NCAA Tournament 2011: Butler-ODU Proves Again; Coaches Don't Understand Math

I do not mean to pick on Old Dominion Coach Blaine Taylor, who has done an outstanding job in making ODU one of the top programs in the country, but his decision-making at the end of ODU’s NCAA Tournament game against Butler demonstrates something that former Los Angeles sports talk host Dave Smith always pointed out: great coaches don’t always understand basic math.

Let’s reset the situation at the end of the game.

The Monarchs trailed by two, 58-56 following a Frank Hassell basket with 1:38 to play. Butler’s Ronald Nored then turned the ball over with a minute to go.

Taylor and ODU then made a mistake we will see more than a few times in the next three weeks.

When you are trailing, in possession of the ball, and with a minute to go, you must take advantage of the two-for-one scoring opportunity available because of the shot clock.

The math on this is simple. If ODU had shot around the :42 mark or earlier and missed, it could still have defended without fouling and had a chance to tie or win.

If the Monarchs had scored, Butler would not have been able to get the last shot, and even if Butler had scored, ODU would have had a final chance to tie or win.

Instead, Old Dominion got to watch the Bulldogs' Matt Howard put back a missed shot and go down in defeat.

When will coaches start preparing their teams with this basic understanding of math?

(NOTE: Since the conclusion of the Butler-Old Dominion game, Penn State also lost by failing to understand this principle.)

(NOTE No. 2: Princeton, after hanging with Kentucky all game long, could have taken advantage of the two for one but instead UK won it with two seconds left. Even the smart ones get it wrong. Now at the conclusion of the first day's session, the Two-For-One Principle has already affected four games.)

Feel free to comment or follow my NCAA Tournament commentary on Twitter at @PLH55.