...and Holy Schneikies. Wow. #Redemption
stuff
- And that's where I'm gonna start --- at the end. So... Theo had been giving the ball away like he needed a damned last-minute tax deduction, but damned if he didn't come up with big defensive plays and rebounds, key FTs and the biggest Assist of his life. #Redemption
- In case y'all missed it, JB reinjured his ankle yesterday in practice... then twisted the damned Left one in the game today
. Dog did not have his legs under him, especially laterally and the elevation on his jumper, but damned if he didn't make a huge runner against the trees when it mattered. #Redemption.
- I'm tellin' y'all, I KNEW Monk was gonna make those last two 3s, yes, even that last crazy one. And I'm also tellin y'all I KNEW Luke was gonna make that last shot when it left his hand. It was playing out like a movie script right before our eyes. So let's think about this: Their 2-Guard makes a crazy, off-balance 3 to tie the game and then lo and behold, an undersized 4-Man swishes the game-winner and breaks their hearts. Sound familiar? #Redemption
(well, except this time it happened to Kentucky)
- And that's right, Roy didn't call time-out. He saw we were in transition, and whether Luke had made it or not, that was a great look.
- Speaking of Roy, he called a much-needed time-out earlier when we were letting things get away. And much to my delight, he made a great and timely switch to Zone down the stretch. He saw they only had one 3-pt shooter on the floor and it discombulated them. After the Under-4 when Cal got his shooters back in we went back to Man. Well done, Roy.
- Once again this bunch showed what they're made of, down 5 and staring down elimination and storming back with 12 unanswered to go up 7, enabling us to hold off the late barrage, and close on a 16-9 run. #Redemption
- Speaking of Roy again, one of the nuances of coaching is recognizing your guys' emotions. When JB went down for a while in the first half, we did not have a good look at all. We'd already picked up bad fouls and our offense suddenly had disappeared. 7th had gotten burned twice on off-balance close-outs and that was streessing our Bigs. Kudos to Roy for bringing in Stilman and trusting Luke. Luke's transition 3 was as important an early shot as you'll ever see in getting our heads right, and Stilman was flawless, taking care of the rock, scoring on a sweet reverse, and oh yeah, drawing 2 Fouls on Fox while he was in.
- Speaking of Stilman, he would've had another layup in the second half if he hadn't been slapped upside the head when he was trying to gather the ball.
- Good grief we were in self-inflicted mode. Some of those TOs... 16 total --- yikes! In one second-half stretch we had like 7 in 10 minutes. We also picked up silly fouls early. The zebras were letting some stuff go on both ends, but still, they were calling enough that you don't want to be making silly reaches. I'll credit them for not inventing ticky-tack calls. We earned our fouls and so did UK. And BTW, for all the booing by their fans, that was a damned good call against Willis when he clearly fouled JB.
stats
- I harped on it last night. Ya gotta make shots at this stage. How we survived an awful 3/15 night from 3?... Well, for one thing we played some damned good D, holding them to 41% FGs. Heck, if it wasn't for their unlikely hero Humphries with a career high that would have been better.
- Big Kennedy was once again a grown-ass man on the boards with 17, and added 4 Blocks while he was at it! Speaking of the glass. We didn't get out-rebounded this time. 44-34 Good guys.
- Finally, LUKE F***ING MAYE. Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA South Region. 17 pts on 6/9 shooting, 3 Rebounds and 2 Assists in 20 huge minutes, and the biggest shot of his life! Oh wait, that can't be true --- I read somewhere he only had a good game against Butler because they're a mid-major?
keys
- Defensive Intensity: Check. Except for again, silly fouls and going to sleep on a couple of back-doors, our Help was on point. And I can't say enough about the job Buckets did on Monk. Roy threw 'em a curve with that matchup. I also liked how we played Briscoe --- making him commit to a shot before help came. Got his shot rejected several times by our Bigs. And considering his ankles, JB was a Dog.
- Transition: We started well, scoring 17 of our 38 first-half pts in Fast or Secondary Breaks. However, the second half morphed into trench warfare, where we just ground it out in half-court.
- FTs: Damn, I thought that was gonna bite us again --- I believe we missed 6 in the first half alone. We ended up 18/26, but Theo and Luke made some bigguns when they counted.
- JB aggression: Gotta give Little Dog props. You could see somtimes his wheels just weren't cooperating and it affected his shot, but he made some badd-ass takes, going right at big Willis three times.
So yeah... sweet victory, good vs evil, back to the FF. WHEW! and WOOOO!!!.
Roy, send JB back to the Hornets' ankle specialist. We're gonna need him vs the Ducks.
