The great timeout debate

As the NCAA tournament quickly approaches, I thought I would take a timeout to talk about the art of the timeout. The timeout, the intentional break in the action that is created by a coach and/or player by making a “T” with his hands or touching a shoulder with that arm’s hand.
In the college game, passion and momentum play a much bigger role in the outcomes of games than it does in the Professional ranks. As a pro, a player must be able to block out the screaming fans and be able to stem the riptide of momentum that the other team can sometimes create with a thunderous dunk. But in college ball, those things get young players pumped and get the fans into a frenzy. A monstrous alley-opp can cripple the opposition’s spirit, and this is where the timeout comes into play.
In college a coach in an untelevised game has four 75-second timeouts with two 30-second breaks, but in a televised game, the numbers change to one 60-second timeout and four 30-second stoppages. If the game is televised though, only three 30-second forced breaks can carry over into the second half. For many coaches the great debate of calling vs. preserving these timeouts is an art form.
Some coaches like Pete Gillen, formerly of the University of Virginia, spend timeouts like they are going out of style. I remember watching a Cavalier game against Duke where UVA won the tip, turned the ball over for a Duke score and then turned the inbounds pass over for another Duke score and Gillen whistled for a timeout 11 seconds into the game. The clock read 19:49 to play in the first half and the game had its first break in the action. Gillen is like many other coaches that say “You can’t take them with you when the game is over. Why not use them?” That is one school of thought. If you have a timeout and the other team is engaging in an 11-2 run, call a time out to stop the opposition’s momentum, since your defense obviously can’t. But the trap you fall into is not having any stoppage ability at the end of the game or in crunch time. I remember several times watching UVA games thinking, “I bet Gillen would love to call a timeout to set up a play on this crucial possession, but he used all of his up in the first half!”
Other coaches prefer to hold on to their timeouts like they are valuable collectible stamps until the end of the game. You hope your team can weather storms in the early going so hopefully you CAN stop play to strategize during crunch time. The only downside of this is, what if you never get a chance to draw up a play on the grease board because your team got blown out in the first half? Dennis Felton of the University of Georgia has always held on to his timeouts, but many times, his team has no shot at the end of the game anyways, so he ends the contest with 3 in his pocket.
That is the argument. When to use them? Is it worth burning a timeout in the early part of the second half on an inbounds or in a trap, or would you prefer to save it for later and just turn the ball over? Do you want to ice a shaky free throw shooter late in the game, or save that last timeout in case you want to set up a play should he make it?
In the NBA, after a made basket, the team with the ball can call a timeout and advance the ball up to midcourt. At present, the college game doesn’t have this, but that is why the timeouts are so important. You stop the clock so you can design a play to get it there.
And if you ask me, always keep a timeout in your back pocket. This weekend, Vanderbilt was trying to mount a serious comeback when Ross Neltner signaled for a timeout; only his team didn’t have one. He pulled a Chris Webber. Vandy would go on to lose the game and Neltner’s name will be synonymous with Chris Webber in Commodore lore. Webber of course rebounded a missed UNC free throw in the 1993 championship game, dribbled up the floor before calling a timeout he didn’t have. His Michigan team would lose and he would end the debate in my opinion. Use your timeouts when you need them throughout the game, but ALWAYS keep one in your back pocket. You can’t make it to crunch time if you aren’t in the game, but keep a stoppage handy when you do make it there.