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Lucas: Basketball all about making shots ... or is it?

Mike Lucas  —  3/26/2008 5:34 pm

They missed open shots and contested shots. They missed shots from the paint and all 13 shots from beyond the 3-point arc, snapping a streak of 347 consecutive games in which Kansas State had accounted for at least one triple; a streak dating to 1996. Given this backdrop, a disconsolate Wildcats men's basketball coach Frank Martin began his post-game news conference with a familiar loser's lament. "At the end of the day that ball's gotta go through that little orange thing," Martin said. "If it doesn't go through that orange thing, it's hard to win."

Make shots, win.

Miss shots, lose.

That's about as eloquent as it gets, too. "We knew going in we would have to make jump shots to win this game," Martin said after his Wildcats made only 21-of-53 shots in a 72-55 loss to the University of Wisconsin in a second round game of the NCAA tournament last Saturday in Omaha, Neb. Referencing getting skunked from 3-point range, he added, "I felt 11 of the 13 (shots) we took were the ones that we were looking to shoot, and they just didn't go in for us today. And when that happens, chances of us succeeding become a little more difficult."

Make 'em, win.

Miss 'em, lose.

"They really packed the lane and they tried to limit driving areas," K-State guard Clent Steward said of the UW defense, which held him scoreless from the field (0-for-4). "We had to knock down some open shots to open it up. It didn't happen. Like I said, that's how they play, that's how their coach (Bo Ryan) teaches them to pack it in and make you shoot over the top and it worked because we didn't knock down the shots."

Sound familiar? "We have to make shots, that's definite," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said before facing the Badgers on March 8 in the final regular-season game (a 65-52 loss during which the Wildcats shot 41 percent and made just 6-of-17 shots from beyond 3-point arc. "You won't get too many back-door plays against them," Carmody continued. "They play you from about 20 feet in, they play you from the top of the key in, so you have to make shots."

So they do.

The Badgers.

And they did.

That was Martin's point as he was trying to explain how the UW's offense feeds into its defense by controlling tempo. "They get you in that slow-down tempo, grind-it game," he said. "Then, they miss a shot and the ball hangs on the rim, they get an offensive rebound, put it back, and it kind of deflates you because you guard them for 32 seconds and then they get the ball back and score it or you gotta guard them for another 32 seconds. So you tend to press a little bit on offense because they limit how many shots you get. So you get fewer shots and if you don't make jump shots, it's hard to beat them."

The moral of this story or story line? "That's not a team," Martin said of Wisconsin, "you want to play on a night you don't make jump shots."

So much is cliche, redundant at this time of the year. Such as, defense wins championships, guards rule in March. But what about shot-making? Make shots, you win. Miss shots, you lose. Is it as fundamental as that? Or is it an excuse? "Shooting is a part of playing well," Kansas coach Bill Self said last weekend in Omaha. "To me, it's a good or a bad shot when it leaves your hand, not if it goes in."

How so? "You can run good offense and miss an open 15-footer or run bad offense and make a guarded 21-footer," Self went on. "Which one is the better possession? From a coach's standpoint, the miss is probably the better possession." Self puts more stock on what his players do after a shot is missed as far as attacking the offensive glass and creating second-chance opportunities. "If you have to bank on making shots in order to win," Self said, "then you probably are going to have a night where you don't (make 'em) and you lose."

When Self was asked what a team can bank on if it can't bank on making shots, he said, "First, shot defense. Rebounding the ball. Taking care of the ball. Stealing possessions. Getting 70 percent of the 50-50 balls. That to me is what you do consistently night-in and night-out. And, then, when you make shots, you look really good if you're able to still do those things. But in (NCAA) tournament games, you're going to have to grind out some wins. And those are the key components."

Everybody's trendy pick to win the national championship, UCLA, has excelled in grinding out wins lately. The Bruins have scored 57, 67, 70 and 51 points in those games. By comparison, the "methodical" and "plodding" and "athletically-challenged" Badgers have scored 65, 61, 71 and 72 points over their last four games, all victories. So even though Wisconsin has outscored UCLA 269-245 over the same span, the Badgers are constantly under national scrutiny for their style, whereas the Bruins are hailed for defense and intangibles and for being so true blue to coach Ben Howland's system.

The UW coaching staff has likely already broken down some of Howland's tendencies and how they relate to an opponent in preparation for Friday night's game against Davidson College in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Ford Field in Detroit. In early December, the Bruins faced Davidson in the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim, Calif. Though the underdog Wildcats opened the game on a 32-14 run and shot 52 percent for the first half, UCLA rallied from the 18-point deficit and escaped with a 75-63 victory. "I was really worried about this game," Howland said afterward. "I would not want to be the team that will play them in the NCAA tournament."

Thanks for the heads-up. Not that the Badgers need one because they know how dangerous Davidson is. And, by now, they know how explosive Stephen Curry can be. UCLA checked Curry with Russell Westbrook, a 6-foot-3, 189-pound sophomore guard who was named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Curry scored only eight points in the second half and finished with 15 on 6-of-19 shooting. "He did a great job chasing me all game," Curry said of Westbrook, "and made it tough for me to get easy shots."

During his Monday presser, UW coach Bo Ryan was asked about his defensive stopper, senior Michael Flowers, largely because Flowers will be chasing Curry around Ford Field. Specifically, Ryan was asked what makes a good chaser? "Ginger ale," he deadpanned, never turning down a scoring opportunity, particularly a lay-up.

Mike Lucas  —  3/26/2008 5:34 pm