Rhode Island: The poster child of how to lose a close game in the final 1:00 1. With :55 seconds left and the ball, blow your 2 for 1 by making the idiotic (but common) decision to run clock, benefitting the OTHER team by
a) Forcing you to create a shot late in the shot clock AND
b) BLOWING your 2 for 1 opportunity (giving the other guys the last shot).
If you are up 1-3 this is a mistake. BUT if you are tied or down 1-3 this is such a terrible mistake it is unbelievable, yet MOST college teams make this mistake!!
2. With :30 left, tied, and the other team with the ball, just let them shoot the final shot. Forget about employing a stratety the other team would HATE such as
i) Agreesively implementing a half court trap trying for steals OR
ii) Fouling early on any player on the other team who shoots under 60% from the line, when the team is in the 1and1 situation
Employ i or ii and your win rate goes way up. Sit back and let them have the final shot, and you lose 70% of the time.
