Leonard Hamilton Starts to Freak Out When Asked About Not Fouling
If you're still watching the broadcast, they just asked Leonard Hamilton to explain why he didn't foul when they were only down 4, and he acted like it was the dumbest question he's ever been asked. He almost walked away.
Meanwhile, the people in Vegas who had Michigan -4.5 are wondering the same thing.
I'm just thankful he turned into a coaching idiot there at the end.
[EDIT: Changed the headline after several people rightly pointed out that he composed himself after initially starting to freak out.]
March 25th, 2018 at 12:00 AM ^
the question was asked from the live broadcast room. It's meaningless question. It's a feat they went to E8, shoudl have congratulate them.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 12:03 AM ^
their game plan clearly has that element. Don't allow DR to even touch the ball. One play they missed that assginment, he got a crucial 3 points.
if Wagner had hit his first three, they may have surrendered by half time.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:49 PM ^
those people. They aren't playing the games to satisfy the gamblers. Don't lay the fucking money down if you can't afford to lose it.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
Maybe Izzo should take some notes.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
I wouldn't say he freaked out. It looked like he was simultaneously trying not to cry and trying not to tell the reporter to go fuck herself. It took him a second and then he said some pretty gracious things about Michigan (and his players).
I totally felt for him -- what was he supposed to do? Call his players idiots for not fouling?
And while there's no downside to fouling, he'd have to hope that a 90% free throw shooter missed the free throws, and then that his team, who couldn't crack Michigan's defense all night, could score in a couple of seconds (with no time outs to set anything up), and then they'd still have to foul again, hope for another miss, and then score again.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
just watched the post-game presser and my respect for him grew.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:50 PM ^
Absolutely. But prepare for downvotes.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^
Let's see, he 1. protected his guys. 2. didnt give boilerplate answers, and 3. gave Michigan credit. What is the complaint here again?
We should want more interviews like that given, and guys like him coaching, in college sports. The rush to criticize him here is really small minded.
March 25th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
He's only being criticized for not doing the right thing (fouling) and potentially (likely) securing a Michigan ATS win. His interview was fine and shows he's an upstanding guy. But he also just made bank from +4.5 so he's probably happy about that too. Half joking.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^
That certainly wasn't a "freak out". That was a death stare. Not easy to give those interviews, much less to be second-guessed right away as the very first question.
He was composed enough to credit Michigan, and express pride in his players. I thought he handled the situation in about as classy a way he could, given the circumstances.
(Besides, he was fully aware that Robinson is a 90% free throw shooter. The chance he misses both shots are around 1%. The remotest of chances that in (10? 7?) seconds they get the rebound of the missed second free throw; score a quick 3 (which they had'nt done all game- they had scored a couple 3s, but none were quick open, and Michigan would have else everyone back); then steal or foul within the time remaining and score to tie or win it.)
March 24th, 2018 at 11:50 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:50 PM ^
After initially freaking out, I thought Hamilton reigned it back in and gave legitimate answers. Like many things in sports, this is an issue of optics more than actual probability. He was right that the game was over from every realistic and statistical perspective. I do wonder if he was covering for his player a bit there as well.
March 24th, 2018 at 11:53 PM ^
March 24th, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
He seems like one of the more even keel types out there. Classy dude
March 24th, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
Hope people don't gas up Hamiltons' response. Gotta be tough minutes after the game to answer those questions
Heat of the moment - he collected himself after that question.
He gave a ton of credit to Michigan. A ton.
incredible job by Hamiltion... congrats to FSU.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:01 AM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 12:01 AM ^
Because he freaked out on a Michigan alumna, Dana Jacobson.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:02 AM ^
March 25th, 2018 at 12:15 AM ^
You guys really think Hamilton didnt want them to foul?
