University of Virginia Library

Almost Wrong Decision

Wooden said that his showdown
strategy almost backfired on him,
"but that's the chance you take
when you try that. I didn't think
they could beat us man-to-man,"
said Wooden. "We went to the
slowdown to bring them out of
their zone defense and it worked. It
did hurt our momentum but that's
a gamble you have to take."

Losing by twelve during the
slowdown, the Wildcats began
picking up loose balls and forcing
turnovers to come back within four
of the Bruins. "It made our fellows
scrap harder," said Villanova coach
Jack Graft.

Longtime advocate of the
college 30-second shooting rule,
Wooden said that this crossed his
mind when he ordered the
slowdown. "I thought about that
during the game." said Wooden, "I
was hoping they wouldn't come out
and we could just hold the ball all
d."