Halftime adjustments

SectionBAggie · Post by **SectionBAggie** » March 9th, 2021, 10:14 pm

I have watched a lot of basketball games in my life. In doing so I have heard a lot of analyses about "halftime adjustments". And until tonight I guess that I always thought that coaches go in at halftime and talk about what options are available to get the team to play better in the second half.

Tonight, watching Mark Few and the Zags, I came to the conclusion that sometimes the team doesn't make halftime adjustments in that fashion. (Credit to my son for a Princess Bride reference) Sometimes (at least tonight it sure seemed like it ) a team fights left-handed even though that is not their strong hand knowing that when they go with the right hand things will turn in their favor.

Mark Few had prepped for BYU three times. I believe that he knew that he had enough skill on his defense that he could pressure BYU and that they would wilt under the pressure. Especially coming off of a late OT game the night before. So he played the first half "left-handed" - not using his strongest defensive weapon. I think he knew that any second half time out would not provide sufficient opportunity for Pope and staff to come up with a strategy to overcome the defensive pressure.

So, playing left-handed, they gave up 53 points in the first 20 minutes. But playing right-handed, they gave up 25 in the second half. I just don't think that the Zag coaches came up with that defensive approach during halftime. I think it was an ace in the hole that they kept hidden until time would not allow BYU to successfully adjust.

Something caused a 22 point turnaround in the final 20 minutes. And I think it was a classic case of a veteran coach out-maneuvering a coach with much less experience.

Now I need to go back and look at the hot second half starts USU has had recently (Nevada, Wyoming, FSU) and see how that looks with this new perspective.

utaggies · Post by **utaggies** » March 10th, 2021, 7:16 am

SectionBAggie wrote: ↑
March 9th, 2021, 10:14 pm
I have watched a lot of basketball games in my life. In doing so I have heard a lot of analyses about "halftime adjustments". And until tonight I guess that I always thought that coaches go in at halftime and talk about what options are available to get the team to play better in the second half.

Tonight, watching Mark Few and the Zags, I came to the conclusion that sometimes the team doesn't make halftime adjustments in that fashion. (Credit to my son for a Princess Bride reference) Sometimes (at least tonight it sure seemed like it ) a team fights left-handed even though that is not their strong hand knowing that when they go with the right hand things will turn in their favor.

Mark Few had prepped for BYU three times. I believe that he knew that he had enough skill on his defense that he could pressure BYU and that they would wilt under the pressure. Especially coming off of a late OT game the night before. So he played the first half "left-handed" - not using his strongest defensive weapon. I think he knew that any second half time out would not provide sufficient opportunity for Pope and staff to come up with a strategy to overcome the defensive pressure.

So, playing left-handed, they gave up 53 points in the first 20 minutes. But playing right-handed, they gave up 25 in the second half. I just don't think that the Zag coaches came up with that defensive approach during halftime. I think it was an ace in the hole that they kept hidden until time would not allow BYU to successfully adjust.

Something caused a 22 point turnaround in the final 20 minutes. And I think it was a classic case of a veteran coach out-maneuvering a coach with much less experience.

Now I need to go back and look at the hot second half starts USU has had recently (Nevada, Wyoming, FSU) and see how that looks with this new perspective.

Let me see if I understand this concept. Few knew the scheme that could beat BYU but he decided to instead play the first half with one hand tied behind his back so as to prevent Pope from assessing the situation and employing the antidote for Few’s second half scheme. Since Few did not free his untied hand until the second half Pope was unable to make adjustments on the fly which he could not effectively do.

My take? You have watched The Princess Bride too many times!

Aggie19 · Post by **Aggie19** » March 10th, 2021, 7:30 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
March 10th, 2021, 7:16 am

SectionBAggie wrote: ↑
March 9th, 2021, 10:14 pm
I have watched a lot of basketball games in my life. In doing so I have heard a lot of analyses about "halftime adjustments". And until tonight I guess that I always thought that coaches go in at halftime and talk about what options are available to get the team to play better in the second half.

