Ok, all you B'ball fans. What do you think? When the game is well in hand and the opposing team misses a shot with just a few seconds to go, do you think that the winning team should just dribble the ball for the last few seconds and then shake hands or pass over the opposing team who is already walking off the court so that one of the players can make a last second dunk.

I tried to vote and I got a message that said a vote was already recieved from this IP address. I didn't vote yet, so I didn't get to see the results...

Gotta dribble out the clock in that case. Did you see this happen in a game recently?
How about when a game is in hand & the subs are in with 3-4 minutes left? Sometimes that's their only chance to play after a lot of hard work in practice. In that case I think you should let 'em play their regular game. I'm guessing most coaches would do the same and understand even if on the team that's behind. Whatcha think?

I say it depends on the situation. If the player is a guy who never plays, never scores, never even sees the light of day, why not let him do whatever he wants at the end of the game? If the other team were to get upset with it, then they shouldn't walk off the court during the game.

The argument could be turned around the same way. Do you think it's ok, after a team has decidedly won the game, for the team that's down by 25 with 30 seconds left to try to dunk or score points? It's the same principle.

I say that it's the same thinking as to why I don't mind endzone celebrations. If the defense doesn't like it, then they should have stopped it. I mean, if it's out of hand, then the player doing it makes themselves look bad enough. (i.e. missing a shot on purpose to get a rebound for a triple double or celebration for a meaningless touchdown)

P.S. ~ I guess it's pretty obvious which way I voted!

It does not matter. They are their to play until the whistle blows. It may not be showing off, it may be a natural reaction just to keep on playing. I can't read their minds, so, I won't judge their actions. I have seen it both ways and 2 more points doesn't make a hill of beans difference when the time is running out and the other team is down by 3 or more points.

Good points all around but the statement about the other team walking off the court is what made up my mind for this situation.

To clarify this was OU vs. OSU - Bedlam! OSU was ahead by 10 points with time expiring when an alley-oop pass was thrown downcourt for the dunk while the OU players were standing waiting for the last few seconds to expire. OSU Head Coach Designate made the comment that it shouldn't have happened. And it's not the first time OSU has done something like this - they did it earlier in the year against Syracuse when they won by 14.

Here is an article concerning the dunk.

Late assist is no-no in hoops world

Ok, that link didn't work but I think I know what you're talking about. This is a huge rivalry game and you can almost expect something like that. I mean, come, it's their intrastate rival! You don't go out and just try to beat your rival, you want to dominate them and put a little icing on the cake while you're at it. They were just happy because Oklahoma annihilated them earlier in the season. If Oklahoma had a problem, they should have played defense instead of crying.

Our local high school girls also get chastised by everyone. They started girls basketball in the 70's. In that time they have had 27 state tournament appearances, 8 Championships and 4 times Runner-Up. Just in the last 6 years, they were Runner-up once and Champions 4 times. Quite impressive. They continually beat their opponents by 20-30 points except for a few instances. Unfortunately they were paired up against a new charter school with a first year team. The final score was 101-2. The girls and coach didn't know what to do. I don't think there was a 3-pt shot taken. They are a run and gun team, but started holding back when the other team's coach actually got out on the floor and yelled at our girls to "play ball". Needless to say, all the forums put Woodward down for beating this team so badly. If they had wanted to I think they could have scored 200 points. What they forget is that the next team that played them won 95-15 and the third night a team scored 94 against them. We only have 10 players in the team and that includes playing some Freshman. So the starters do go in and out during all games. It's not fair to just play them 1 quarter and let them set out. They are looking for scholarships and won't have any stats without playing.

I've never understood the mindset that you should only win by a certain amount. If you win, you win...if you lose, you lose. I don't agree with rubbing the win in, however. There is such a thing as winning graciously. I'm not sure who said it, maybe Z, play until the buzzer. I play in a women's softball league and the team I play on is quite good. There are some teams that we beat in three or four innings but I think it is more disrepectful for us not to play our game than to have everyone bat left handed or everyone play different positions, etc. Your local high school girls team did nothing wrong. It was unfortunate for the charter school that their Athletic Director scheduled a game between them. I'm not sure what everyone would have them do, stop the game?

About the girls basketball team...

Now even I must say that's a bit excessive. I played basketball throughout high school and know what it's like to blow out and to be blown out. I mean, it was obviously NOT fair at all. I understand the point about stats for scholarships and such, but girls basketball teams do not average 100 points on any level. A GOOD high school girls team averages roughly 50-60. I guess the question I have is did the team continue to play defense even though the other team had 2 points? Yeah, sometimes everything you throw up goes in, but were they still pressing? A full-court press or in-your-face defense when up by 30 points or more is a bit excessive...

