shoemaker misjudged the finish of the Kentucky Derby, costing Gallant Man the roses. It was simply horrifying.
Many of you may not be convinced that it was quite as bad as I’m describing it to be. You are probably in shock from a tournament bracket shredded (or saved), or a die hard ‘Cats fan, or simply feel sorry for the kids. All of these are admirable concerns. But you’ll have the chance to watch this game on replays over and over and over for the next few decades, and I guarantee you, at one time or another, you’ll finally say it:
“Man, what a choke job.”
Nathan Novak at 9:53 pm
It was all staged… ILL is destined to win this tournament
Comment by Jamie — March 27, 2005 @ 1:12 pm
How can you say it was a choke? Getting to the Elite Eight is a choke job? Yes, the Cats lost it at the end but it was not a choke. Life goes go on…..
Comment by Luna — March 27, 2005 @ 2:33 pm
Luna:
A good season and a horrible choke job at the end of a game are not mutually exclusive. Even Steve Lavin — one of the most unabashed, pro-coach shills on the planet — seems to agree that Lute and Co. blew it. It was a nice season for Arizona, but unfortunately it will be remembered for this colossal collapse.
Comment by Nathan J. Novak — March 28, 2005 @ 7:00 pm