Tonight, watching Mark Few and the Zags, I came to the conclusion that sometimes the team doesn't make halftime adjustments in that fashion. (Credit to my son for a Princess Bride reference) Sometimes (at least tonight it sure seemed like it ) a team fights left-handed even though that is not their strong hand knowing that when they go with the right hand things will turn in their favor.

Mark Few had prepped for BYU three times. I believe that he knew that he had enough skill on his defense that he could pressure BYU and that they would wilt under the pressure. Especially coming off of a late OT game the night before. So he played the first half "left-handed" - not using his strongest defensive weapon. I think he knew that any second half time out would not provide sufficient opportunity for Pope and staff to come up with a strategy to overcome the defensive pressure.

So, playing left-handed, they gave up 53 points in the first 20 minutes. But playing right-handed, they gave up 25 in the second half. I just don't think that the Zag coaches came up with that defensive approach during halftime. I think it was an ace in the hole that they kept hidden until time would not allow BYU to successfully adjust.

Something caused a 22 point turnaround in the final 20 minutes. And I think it was a classic case of a veteran coach out-maneuvering a coach with much less experience.

Now I need to go back and look at the hot second half starts USU has had recently (Nevada, Wyoming, FSU) and see how that looks with this new perspective.
Let me see if I understand this concept. Few knew the scheme that could beat BYU but he decided to instead play the first half with one hand tied behind his back so as to prevent Pope from assessing the situation and employing the antidote for Few’s second half scheme. Since Few did not free his untied hand until the second half Pope was unable to make adjustments on the fly which he could not effectively do.

My take? You have watched The Princess Bride too many times!

I prefer the comparison to a right handed boxer, switching to southpaw half way through a fight. It's not so inconceivable

, the Aggies do it every game.

RigAggie · Post by **RigAggie** » March 10th, 2021, 8:02 am

Aggie19 wrote: ↑
March 10th, 2021, 7:30 am

utaggies wrote: ↑
March 10th, 2021, 7:16 am

SectionBAggie wrote: ↑
March 9th, 2021, 10:14 pm
I have watched a lot of basketball games in my life. In doing so I have heard a lot of analyses about "halftime adjustments". And until tonight I guess that I always thought that coaches go in at halftime and talk about what options are available to get the team to play better in the second half.

Tonight, watching Mark Few and the Zags, I came to the conclusion that sometimes the team doesn't make halftime adjustments in that fashion. (Credit to my son for a Princess Bride reference) Sometimes (at least tonight it sure seemed like it ) a team fights left-handed even though that is not their strong hand knowing that when they go with the right hand things will turn in their favor.

Mark Few had prepped for BYU three times. I believe that he knew that he had enough skill on his defense that he could pressure BYU and that they would wilt under the pressure. Especially coming off of a late OT game the night before. So he played the first half "left-handed" - not using his strongest defensive weapon. I think he knew that any second half time out would not provide sufficient opportunity for Pope and staff to come up with a strategy to overcome the defensive pressure.

So, playing left-handed, they gave up 53 points in the first 20 minutes. But playing right-handed, they gave up 25 in the second half. I just don't think that the Zag coaches came up with that defensive approach during halftime. I think it was an ace in the hole that they kept hidden until time would not allow BYU to successfully adjust.

Something caused a 22 point turnaround in the final 20 minutes. And I think it was a classic case of a veteran coach out-maneuvering a coach with much less experience.

Now I need to go back and look at the hot second half starts USU has had recently (Nevada, Wyoming, FSU) and see how that looks with this new perspective.
Let me see if I understand this concept. Few knew the scheme that could beat BYU but he decided to instead play the first half with one hand tied behind his back so as to prevent Pope from assessing the situation and employing the antidote for Few’s second half scheme. Since Few did not free his untied hand until the second half Pope was unable to make adjustments on the fly which he could not effectively do.

My take? You have watched The Princess Bride too many times!
I prefer the comparison to a right handed boxer, switching to southpaw half way through a fight. It's not so inconceivable , the Aggies do it every game.

I do not believe that word means what you think it means....

Bank Shot · Post by **Bank Shot** » March 10th, 2021, 9:08 am

My high school coach was awesome at half time adjustments. I can still hear him say "Hey you Nancys...pull your head out of your a**" while we were at the same time working on our agility by dodging trash cans, clipboards and the manager that he was throwing and kicking around the room.

