...and who'd-a-thunk a tired narrative would be the gift that keeps on giving, huh?.
Before I start, endulge me, if you will, with a question for the board:
Was anyone else just annoyed that we had to play dook again?
I mean, couldn't someone else have gotten rid of the Rat and his minions? Michigan St? OK, that was on the zebras, but still... So then, what?... we hafta be the mf-ing Avengers and save the world from evil yet again? Sheesh. I dunno about y'all, but instead of enjoying being in the Final Four, I was caught up in having to deal with these jabronies. Welp, civilized world... YOU'RE WELCOME!... we just made it a better place for angels, marigolds and puppies.
Arright, back to the game....
- Candidly, we did not play a smart first half --- defintite nerves out there, incl, at least 4 missed defensive assignments and a lotta clunked shots. More fundamentally, even after getting 2 early fouls on Williams, we just eschewed pounding the rock indside, and our poor FG % and dearth of points in the paint resulted.
- Also on the negative notes, we mostly failed to take advantage of myriad mismatches. Brady, in particular, chose not to take smaller guys to the rack. We also too often got outscrapped on loose balls and/or contested rebounds. Sure, dook aways reaches and grabs and undercuts, but ya hafta be ready for that.
- As with all games in football stadiums, I was hoping for someone to find the range early, and thankfully RJ came out smokin' and frankly, kept us in it til halftime. Another key to keeping the game in range was Hubert pulling off some adept maneuvers right before the half with sets and substitutions.
- The elephant (zebra) in the room in any dook game (and something that has gratifyingly been in the national conversations this week) is the reffing, but early on we actually saw them get called for stuff they normally get away with, which of course evoked the predictable barage of beration, so yeah of course, they got the memo, starting with that full-Battier flop from WIlliams to start the second half. Just wow at that one. And yes, there were myriad uncalled Banchero travels and Boroski in particular was just killing us, but ya know what?.. we were more our own worst enemies with some bone-headed turnovers.
- Speaking of that, OMG at those awful passes. I used to call those "diagonal-up" passes, and as a coach I friggin HATED them. In practices I had a policy that if you made that pass then you'd damned well better complete it, and if the ball got intercepted or even tipped on one of those, the whistle would blow and suicides would ensue. And credit here to dook for scouting us, as we've been living on the edge all season with that looseness, and it damn near cost us this one. I'll expand on this in my wrap-up next week, but watching just that poor decision-making and execution on the perimeter will hopefully make folks here appreciate what Hubert has had to wrangle to get us where we are.
- With that said, I can't say enough positive about the character and toughness this bunch has developed. Following the aforementioned Williams flop --- something that could've easily changed the game --- our guys instead got PISSED and went on a run to grab a lead, serving notice to the arrogant dookies that they weren't stealing this one without a fight. And with all due respect to our friend Adam Lucas in his column earlier this week, that run was indeed triggered by a burst of aggression in TRANSITION -- something we'd damned well better be ready to play Monday.
- There is no overstating how big Caleb's drives and finishes AT THE RIM were in the second half (as was playing more inside-out in general), but look, I'd be lying if I denied the fact that we've lived on the edge all season --- even during our March/April run --- as in needing to make tough and sometimes gasp-inducing shot attempts, and between him and Birdy Manek welp, we did it again. OK then. Speaking of Manek, he made some big-time defensive plays down the stretch (which helped make up for those missed FTs).
- While I'm on the positives, Leaky had another defensive gem and knocked down some timely shots, and Puff gave us a quietly important few minutes in both halves (especially those 2 key FTs while Mando was out).
- And finally, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about Mando. All modern sports medicine aside, that's gonna hurt tomorrow. There was a critical sequence late on a dook miss when the rebound would've normally been all his, but Mando just had no elevation, and thus dook got a tip-out and a 3. We're gonna need the big fella at least somewhere near full strength Monday.
Anyway, following up on a joke someone started earlier, with dook eliminated, ESPN will likely air a 48-hour tribute to the Rat in protest... and to all the national "pundits" who assumed a dook win, I fart in your general direction. But seriously, this season is house money for us at this point. Cinderalla? Oh hell no -- we're a blue blood, but... this run could be fitted for a proverbial glass slipper if we're being honest. KU will be favored, and should be --- they're a legit #1 seed and easily handled nova (albeit a nova team that had no business being in the FF). But it ain't midnight yet... so shit, lessee what happens...