Our team always starts with a press. But a couple of minutes into the game you could see what the other team was like and she called it off. It was not hard to have the ball. The other team was hardly able to throw the ball inbounds even without being guarded. They would dribble on their foot or walk with the ball and turned it over more than they had it. They are like a grade school team. And our girls must be above average. They usually have 40-50 points at halftime and this is against good teams. They have been only points away from 100 earlier in the year. They have beat teams in the largest class in both our state and 2 neighboring states. Kala Bowers who plays for Texas started 4 years for us. I think at the time she graduated the girls had only lost 3 games in 3-4 years. The only option our girls had was to not shoot and they would go 2-3 minutes without shooting. It's just that every time the other team got the ball they turned it over. They played 2 other games in the tourney and no team scored less than 94 points on them.

It sounds like the other team was just completely horrible and going up against a team that's pretty much the best around. The problem I have is that 100 points in a high school game equates to roughly 3 points per minute. Now I know that fouls happen and points are scored w/o the clock running, but there's no way a team could run their offense for 2-3 minutes before shooting on the majority of the possessions. I'm not saying that the other team has a right to complain (like I said earlier, if you don't like it, stop it from happening), but I would equate that game to when I play basketball against girls. Yeah, I know I'm going to win, and I make sure that I do, but I take it easy on them...

It was a true alley oop. They through it over our 6'5" guy who was just standing at the other end not expecting anything to happen and he caught it in the air and dunked it.

As for high school teams scoring 100 points. Lisa Leslie was interviewed in the sports last night as she was attending a function promoting women in sports and they asked her about her game in high school where she herself scored 100 points. That was in one half. She said the score was 102 - 20something at half and she had 101 of those points. The other team quit at halftime. She is one of the most famous women players in basketball. So it happens.

Wow, I hope she's proud for making the other team quit. Congratulations Lisa, you've ruined basketball for an entire team for the rest of their lives!

They say she only talks about it when asked and is then very uncomfortable talking about it. But those things do happen.

"I would equate that game to when I play basketball against girls. Yeah, I know I'm going to win, and I make sure that I do, but I take it easy on them..."---

What the heck dude?!?! Someday I hope you meet your match. And then to say that a woman who scores 100 points in a game ruined it for the other team for the rest of their lives?! A bit of an over-reaction don't you think?

What if it had been a male athlete that scored 100 points in the first half? There would probably be a statue put up somewhere.

Those things do happen? How do those things "just happen?" For someone to score 100 points (even for someone to score 50) the team has to look to that person to score. She's taller than the majority in the WNBA now, can you imagine the difference in high shcool? At what point does that stop being fun? When you get to thirty in the first half, you keep on going. 40, 50, 60...now you see the other team realizing that no effort will stop you. 70, 80, 90...you are shooting about 50 shots in 16 minutes, which would have to be tiring, but you keep going. Finally you hit 100. 100 points in 16 minutes, making the other team feel so bad that they refuse to play the rest of the game. Is this rewarding? I've defended numerous athletes (i.e. Moss, Owens, etc) and this is the worst act of sportsmanship I've ever heard of. Geez...

So let's just say that I don't totally disagree with you...however if such a player (male or female) were to be benched because they were too good or they might score too many points and make the other team feel bad...that doesn't make sense either. Do you say to that player that they are too good to play and have them quit? Do we put the responsibility on the coaches to maybe refocus their offense on other players?

Coaches bench their better players all the time. When a game is decided, that's when they put in the non-starters. It's not saying to the starters, "You're too good, go sit down." It's saying that you can sit down now, we're going to develop our other players' skills. The object of the game is to win, not to ruin the sport for the other team.

I say it was the coaches' fault. Coaches are the ones who call the plays on offense and defense. They make the decision as to when the game is decided and then call off the press. I'm just trying to figure out what was going through Lisa Leslie's mind at the time, as well as her teammates. Was their goal to make them quit?

I feel that there are different rules in terms of sportsmanship in high school compared to any other level. That's where you see the largest variations in talent. I just lost a lot of respect for Lisa Leslie when you said that.

PS ~ I'm not arguing against you, just a little taken aback at her actions! :-D

Blue, I'm guessing it was the coach and/or A.D./her parent's idea- somebody wanted to bring the media spotlight on themselves through Lisa, and she got caught up in the "hoop"-la . My guess is she was probably embarrassed by the whole deal once it was over and she had a chance to think about it.