Most of us have probably seen at least a portion of Cal's postgame quotes, part of which included him saying that he probably should have called timeout after Monk hit the game-tying three in order to get his defense set.
Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but even seeing how things played out I don't agree with him. During the final offensive possession for UNC, the only two players to touch the ball were Pinson (6.0 ppg) and Maye (5.8 ppg), who I'll grant you has played well in this tournament. Players that didn't touch the ball were Jackson (18.2 ppg), Berry (14.6 ppg), and Meeks (12.3 ppg), which also happen to be UNC's top 3 leading scorers. In other words, we did a nice job denying their primary offensive threats from getting the ball and essentially made two role players beat us. I think you just have to give them credit for creating a shot and knocking it down. It was an 18 foot jumper after all. It's not like they got a layup.
On the other hand, lets say Cal calls a timeout and gives a Hall of Fame coach the opportunity to draw up a play for one of the most offensively talented rosters in the tournament. In my opinion UNC's percentages go up at that point. Let's say that play results in a 12 foot floater for Jackson for the win. Cal is getting absolutely CRUSHED for calling that timeout.
The ending sucks. No way around it. I don't think Cal has any reason to doubt his decision though, and in fact I support it. People with a narrative against Cal will point to that moment and say "See, Cal is not a good coach." However, when you look at the breakdown of how things played out, in my mind he did the right thing. You just have to tip your cap to Carolina for getting it done.
