Today, in the North Carolina game, we had the same player (Henson?) commit not one, but two mental errors, again in the final seconds of the game. The first error was in trying to catch an errant pass that was clearly going out of bounds. Let it go, right? No... He tries to play hero and catch the misguided throw, changes his mind a split second too late, and allows Washington one last chance, with less than a second remaining. (Replay showed that there should have been over a second left, but the officials blew that call.) So, UW inbounds the pass (short of the 3 point play they needed for a tie), the shooter is quite short on the shot anyway, and the Tarheel "hero" goes up by the cylinder and comes within a whisker of an interference/goal tending call. My opinion is that he wasn't aware that the shot was only for 2 points. He was thinking 3 points all the way. Again, at the very last split second he pulls his hand down and avoids the penalty call. But he shouldn't have made it that close to begin with.
What is it with these young players committing so many gaffs in the closing seconds of a do or die game? I cannot recall any NCAA tournament with so many mental errors. It's like these guys were never taught how to play basketball. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so. Use your heads, guys. Play the game smartly. It's not like this is a playground game.
EK!!! |
