[BostonCard]

You can claim to be the victim, or you can go on to play in the final four.

Or, you can hope the refs don't make an egregiously bad non-call to deprive your team of a fair shot to play in the final four.  

Hope is not a strategy.  Maybe a contested shot was the best that Baylor could do under the circumstances, but my guess is not; going up one on two or one on three is probably not a great bet even if she hadn't been fouled.  If nothing else, the fact that she shot in the midst of a triple team meant that two of her teammates were likely open.  And Goose had a good point earlier; knowing that refs are unlikely to call it either way, if you are going to go into the teeth of the defense, go strong to the hoop.

Compsci, I want to be clear that I am not blaming Carrington any more than if she had gotten a clean shot off and it just hadn't gone in.  She played her heart out, and she almost willed Baylor to a win.  That's the way the game goes; sometimes the ball goes through the hoop and you win, sometimes it clangs on the rim.  Sometimes you draw contact and the refs call it; sometimes they swallow the whistle.  But the thing I wanted to push back on is the idea that Carrington was a victim, and that the refs were some sorts of monsters that perpetrated this crime upon her and the Baylor team.  It was a blown call, and a blown call that was both common and predictable, and counting on that foul being called (if that's what Baylor did) was a bad strategy.

BC

[BostonCard]

You can claim to be the victim, or you can go on to play in the final four.

Or, you can hope the refs don't make an egregiously bad non-call to deprive your team of a fair shot to play in the final four.  

Hope is not a strategy.  Maybe a contested shot was the best that Baylor could do under the circumstances, but my guess is not; going up one on two or one on three is probably not a great bet even if she hadn't been fouled.  If nothing else, the fact that she shot in the midst of a triple team meant that two of her teammates were likely open.  And Goose had a good point earlier; knowing that refs are unlikely to call it either way, if you are going to go into the teeth of the defense, go strong to the hoop.

Compsci, I want to be clear that I am not blaming Carrington any more than if she had gotten a clean shot off and it just hadn't gone in.  She played her heart out, and she almost willed Baylor to a win.  That's the way the game goes; sometimes the ball goes through the hoop and you win, sometimes it clangs on the rim.  Sometimes you draw contact and the refs call it; sometimes they swallow the whistle.  But the thing I wanted to push back on is the idea that Carrington was a victim, and that the refs were some sorts of monsters that perpetrated this crime upon her and the Baylor team.  It was a blown call, and a blown call that was both common and predictable, and counting on that foul being called (if that's what Baylor did) was a bad strategy.

BC