Meanwhile, enjoy this y'all!
stuff
- And that's where I'm gonna start --- at the end. So... Theo had been giving the ball away like he needed a damned last-minute tax deduction, but damned if he didn't come up with big defensive plays and rebounds, key FTs and the biggest Assist of his life. #Redemption
- In case y'all missed it, JB reinjured his ankle yesterday in practice... then twisted the damned Left one in the game today
. Dog did not have his legs under him, especially laterally and the elevation on his jumper, but damned if he didn't make a huge runner against the trees when it mattered. #Redemption.- I'm tellin' y'all, I KNEW Monk was gonna make those last two 3s, yes, even that last crazy one. And I'm also tellin y'all I KNEW Luke was gonna make that last shot when it left his hand. It was playing out like a movie script right before our eyes. So let's think about this: Their 2-Guard makes a crazy, off-balance 3 to tie the game and then lo and behold, an undersized 4-Man swishes the game-winner and breaks their hearts. Sound familiar? #Redemption
(well, except this time it happened to Kentucky
)- And that's right, Roy didn't call time-out. He saw we were in transition, and whether Luke had made it or not, that was a great look.
- Speaking of Roy, he called a much-needed time-out earlier when we were letting things get away. And much to my delight, he made a great and timely switch to Zone down the stretch. He saw they only had one 3-pt shooter on the floor and it discombulated them. After the Under-4 when Cal got his shooters back in we went back to Man. Well done, Roy.
- Once again this bunch showed what they're made of, down 5 and staring down elimination and storming back with 12 unanswered to go up 7, enabling us to hold off the late barrage, and close on a 16-9 run. #Redemption
- Speaking of Roy again, one of the nuances of coaching is recognizing your guys' emotions. When JB went down for a while in the first half, we did not have a good look at all. We'd already picked up bad fouls and our offense suddenly had disappeared. 7th had gotten burned twice on off-balance close-outs and that was streessing our Bigs. Kudos to Roy for bringing in Stilman and trusting Luke. Luke's transition 3 was as important an early shot as you'll ever see in getting our heads right, and Stilman was flawless, taking care of the rock, scoring on a sweet reverse, and oh yeah, drawing 2 Fouls on Fox while he was in.
- Speaking of Stilman, he would've had another layup in the second half if he hadn't been slapped upside the head when he was trying to gather the ball.
- Good grief we were in self-inflicted mode. Some of those TOs... 16 total --- yikes! In one second-half stretch we had like 7 in 10 minutes. We also picked up silly fouls early. The zebras were letting some stuff go on both ends, but still, they were calling enough that you don't want to be making silly reaches. I'll credit them for not inventing ticky-tack calls. We earned our fouls and so did UK. And BTW, for all the booing by their fans, that was a damned good call against Willis when he clearly fouled JB.
stats
- I harped on it last night. Ya gotta make shots at this stage. How we survived an awful 3/15 night from 3?... Well, for one thing we played some damned good D, holding them to 41% FGs. Heck, if it wasn't for their unlikely hero Humphries with a career high that would have been better.
- Big Kennedy was once again a grown-ass man on the boards with 17, and added 4 Blocks while he was at it! Speaking of the glass. We didn't get out-rebounded this time. 44-34 Good guys.
- Finally, LUKE F***ING MAYE. Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA South Region. 17 pts on 6/9 shooting, 3 Rebounds and 2 Assists in 20 huge minutes, and the biggest shot of his life! Oh wait, that can't be true --- I read somewhere he only had a good game against Butler because they're a mid-major?
keys
- Defensive Intensity: Check. Except for again, silly fouls and going to sleep on a couple of back-doors, our Help was on point. And I can't say enough about the job Buckets did on Monk. Roy threw 'em a curve with that matchup. I also liked how we played Briscoe --- making him commit to a shot before help came. Got his shot rejected several times by our Bigs. And considering his ankles, JB was a Dog.
- Transition: We started well, scoring 17 of our 38 first-half pts in Fast or Secondary Breaks. However, the second half morphed into trench warfare, where we just ground it out in half-court.
- FTs: Damn, I thought that was gonna bite us again --- I believe we missed 6 in the first half alone. We ended up 18/26, but Theo and Luke made some bigguns when they counted.
- JB aggression: Gotta give Little Dog props. You could see somtimes his wheels just weren't cooperating and it affected his shot, but he made some badd-ass takes, going right at big Willis three times.
So yeah... sweet victory, good vs evil, back to the FF. WHEW! and WOOOO!!!.
Roy, send JB back to the Hornets' ankle specialist. We're gonna need him vs the Ducks.
Meanwhile, enjoy this y'all!
Last edited:
