Has to find a way to be effective besides the free throw line.

He has a habit of looking for fouls in the clutch and if he doesn't draw a foul then he takes a bad shot or turns it over. The problem is Refs typically hold onto their whistles in the clutch, they all know that most fans don't want to see refs decide games, which makes them let the game get more physical.

The more effective Wade is late in games with decision making at setting up teammates for buckets or scoring without needing to draw a foul the farther this team will go. He needs to get more physical late in games not less and don't expect a foul call.

Otherwise, someone's going to have to step up and be the go to option late in games.

Yeah there is definitely some truth here; he's going to have to play as though he WONT get a call. Part of that means that other guys are going to need to step up and provide him assist opportunities and finish chances.

bobinator said:

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If only there was a road game where we needed a clutch shot this season, say an SEC team that's a 6 seed that only one other team beat at their place all year, and Taylor proved that he can hit a clutch shot other than trying to be fouled. It would be cool if that had happened.

Or if we needed other clutch shots in big road games and other players proved they were capable. Like maybe Phelps made one or maybe Phelps made a pass to Manny for one.

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oh you mean like the things they were doing a month ago.

Yeah, you think we suddenly just became un-clutch? Based on what?

We didn't even have any clutch possessions against Vandy, State, Florida, LSU or Auburn.

He had a bad turnover against Tennessee. Against Texas all but one of his turnovers were before the 8 minute mark of the second half. He made the assist to Wilcher for the score that made it 71-70, Assisted Manny's three in the first overtime but did have a turnover. He missed some shots but didn't have any turnovers in the second overtime.

I just don't get where this idea that he's not clutch is coming from.

i don't know that clutch is the right word for what we need from wade taylor as much as a hot wade taylor. he is a pretty clutch player but he can be streaky from time to time. we need a run of great wade taykor where his shots are falling and he plays with a lot of confidence. when that happens the clutch takes care of itself.

That was a great shot by Wade to beat Mizzou. But I would argue that the call and play design and especially the passing skills of Andy were really the keys to that success.

I agree with OP that Wade tends to drive into the trees (not seeming to look to pass to open teammate) hoping for a foul call way too often in late game critical situations.

On the other hand, Zurich's drive to the basket and kick out to an open Manny at Ole Miss is more like what I hope Wade might look to do - rather than seek the foul and then get blocked or turnover the ball.

But I realize that Wade will do what he thinks is best.

Perhaps we WILL get more fouls called from non-SEC refs - so his wild drives MIGHT put him on the line. I just think that you can't count on those calls in the closing seconds when alot of refs swallow their whistles.

GymBroFisher said:

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bobinator said:

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If only there was a road game where we needed a clutch shot this season, say an SEC team that's a 6 seed that only one other team beat at their place all year, and Taylor proved that he can hit a clutch shot other than trying to be fouled. It would be cool if that had happened.

Or if we needed other clutch shots in big road games and other players proved they were capable. Like maybe Phelps made one or maybe Phelps made a pass to Manny for one.

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oh you mean like the things they were doing a month ago.

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FFS

I think he's just trying to say he can't go 6/30 from 3.

bobinator said:

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I think Taylor is basically almost always the same unless he's just unusually hot. Especially this year and lately. The player that's going to make or break this deal is Phelps.

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And really to break down this even further, if he takes care of his opportunities at the free throw line, we'll be okay.

He can't be shooting 50% from the FT line; he's got to at least be 70%; 75% is do-able for him.

Fanatic15...Drs2B! said:

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On the other hand, Zurich's drive to the basket and kick out to an open Manny at Ole Miss is more like what I hope Wade might look to do - rather than seek the foul and then get blocked or turnover the ball.

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That's because he beats the whole team down the floor and no one is there to catch any of his passes. If he were to slow down just a tad bit, he might actually find teammates trailing the play or at the corners.

Yeah I mean "we need Wade Taylor to play well" is a perfectly reasonable take. But I don't think his or anyone else's late game basketball has really been a big issue this season.

It's been more like middle of halves we just seem to mentally check out for a few minutes for some reason. Seems like every game we have a stretch with just bad unforced errors.

You're gonna have runs and miss shots and the other team is going to have runs of course but I mean like stretches where we're just giving the ball away.

bobinator said:

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I think Taylor is basically almost always the same unless he's just unusually hot. Especially this year and lately. The player that's going to make or break this deal is Phelps.

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I agree. Phelps has hurt us much more late in games than Taylor in my opinion.

bobinator said:

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I think Taylor is basically almost always the same unless he's just unusually hot. Especially this year and lately. The player that's going to make or break this deal is Phelps.

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i would agree with your assessment on phelps see tu game for evidence of that. in regards to wade he doesn't seem to have taken over as many games with his scoring as he has in previous years. it would be nice to see him hit some early buckets and help set the tone.

bobinator said:

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Yeah, you think we suddenly just became un-clutch? Based on what?

We didn't even have any clutch possessions against Vandy, State, Florida, LSU or Auburn.

He had a bad turnover against Tennessee. Against Texas all but one of his turnovers were before the 8 minute mark of the second half. He made the assist to Wilcher for the score that made it 71-70, Assisted Manny's three in the first overtime but did have a turnover. He missed some shots but didn't have any turnovers in the second overtime.

I just don't get where this idea that he's not clutch is coming from.

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He also made a late 3 against Texas that would have buried them had Buzz not called a timeout just before he hit it.

Quote:

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The problem is Refs typically hold onto their whistles in the clutch, they all know that most fans don't want to see refs decide games, which makes them let the game get more physical.

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Except that by swallowing their whistles they are essentially deciding the game anyway

An egregious non call is just as bad as an egregious call

The only way for refs to not decide the game is to call it correctly all the way through, thus preserving the integrity of the game