Air Force’s season has been one of extremes.
An 11-4 start, then a seven-game losing streak. Two straight wins including a huge upset against San Diego State, and the Falcons followed that with a very disappointing loss to TCU in which it blew a 10-point lead at home.
“It hurts,” coach Dave Pilipovich said. “That’s a good thing, because we believe we can win, we’re getting better, we’re playing well. We just have to close a little better there. That’s experience, for all of us.”
Air Force built a lead by attacking the basket on offense, but a few changes by TCU and the Falcons’ offense stalled. Air Force went from being up 55-47 with less than eight minutes left to trailing 60-58 with two minutes left.
The Falcons went from having an outside shot at getting the fifth seed in the Mountain West tournament to having to battle Boise State to stay out of last place.
“It’s extremely disappointing to lose at home, especially in a close game we were up on,” center Taylor Broekhuis said. “There’s so many things you could pinpoint that we did wrong in the game. We need to come out with that win in the end.”
Whether it relates to being an interim Coach or whether the 25 years experience as an Assistant Coach, one thing that cannot happen, must not happen…a Head Coach displaying uncertainty. The fact that with 11 seconds left we finally called a timeout after Lyons looked at Coach and Coach looked at Lyons, we lost 5 valuable seconds off the clock. A Seasoned Head Coach does not freeze up. Thats all I will say about that event. AF turned over the ball 4 times in the last 6 minutes with lazy passes, straight up no authority in their passes and TCU simply stepped infront of pass. I know they are kicking themselves because their inside offense was effective as well as most of their Defensive stops. It was again a rebounding nightmare for AF inside under the basket. We are being consistently outrebounded and that with a few failed free throws made the difference in the TCU comeback. Regroup, check yourselves and stay strong for UNLV. Go Falcons!
Lyons made a good move along the baseline for a high percentage shot with seconds left but TCU doubled him and made a great defensive block on the play. Give them credit. TCU could have folded when Thorns fouled out but didn’t. They never gave up and when we were up 10 in the 2nd half, we couldn’t nail the door shut…..AGAIN!!!
We missed 8 shots from the “charity stripe” (12-20). They missed seven. Make half of our misses and we win the game. Their leading scorer was a non factor with 3 points and fouled out.
Last night validated for me the need to conduct a legitimate national coaching search. Not pointing a finger at Coach P for the loss, but the program deserves a comprehensive look from afar.
Guess you were not watching the bench much…the coach was motioning the whole time for AF to hurry across the halfcourt line to call the timeout and have the inbound in the front half of the court. The team did not respond as it should have….my opinion on that.
Yes..we lost on rebounding. AF had 4 second chance points off of offensive rebounds. TCU had, ouch, 25 second chance points off their 22offensive rebounds. This is the crux of this loss and fairly obvious. One personal opinion on the game….the number of over-the-back rebounds that TCU got was sickening to me. The foul in the back pushing AF out-of-bounds in the last minute of the game with no call was horrible. TCU on the inbounds did score a FG (possible 4pt swing again). Refs do not win or lose games, players do….but the effect of these no calls was big on the final outcome.
For as good as we played on offense overall, the two errant passes resulting in TO’s were huge and disappointing in the overall scheme of the game….big four point game changers each with a no shot opportunity for AF and subsequent score for TCU. Really, really hurt!
Reference FT’s…yes, make more to include front end of the 1-1 and we may have won. Looking at that vs other aspects of the game it was not as big a factor as both AF and TCU scored 12points from the FT line TCU 12-19 AF 12-20….but it could have been the winning points if we made them! GO FALCONS
I will have to disagree with rjp who says “refs do not win or lose games..” On the contrary, I have seen many many many many games where how a game is called being the difference between a win or a loss. If a team is allowed to “over the back” rebound, then the refs are not doing their jobs. Unfortunately, this happens all too often at all levels. It’s too bad that even at the Division 1 level you can’t count on good solid officiating according to the RULES of the game, not subject to INTERPRETATION or EMPHASIS. Other very common missed calls are traveling, carrying the ball while dribbling, blocks/charges, and honoring a players’s right to verticality. Also, even a casual observer can see that 3-man mechanics have NOT improved officiating, so it’s time to get rid of that nonsense. However, all that being said, it’s clear that a team needs to develop a strategy to increase the odds of being able to win when you have 5 players and they have 8 (counting the refs), the worst-case scenario. Therefore the offense needs to adjust so that rebounding is a part of the package. The Falcons so often find themselves in the position of having everyone on the perimeter except maybe one guy on the high block when a 3-pointer is launched, and everyone starts running for the other basket before the shot even finishes its arc, presumably so as not to be burned on a fast break. The stats clearly show that this is a flawed concept. If they did more screening with “penetrate and dish” they might do better all around.
Just have to chime in on FPC, mentioning the end game with Lyons not calling TO and then doing it. It was clear to me that Coach P wanted Lyons to go, he didn’t want TCU to set its defense. Lyons was anticipating a timeout so he didn’t attack. Once P saw that Lyons had that indecision, he called the timeout right away to reset things. That isn’t freezing up, in fact, it was kind of the opposite. He saw some indecision and called timeout – then called up an inbounds play that got his best player to the basket (and had a good follow up by Hammonds). I’m sure that also could happen in any coach’s 4th game as a head coach of a new team. It’s not exactly a referendum on whether he can coach or not.
Yes Frank, Coach P wanted to atrack without any timeout at all…element of surprise with 11 seconds left just play through the clock but Lyons was thinking T/O while Coach was thinking,”
go. ” Why call a timeout Coach was thinking…just go Mike. But, he then saved Lyons from the confussion of the moment.
I’ve gotta’ agree with RGbird. For all the “PC” pap about refs not costing teams games, it is clear they do effect the outcomes. Too many do not understand the blocking /charging call, they allow carrying, do not watch the feet for travelling violations, and are often out of position. No real accountability and they can never be criticized or expected to improve. They need to get better Check out Bobby Knight’s perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRZSru9uJfc
I’ve seen that piece by Bobby Knight before, Old School, and it’s a good one. Thanks for sharing it!