Former Indiana Basketball coach Tom Crean shared some insight into the Watford Shot

The No. 1 ranked and undefeated Kentucky Wildcats lead Indiana basketball 72-70 with under six seconds left. Verdell Jones III catches the inbound pass and pushes the ball upcourt with help from a Cody Zeller screen. Jones III gets into the paint and kicks it back to the trailing inbounder Christian Watford with under two seconds left…

We all know what happened next.

More than ten years later, Watford’s shot is still one of the most iconic moments in not just Indiana Basketball history, but college basketball history as a whole.

During an ‘Ask Me Anything’ with Three Man Weave of Burner Ball former Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean shared some insight into the play itself including a key ‘audible’ that one player made.

“We called [the play] five because … it was tailor-made to get you to the rim or a three inside of those five seconds,” Crean said.

While Crean had practiced the play, there was one small problem.

“If you remember John [Calipari] had two fouls to give and I really thought we were screwed,” Crean said. “I thought we might get fouled and the only way we’re gonna get something out of it was if we could somehow force an intentional foul.”

The potential of an intentional foul forced Crean to make some adjustments to the play.

“There were a couple of ad-libs on that play,” Crean said. “So I brought Victor [Oladipo] all the way up inside of that play so I made one adjustment and then Cody Zeller made one adjustment. We brought Victor up and they didn’t bite, Victor took off and sprinted down to the other end.”

As a result, Kentucky did not foul and played the possession out.

Zeller, who was a freshman at the time, made one of the biggest audibles of his entire career on the play. 

He had the option to screen for the inbounder, Watford on the play, but he elected to do something else.

“What Cody did was he ran up and he screened on the ball which was absolutely brilliant and it was like an audible in football,” Crean said. “What it did is it brought two people up and to the ball and Verdell [Jones III] got some space.”

Not only did Zeller’s screen give Jones III space to attack, but it also got him a switch onto a bigger defender. Jones III was able to get downhill and force the defense to collapse at the rim as a result.

A big reason for the success of the play was how fast Jones III was able to get to the paint. It’s something Crean had worked on with his team.

“We always worked on getting the ball out and pushing it out. There’s the old adage that you get a second for every dribble,” Crean said. “Defensively if you turn the dribbler you’re taking two seconds away from the dribbler. Well, they didn’t turn us and Verdell was able to get out and go.”

While Jones III was pushing the ball up the floor, Watford had a decision to make.

Normally on the play he would use the screen from Zeller, but because Zeller screened for Jones III he had to decide what to do.

“It was always tailor-made for Watford to go opposite of the ball or if the ball got into the lane area under the three-point line like Verdell [Jones III] did, then to follow the ball. Really because you’re was the last man down you’re reading it,” Crean said. “Are you going to get away from the ball and catch it opposite of Verdell, or Verdell keeps the ball and you just get in behind it and that’s what Christian did.”

Jones III knew where Watford would be as soon as he got to the paint, which made the pass even easier. 

“Verdell did a great job and had the presence of mind to throw it back. We had drilled that and he knew Christian would be back there because he was in the paint.”

When practicing the play, there was no way anyone apart of the Indiana basketball could have known the type of significance that would come of it later. The ad-libs and reads all led to the moment we remember today.

“So really it was a set play that had a couple of ad-libs and reads and it was beautiful.”

SEE ALSO: News: Mike Woodson says that senior Indiana basketball guard Trey Galloway ‘could be ready to go on the first day of practice’

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