Before I start, endulge me, if you will, with a question for the board:
Was anyone else just annoyed that we had to play dook again?
I mean, couldn't someone else have gotten rid of the Rat and his minions? Michigan St? OK, that was on the zebras, but still... So then, what?... we hafta be the mf-ing Avengers and save the world from evil yet again? Sheesh. I dunno about y'all, but instead of enjoying being in the Final Four, I was caught up in having to deal with these jabronies. Welp, civilized world... YOU'RE WELCOME!... we just made it a better place for angels, marigolds and puppies.
Arright, back to the game....
- Candidly, we did not play a smart first half --- defintite nerves out there, incl, at least 4 missed defensive assignments and a lotta clunked shots. More fundamentally, even after getting 2 early fouls on Williams, we just eschewed pounding the rock indside, and our poor FG % and dearth of points in the paint resulted.
- Also on the negative notes, we mostly failed to take advantage of myriad mismatches. Brady, in particular, chose not to take smaller guys to the rack. We also too often got outscrapped on loose balls and/or contested rebounds. Sure, dook aways reaches and grabs and undercuts, but ya hafta be ready for that.
- As with all games in football stadiums, I was hoping for someone to find the range early, and thankfully RJ came out smokin' and frankly, kept us in it til halftime. Another key to keeping the game in range was Hubert pulling off some adept maneuvers right before the half with sets and substitutions.
- The elephant (zebra) in the room in any dook game (and something that has gratifyingly been in the national conversations this week) is the reffing, but early on we actually saw them get called for stuff they normally get away with, which of course evoked the predictable barage of beration, so yeah of course, they got the memo, starting with that full-Battier flop from WIlliams to start the second half. Just wow at that one. And yes, there were myriad uncalled Banchero travels and Boroski in particular was just killing us, but ya know what?.. we were more our own worst enemies with some bone-headed turnovers.
- Speaking of that, OMG at those awful passes. I used to call those "diagonal-up" passes, and as a coach I friggin HATED them. In practices I had a policy that if you made that pass then you'd damned well better complete it, and if the ball got intercepted or even tipped on one of those, the whistle would blow and suicides would ensue. And credit here to dook for scouting us, as we've been living on the edge all season with that looseness, and it damn near cost us this one. I'll expand on this in my wrap-up next week, but watching just that poor decision-making and execution on the perimeter will hopefully make folks here appreciate what Hubert has had to wrangle to get us where we are.
- With that said, I can't say enough positive about the character and toughness this bunch has developed. Following the aforementioned Williams flop --- something that could've easily changed the game --- our guys instead got PISSED and went on a run to grab a lead, serving notice to the arrogant dookies that they weren't stealing this one without a fight. And with all due respect to our friend Adam Lucas in his column earlier this week, that run was indeed triggered by a burst of aggression in TRANSITION -- something we'd damned well better be ready to play Monday.
- There is no overstating how big Caleb's drives and finishes AT THE RIM were in the second half (as was playing more inside-out in general), but look, I'd be lying if I denied the fact that we've lived on the edge all season --- even during our March/April run --- as in needing to make tough and sometimes gasp-inducing shot attempts, and between him and Birdy Manek welp, we did it again. OK then. Speaking of Manek, he made some big-time defensive plays down the stretch (which helped make up for those missed FTs).
- While I'm on the positives, Leaky had another defensive gem and knocked down some timely shots, and Puff gave us a quietly important few minutes in both halves (especially those 2 key FTs while Mando was out).
- And finally, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about Mando. All modern sports medicine aside, that's gonna hurt tomorrow. There was a critical sequence late on a dook miss when the rebound would've normally been all his, but Mando just had no elevation, and thus dook got a tip-out and a 3. We're gonna need the big fella at least somewhere near full strength Monday.
Anyway, following up on a joke someone started earlier, with dook eliminated, ESPN will likely air a 48-hour tribute to the Rat in protest... and to all the national "pundits" who assumed a dook win, I fart in your general direction. But seriously, this season is house money for us at this point. Cinderalla? Oh hell no -- we're a blue blood, but... this run could be fitted for a proverbial glass slipper if we're being honest. KU will be favored, and should be --- they're a legit #1 seed and easily handled nova (albeit a nova team that had no business being in the FF). But it ain't midnight yet... so shit, lessee what happens...
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