Had a chance to sit and talk about Washington's 86-83 defeat with a few courtside observers and I'm scratching my head about coach Lorenzo Romar's decision with 5.4 seconds left.
Second guessing is second nature in sports. Especially after a heart-breaking defeat, but this one is baffling.
The Huskies needed a three-pointer. Less than six seconds remained. If they were down two points, then Overton is a great choice. He's arguably the fast UW player with the basketball and I still remember his last-second dash last season at UCLA that nearly won the game.
But Washington needed three points to force overtime and Overton is a 26.3 percent three-point shooter.
After Dexter Strickland sank a pair of free throws, timeout was called and Washington had time to set up a play. The official statistics say Matthew Bryan-Amaning came in for Terrence Ross, but I thought the freshman was on the floor with Isaiah Thomas, C.J. Wilcox, Scott Suggs and Overton.
Not sure why Bryan-Amaning would be on the floor in that situation. Again the Huskies needed a three-pointer and he's only taken one in his UW career.
After the game, Thomas said he told Overton the Tar Heels were going to foul him. And Kendall Marshall looked like he was reaching in when Overton crossed midcourt.
"I missed judged his reach," Overton said. "I got in the air, but I had to throw it up. I thought I timed it, but he pulled back."
Overton also questioned why Romar picked him in that situation.
The News Tribune caught up with him after the game and he said: "It's very disappointing. As a guard you just know if they're going to foul you just let them foul you and hopefully something else happens. I'm disappointed. We shot the ball really well and, really it would have been better if It would have been still on the bench, where I was most of the game and let somebody else make that decision. But it's a decision that happened and the team is going to move on, they're going to be great next year."
Turns out Thomas was right about what North Carolina was going to do.
Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said he told his players to foul.
"On that shot attempt of theirs from about the center line -- that was a good play by Lorenzo because we were going to foul," Williams said. "We were up three, and I think he instructed his guys if it looked like it was going to be a foul to go ahead and shot the bull.
"What we had done is we see said we were going to foul therm and get close enough to foul them in the backcourt. Not wait until they got across the 10-second line. If the guy anticipates a foul, he can shoot it quickly and sometimes the referee buys into it."
Thomas hit a clutch game-winner last week and in hindsight, he would have been my choice to take that shot. Coincidentally, the Huskies practiced a similar scenario Thursday before the tournament began and Suggs and freshman Desmond Simmons converted the half-court heave with less than two seconds on the clock.
What do you think?
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