1996 NCAA Finals

[Ryan Falcone <FalconeR@nvg.com>]

>>> <j.hironaka@unesco.org> 07/08/99 05:44am >>>
p.s. I watched the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats championship game again
two nights ago
(in which Delk hit a record number of 3-pointers) to see how a good
Pitino
offense is supposed to play. One thing that surprised me was how
strikingly
thinner Walker was and that he had explosive hops and a small
forward's game. I
don't think he turned his back to the basket even once prior to entering
the NBA.
The other thing I noticed was that the Wildcats had great spacing and
averaged an
amazingly high number of passes per shot in the half-court set, even by
college
standards. I'm talking successive 15-foot "pinball speed" bullet passes
after the
ball crosses midcourt. The thing is that the guards out there (Epps, Delk,
Sheppard, Derek Anderson) are only average passers, so it really was a
combination of athleticism and a Pitino-enforced ball-movement system
that won
the day. The flip side is that Pitino-ball inevitably seems to involve a very
high number of rushed decisions and rushed shots in transition. The
pace is too
frenetic and the adrenalin level too high for any one player to
demonstrate
level-headed, as opposed to totally instinctive, decision-making ability. It
frankly looks kind of ugly if you grew up used to watching 80's Celtics
basketball, as opposed to 80's UNLV basketball. <<<



Damn you for bringing this up, Joe!  My Syracuse Orangemen lost to
Kentucky in that game.    :(

Ryan