Faced with a team unable to guard
the three pointer or do what is required in the Kentucky defensive system,
check your man, Tubby threw out the playbook Saturday and made a desperate
decision.
It had become common place in recent weeks to suggest that Tubby Smith
should go “Villanova” and put out four guards along with center Randolph Morris, thus utilizing the team’s strengths (its guards) and ignoring its
weakness (everything else). Shades of this lineup were seen in the Alabama
and Georgia game and it became clear that Tubby was willing to utilize this
method, but only for short offensive bursts. After these digressions, the
Cats would retreat to a more conventional style, thus treating Kentucky fans
to the site of Sheray Thomas’ 16-foot jumpers that must help the nation’s
brick-building economy,
Thus while some of the self-appointed assistant coaches were seeing some of
their ideas utilized occasionally, even the most radical of thinkers would
have ever suggested what was shown on Saturday. Rather than simply stopping
with four guards and big man Randolph Morris, Tubby decided to go all the
way and play four guards along with alleged “power” forward Bobby Perry.
Rather than the “Villanova” strategy, this was the “who needs to rebound”
strategy, sacrificing any shot at offensive (or for that matter defensive)
rebounds, for quickness and outside shooting. The result: a team that was
down 12 with ten minutes to go, found itself up 2 when Randolph Morris
returned to the game.
How radical was this idea? Well according to Bobby Perry, such a lineup is
never utilized, even in practice. “I have almost never played the five in
practice and I was a bit shocked when I noticed that I was the new center.
However, because of our quickness, they had to go small and adjust, thus
playing into our hands.” And that was the key….the decision to go radical
made South Carolina do something that very few teams have had to do all
year…..adjust to Kentucky. South Carolina coach Dave Odom said, “it was a
brilliant move by Tubby. We were not able to match their quickness on the
defensive end and because our big guys could not capitalize on offense, we
had to adjust….and that was a difference in the game.”
Thus Tubby Smith, a coach who has found himself susceptible to charges of
blind adherence to his system even in the face of evidence to the contrary,
found himself in a new position…the Ralph Nader of coaching. For only a
true radical would look at a team with four players approaching seven feet,
two power forwards over 6’7” and tell them all to sit on the bench while
four guards…..some of them slow and many of them lacking in confidence….join
a player who is 6’6” only in his momma’s eyes and lead a team to a comeback
victory. Such a decision truly was desperate and such desperation led to an
impressive show of courage. However even more impressive was that the
decision, like so many in the Tubby Smith era, was not only radical….but it
was correct.