thatguy2016
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Respectfully disagree. Anecdotally, almost every buzzer beater this week has come without a TO before the game winning shot.
Also, think a timeout gives the defense a chance to set up, or like BC did to Miami today at the end of regulation, to change the defensive scheme, which almost always forces the offense to abort the play call. When you have a veteran team, would guess that a majority of teams do not call a timeout before attempting the game winning shot. Also, one other small point, in college basketball the team on offense always has the bench (and the coaches) on their side in the 2nd half (not true in the NBA). As a result, when a team is holding for a last shot with time left, there is time for the coach to provide additional instruction to the offense, while the coaching staff for the defense is on the other side of the court; so, the defense is on its own (which is why coaches often go way out of the coaching box. There are analytics for essentially everything in college basketball and don't think there is any analytical support for the claim that the offense statistically benefits from a calling a TO before the final shot, unless there's a player substitution that is needed to give the offense an edge.
College basketball is big business now, coaching staffs seem to grow every year, teams perform detailed analytical analyses of essentially every game situation (particularly end of game scenarios) and despite our criticisms, coaching staffs are full of smart well-informed men making decisions based upon a life-time of preparation for those last second moments. If there was any kind of statistical support for the proposition that a last possession TO gives the offense an advantage, every coaching staff would do that (for among other reasons, to avoid being second guessed). Instead, the conventional wisdom is that the TO or no TO decision comes down to the factors impacting that particular game, that particular team and that particular opponent. Sometimes it makes sense to call a TO and sometimes it does not.
coaching staffs still manage to make mystifyingly bad choices, such as Boeheim in the Dean Dome very late in OT running Swider onto the floor to play defense in a must-foul situation, meaning he would foul out and be unable to score. They are not immune to criticism, regarding late-game situations (or pregame meal and prep)
Most of the buzzer-beaters you refer to came with very limited time on the clock, such as Chattanooga's last-second shot to beat Furman. Agree with you that in a situation such as that, a scramble is probably the best option. BC had the ball with a 3-second differential. With decent execution, aided by coaching, worst case should be that they go to another OT. Instead the kid goes to early and Miami gets an easy runout for the win.