PREPS ALCOVE

It's stall relative: controversial tactic not a symptom of something problematic

Now Media Group

 The old adage tells us that slow and steady wins the race. But in 2016, the tortoise would be roundly criticized for not being flashy enough in victory.

It was certainly a curiosity March 12 in the WIAA Division 1 state-championship game when Mukwonago point guard Grace Beyer slowed to a stop just across midcourt around the 13:15 mark in the first half. She kept dribbling in place, quietly encouraging the Verona defense to abandon its zone and force the action by jumping out to guard her. The Wildcats stayed put, and the minutes began to tick by. On the scoreboard, Mukwonago held an 8-7 lead.

Boos occasionally rained down from the Resch Center seating bowl in Green Bay, and at one point it appeared Mukwonago coach Rick Kolinske and Verona coach Angie Murphy were staring at each other, an accent on what had become a standoff in the final game of the 2015-16 season. Those of us covering the event on press row looked at each other and wondered, "Are they really going to play out the entire half like this?" It's funny — one of my first thoughts was that the lack of commercial breaks would be a problem for TV networks.

It didn't come to that, but 4 minutes would ultimately go by from the preceding Verona basket to Bre Cera's missed shot, and Verona quickly went on an 8-2 run to take a 15-10 lead.

Move criticized

The criticism began pouring in on Twitter. Though it's fair to say Verona was at least partially culpable for not leaving its zone to force movement, many felt that Mukwonago was missing an opportunity to score more. That may be especially true with Cera, who many consider the best player in the state, on the floor. Most also felt that this was an affront to basketball.

It immediately called to mind a boys playoff game earlier this year, when Antigo ran the stall and iced out Rhinelander, winning the game on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, 14-11. The title game didn't turn into that, but what would have happened if it did? Would there be an asterisk next to Mukwonago's state championship in the record book? A game as low-scoring as that one probably would have been memorable for years to come, but it wouldn't have invalidated the victory. Which is why when people lash out against the "stall," it strikes me as selfish. They are simply projecting how they prefer to watch basketball and not recognizing what might be the best path to success.

Kolinske said after the game that the intent was to test the stall for potential use later in the game. He wanted to see how Verona, whose cadre of three 6-2 players in the interior makes the Wildcats' zone a serious challenge, would react.

"It takes two teams to stall," Kolinske said afterward. "They have a choice to sit there in the zone if they like, and that's OK. We wanted to see what they were going to do if we went into that. Maybe it's something to use in the future in case we got into a position where we can use it. That's essentially why we did it. They obviously have a very tall team. That was a concern coming into the game. In my opinion, shortening the game wasn't necessarily an issue on our end. Maybe it was an advantage if we continued to do it."

It's debatable who would have gained an advantage in the scenario, largely because there is absolutely no way to tell. Maybe Mukwonago rattles off three straight baskets in that stretch and doesn't come out on the short end of a 52-46 decision. Maybe it's Verona that goes on the run instead, making that 8-2 run something far worse. Maybe the teams simply trade baskets, and it's a wash.

It was 8-7; neither team had a marked advantage in momentum. Mukwonago was only 2 for 7 from the field to that point, so there really wasn't an "offensive rhythm" to lose. There is no analysis that can say precisely what would have happened, and the stall can't be blamed more than anything else that happened in the game. Both teams led late in the game.

Murphy wasn't shy about how she felt.

"To me, it's not basketball," she said. "It gave the girls energy because they thought, 'This guy doesn't think they can beat us,' that's really what they took from it. If he wanted to sit there the whole half, we would let them."

When Murphy (nee Halbleib) speaks, people listen. She scored 2,378 career points at Middleton, which was the most in state history when she graduated and still sits in fifth all-time. She scored a then-record 44 points in a state-tournament game in 1993, and record that wasn't broken until last year when Arike Ogunbowale of Divine Savior Holy Angels scored 55.

Her opinion is certainly popular, and if I'm being candid, I think my colleagues in prep-sports media are all-too eager to agree with it. It's not attractive basketball, of course. It's not fun, and, perhaps most importantly, it's not within the context of spirited competition. But when people express that "it's not basketball," what they really mean is, "I don't enjoy it, so it must be bad."

Just win, baby

Especially in a climate where programs and coaches are judged by on-court or on-field results, I don't think there's anything wrong with thinking outside the box on occasion. The box-and-one defense, which makes perfect sense in the right circumstance, is still seen by many as a "junk defense." As bad as shooting can be at the high-school level, we don't see under-handed free throws because that's "not basketball." If it's within the rules, why would someone abandon any tool in the toolbox simply because it's not proper or expected? Sports evolve all the time, and to say there is one way to play or not play is short-sighted.

There is so much crowing about a shot clock in high-school basketball, with repeated hot takes insisting we need one in Wisconsin. I don't think it will help or hurt the game any more than going to halves instead of quarters will help or hurt. This incident certainly stoked those fires, as if this were somehow the norm.

It's entirely possible a shot clock will renew some vigor in high-school basketball, even as we saw more scoring this year than ever before thanks to the two-half format. I personally don't trust that a shot clock can be implemented properly on a logistics level, but that's another story. It's also possible it will accentuate how limited high-school shooting and shot selection can be. But admit it when you say it: you want a shot clock because that is the type of basketball you like to watch, and not because it's what's best.

Pictured: Mukwonago point guard Grace Beyer holds the ball in what became a 4-minute stall in the state championship game against Verona on March 12 in Green Bay. Photo by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.