Edit: In full disclosure he didn't call us Nancys but she had one.

Aggie84025 · Post by **Aggie84025** » March 10th, 2021, 9:33 am

SectionBAggie wrote: ↑
March 9th, 2021, 10:14 pm
I have watched a lot of basketball games in my life. In doing so I have heard a lot of analyses about "halftime adjustments". And until tonight I guess that I always thought that coaches go in at halftime and talk about what options are available to get the team to play better in the second half.

Tonight, watching Mark Few and the Zags, I came to the conclusion that sometimes the team doesn't make halftime adjustments in that fashion. (Credit to my son for a Princess Bride reference) Sometimes (at least tonight it sure seemed like it ) a team fights left-handed even though that is not their strong hand knowing that when they go with the right hand things will turn in their favor.

Mark Few had prepped for BYU three times. I believe that he knew that he had enough skill on his defense that he could pressure BYU and that they would wilt under the pressure. Especially coming off of a late OT game the night before. So he played the first half "left-handed" - not using his strongest defensive weapon. I think he knew that any second half time out would not provide sufficient opportunity for Pope and staff to come up with a strategy to overcome the defensive pressure.

So, playing left-handed, they gave up 53 points in the first 20 minutes. But playing right-handed, they gave up 25 in the second half. I just don't think that the Zag coaches came up with that defensive approach during halftime. I think it was an ace in the hole that they kept hidden until time would not allow BYU to successfully adjust.

Something caused a 22 point turnaround in the final 20 minutes. And I think it was a classic case of a veteran coach out-maneuvering a coach with much less experience.

Now I need to go back and look at the hot second half starts USU has had recently (Nevada, Wyoming, FSU) and see how that looks with this new perspective.

I find it hard to believe coach Few would purposely play his team a certain way in the first half knowing it may hurt is team and get completely out classed by knowing that they could just flip the switch in the 2nd half and make it work. Why would any coach do something like that?

frankiesaysrelax · Post by **frankiesaysrelax** » March 10th, 2021, 9:37 am

I think BYU just came out more fired up than Zags but they wore themselves down and Gonzaga was just better in the end. It’s hard for a team to play with highest intensity for a full game. Also sometimes halftimes cool off shooters. Teams usually don’t shoot amazing the whole game. It happens a lot especially in the NCAA tournaments. You’ll see 16 seeds keep up or be winning first half’s and then get run out of the gym second half.

NVAggie · Post by **NVAggie** » March 10th, 2021, 10:07 am

Reminds me of the Wyoming game we played a little bit ago. They were hitting a high percentage of their threes. There were some adjustments, but ultimately we played more to our level and took control of the game.

oleblu111 · Post by **oleblu111** » March 10th, 2021, 10:21 am

NVAggie wrote: ↑
March 10th, 2021, 10:07 am
Reminds me of the Wyoming game we played a little bit ago. They were hitting a high percentage of their threes. There were some adjustments, but ultimately we played more to our level and took control of the game.

i believe the man has watched to much YBU basketball it can make one see and start to image all sorts of strange things. As far as half time adjustment I thought the USU- Fresno game had quite a few. It is much wiser to just watch USU than switch around in case a YBU game comes up, and one gets tempted to go over to the dark side.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii · Post by **Aggie formerly in Hawaii** » March 10th, 2021, 10:32 am

frankiesaysrelax wrote: ↑
March 10th, 2021, 9:37 am
I think BYU just came out more fired up than Zags but they wore themselves down and Gonzaga was just better in the end. It’s hard for a team to play with highest intensity for a full game. Also sometimes halftimes cool off shooters. Teams usually don’t shoot amazing the whole game. It happens a lot especially in the NCAA tournaments. You’ll see 16 seeds keep up or be winning first half’s and then get run out of the gym second half.

Yep. byu was fired up and were hitting everything they threw up in the first half. Gonzaga settled in and played tough d in the second combined with byu's averages catching up to them. I don't think it was more complicated than that.

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