Took a look at games in which we had an >80% chance before collapsing
South Carolina - up 8 with 9 minutes left, won in OT
UVA - up 4 with 7 seconds left, ended up in another OT
Stanford - up 12 with 2:18 left, lost in regulation
SMU - up 4 with 29 seconds left, lost in regulation
Syracuse - up 8 with 1:02 left, won by 2
GT - up 15 with 4:26 left
Thankfully we leave the collapsing until super late when the opponent doesn’t have enough time to complete the rally, but this is a trend I’ve never seen before.
25 Replies
6mo
stretching by including South Carolina in there.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
6mo
(In response to this post by AbsolutVT03)
6mo
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
6mo
Still remember Duke getting 10 pts in like 45 seconds to beat Maryland and thought that wouldn't be duplicated.
Naive me.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
6mo
with 3 or so seconds to play. Dale Long made about a 30 footer at the buzzer, and the ref, Lou Bellow, called a foul against Wake under the basket. John Wetzel went to the line, bounced the first foul shot around and in, and swished the second foul shot!! Tech won in overtime. Dale Long then transferred to Wake Forrest!!
(In response to this post by hoosnowahokie)
6mo
Down by ( i think) 8 with about 30 seconds left. No 3 pt line. Edit: Did a little research. March 2, 1974. Duke led by 8 with 17 seconds left and lost without the 3 point shot. Something I don't think we could even do. Boopie Miller couldn't even hit 3 bombs against us in 17 seconds.
** Edited by crazylane at 1/28/2026, 8:46:37 PM
** Edited by crazylane at 1/28/2026, 8:51:42 PM
(In response to this post by hoosnowahokie)
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2hhoop3
6mo
as you said but, it was more like 17 seconds, during the Walter Davis days.
(In response to this post by crazylane)
6mo
I just watched an old clip of it. Walter threw up a 30 foot brick that banked in at the buzzer. Good for two points and overtime which Carolina easily won.
(In response to this post by 2hhoop3)
6mo
I remember that because I know that the Ravens won Super Bowl 35 vs the Giants 25 years ago today. That Terps collapse was the night before. Drew Nicolas would go on to be a very good point guard for MD, but he was a total deer in the headlights those last few minutes. I think he was a freshman.
Watched that MD/Duke game that Saturday night while eating wings and drinking beer at the Baltimore Harborplace Hooters.
Ravens owner Steve Biscotti is a Terp alum/supporter, and he was courtside at that basketball game before flying in his private jet to Tampa for the Super Bowl the next night. I also remember sitting one table over from Biscotti in Tampa for the 2004 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament at an outdoor seating / food court type area outside the arena, he was there as a Terps fan, obviously.
(In response to this post by hoosnowahokie)
V
Vippie1
6mo
I've watch college ball for 50 plus years and can't remember an on going situation like this.
On one hand you got to be a pretty good team to have all those semi comfortable leads late in games. And to ultimately survive a number of the incidents.
It is really really crazy . It shouldn't happen repeatedly to a team with VT talent and a very good experienced coach at the helm. It is hard to understand.
(In response to this post by hoosnowahokie)
6mo
(In response to this post by hoosnowahokie)
6mo
that year after year, through multiple different rosters, Mike Young's teams at VT are absolutely terrible against a press.
The other particulars in any specific collapse may vary- who is turning it over, who is missing FTs, who is playing bad D- but that is the one failing you can count on.
And the fact that it keeps happening, at a multi-year level, with so many different players involved over the years, indicates loud and clear that it is a fundamental coaching issue.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
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vtfin91
6mo
especially the lack of layups on the other end. If you are being aggressively pressed you will very likely have some turnovers....but the flip side is you will get easy buckets often when you beat it. We are turning the ball over, but intentionally forgoing the layup and dunk attempts, opting to get it across and burn clock....terrible approach.
When you break a press, you first hunt layups, then pull ball out and burn clock. We have no late press-break layups during this past 7 or so games of frequent late-game disaster. I love Mike, but man this is a really bad look. We just look like a really poorly coached team out there, hope he is embarrassed enough by it to dedicate significant time to fixing it.
(In response to this post by Gobbler Guru)
6mo
And that is by making them pay for it with easy baskets at the other end.
Young's approach simply begs other teams to press. For the opposition it is all reward, no risk.
(In response to this post by vtfin91)
M
MVIII
6mo
I know the games were crazy but if the SMU half court doesn't fall we would have won 5 of 6 which is probably close to the odds there. It isn't just us, look at all of the other crazy games, we just happen to have more than most others because we are not inbounding the ball well and giving up layups, both seem very correctable to me.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
6mo
Should probably have been at least 5 wins. And honestly, the odds favored 6-0 more than 5-1.
** Edited by marcbvtgm at 1/28/2026, 1:16:30 PM
(In response to this post by MVIII)
6mo
** Edited by GreenvilleVT at 1/28/2026, 2:03:14 PM
(In response to this post by MVIII)
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Vippie1
6mo
Even if you miss some FTs and have a turnover or 2.
Just play your normal aggressive defense (until maybe you get under 10 seconds). Even if the opposition gets red hot it almost always takes enough time off the clock to make overcoming the deficit extremely unlikely.
But if you are going to play ultra-scared of fouling (and wrongly play the clock) then the other guys are going to score in about 4 seconds, put on their press, and then foul you in one second. That is theoretically enough time to score 24 points and you can lose by shooting 50% from the line without even factoring in turnovers (or you maybe in only the one and one bonus).
VT has defensively been playing the last 60 seconds like it should probably be played the last 10 seconds tops.
(In response to this post by soflahokie)
6mo
Keep playing the defense that got you the lead, and burn clock on the offensive end before shooting.
Lapsing on defense like what happened last night is a sure way to let them back into the game.
(In response to this post by Vippie1)
6mo
(In response to this post by Vippie1)
