First and foremost let me say that I disagree with those who want to run CMG out of town. I believe that he is a good coach and will only get better. Now having said that, I think last night's loss can be placed squarely on CMG's shoulders. CMG has the philosophy that any time a player picks up his second foul in the first half, he must sit for the remainder of the half. The thoery is that you will prevent him from picking up his third in the first half. The problem with that philosophy is that you can dig a hole that you can't climb out of. That is exactly what happened last night. Erwin Dudley picked up his second foul with just over four minutes to go in the half. According to the CMG rule, that means he has to sit. Before he could get to the bench, he picked up a foul and Harrick drew a T. We hit all four free throws to make the score 25-25. Dudley sat down, Kenny Walker very quickly picked up his third foul and CMG sent Rambo in for the remaining three plus minutes of the half. The result? A 14-2 run by UGA that not only put us in a hole that we never climbed out of, it took away the momentum that we had finally changed to our side.
I agree that you need to avoid the third foul if possible. However, you can't let the game slip away while you are doing that.
Another question for CMG. With about 1:30 left in the game we were down by 7, I believe. He sent Meade in for Pettway, presumably to foul. Why else would he have been in in that situation? UGA brought the ball down and Meade looked to CMG several times and CMG signalled to play D instead of fouling. Granted, we got the ball back, but UGA ran off more than 30 seconds on that possession -- 30 seconds that we did not have to spare. If you are going to send someone in to foul in that situation, why not foul?
The long and short of it is that CMG still has a lot to learn. I just hope that we do not run him out of town before he learns.
I agree that you need to avoid the third foul if possible. However, you can't let the game slip away while you are doing that.
Another question for CMG. With about 1:30 left in the game we were down by 7, I believe. He sent Meade in for Pettway, presumably to foul. Why else would he have been in in that situation? UGA brought the ball down and Meade looked to CMG several times and CMG signalled to play D instead of fouling. Granted, we got the ball back, but UGA ran off more than 30 seconds on that possession -- 30 seconds that we did not have to spare. If you are going to send someone in to foul in that situation, why not foul?
The long and short of it is that CMG still has a lot to learn. I just hope that we do not run him out of town before he learns.
