By RALPH D. RUSSO
Georgetown coach John Thompson III doesn’t want to lose his five timeouts per game, but he’ll adjust if he must. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Just when the game is getting really good and the drama is starting to build: Timeout!
Check Twitter during an NCAA tournament game that is close in the final minute or so and inevitably you’ll find fans complaining all the timeouts. Each teams get five per game and often coaches stash them until the end. That leads to a flurry of timeouts that can lead a stoppage seemingly each possession.
Even some coaches think it’s too much.
“If we had three timeouts I’d be happy,” said Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, who was in Indianapolis of the National Association of Basketball Coaches convention on Friday. “I just think the stoppages, sometimes the last two minutes, it takes almost 30 minutes.”
Robert Morris coach Andy Toole also likes to stash timeouts, but says he often finds himself not using them all.
“I think that if we did lose some timeouts I think people would adjust to that and make sure their teams were prepared accordingly,” he said. “I think right now as coaches because we have them we rely on them. We say, ‘You know what? Coming down the stretch I’m going to have two or three timeouts in my pocket if I need to use it great. Be able to organize my team. I don’t think it’d be the worse thing in the world if we lost a timeout or two. When you have them you;re going to use them and make them work to your advantage.”
You can count Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger among those who believe a few less timeouts would make the game better.
“We need to do all that stuff in practice. We don’t need to do that in the games. We need to help the players do it in practice so they can do it on their own in the games,” Kruger said.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III likes his timeouts, said he will adjust if the number is changed. Though he is not so sure that everyone involved in basketball games wants to see less timeouts.
“I don’t know the nuances or the ramifications of my next statement, but if you start taking away timeouts then you’re taking away commercials,” he said. “To some people that means a lot. So how will that affect what goes on? Whether that’s part of the equation or not, I don’t know. “