I am pretty sure it went down like this ... he'd been harping for the last 2 minutes if Zavier, Matthews or one of the other poor free throw shooters gets the ball then foul. If someone else has the ball don't foul. Probably said it to his team countless times throughout the last couple minutes so now its in the players head, basically dont foul the white dudes. Robinson gets the rebound and of course hamilton wants them to foul but the players second guessed fouling there because 'its not Zavier'. At that point there is about 5-6 seconds left and Robinson is running away from everyone.
Im sure Hamilton will take the blame instead of putting it on the players but I am also sure it wasn't him that told them to not foul there. It would be insane if he did.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:15 AM ^
He knew Duncan had scored 6+ points. The game was over.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:19 AM ^
They clearly had instructions NOT to foul Robinson. As in "foul anyone else BUT NOT HIM" so that is why they were looking at the bench, as in "OK, now what do we do coach, we have to foul but you told us NOT to foul this guy!"
They just weren't prepared properly for that situation. He told them don't foul Robinson, but they neeed to understand that well yah, foul him IF YOU HAVE TO.
So it wasn't a smart play. But I suspect that it was left over from the last 2 minutes where they were trying to foul anyone else on the floor except for Mr. Automatic.
Edit: I see 1 Percent posted pretty much the exact same thing while I was typing this up.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:36 AM ^
You might be right on the instructions, but you are also likely wrong on the conclusion that they were not properly prepared. It's reasonable for a coach to assume that players will know to foul anyone, no matter what, in that scenario. In other words, to disregard player-specific instructions. It is D1 after all.
The reality is that it is silly to try to assign blame in this situation. He probably should have fouled. Who is to blame doesnt really matter. Everyone on that team will know what to do next time.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:25 AM ^
Seemed like a brain lock on the part of the player in not fouling. Maybe they should have been better prepared but fouling Robinson would have effectivly ended the game regardless.
March 25th, 2018 at 12:32 AM ^
FSU has some extremely physically talented players, and they all seem like decent guys, but their coach and players are not going to out think their opponents.
Hamilton made some really bad mistakes. His big line up was left in too long. He didn't have them pound it down low enough (and there were many chances, plus the refs were calling everything a block). They took way too many desperation 3's when it was needed. The last 20 seconds was totally mismanaged...
but thank you FSU!
He was throwing a bone to all the FSU fans (himself included) who bet on them to cover.
Even if Duncan hit both FT's the game isn't quite over. FSU could have knocked down a quick 3 with 6 or 7 seconds on the clock.
Steal the inbounds, or Michigan misses their FT's (certainly a possibility with this team), and FSU has a chance to tie with another 3.
Sure it's unlikely - but absolutely very possible.
I'm sure we're all very very glad to see them let the clock run out!
As for Hamilton, it's part of his job to answer tough questions, even in the heat of the moment. He faltered for a moment, but then regained his composure.
Classy guy - and very good he didn't blame his players.
This is why I said the debate is really about optics. It's only a blunder in the sense that it looks bad. There's no real risk to fouling there, but down two possessions at that juncture in the game, fouling realistically does nothing but delay how long until the game officially ends and change the final margin. FSU would've needed a perfect set of occurrences just to have an opportunity to tie. Yes anything is possible in that there's a non-zero probability, but the likelihood of anything other than a Michigan victory is far closer to zero than it is to even 0.001%.
Besides, most they could have done is foul our best freethrow shooter with 7-8 seconds left down by 4. I'm certain the players were told to foul Z in previous stoppages. No timeouts left to reset that.
Dude looks like Bunny from The Wire
March 25th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
I was one of those people with Michigan -4.5. Granted, I only had $35 on it but still I couldn't help but think "fix" when FSU didn't foul. It was really weird. A potential trip to the Final 4 on the line and you choose NOT to foul? I understand being down 7. But a deficit of 6 or less I am pretty sure the right choice is to foul. So the coach either messed up, the player next to DR messed up, or the fix was in. Anything can happen in 10 seconds. It's March Madness fergodsakes.