everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Friday, March 24, 2006
Dance : day five
Three exciting games last night out of the four, which is what you want at this point.
Atlanta
Obviously, for a Duke fan, huge disappointment. LSU played great defense, particularly on Redick. I actually expected Shelden Williams to have a more difficult game than Redick. Williams was great, but he was pretty much the only one. It was not unlike the Temple game, except LSU is better than Temple. Normally, if their opponent scores only 62, Duke would win by double-digits. But their inability to score against LSU's defense was what killed them. Williams scored - 23 in fact - but Redick could not, and their lack of a consistent third scorer, which has been a problem all year, killed them again. The players not named Redick or Williams were 7 of 29 from the field. Overall, they shot horribly, but most of that was LSU, who had 9 blocks (according to the box score, but I'd say it was more than that), not to mention the altered shots. LSU was physical and the officials were letting both teams play, and Duke did not handle it well. Fouls that they normally get when driving to the basket were not being called as often, which lead to less free throws - also something they're used to doing a lot.
In the end, they still had a shot at winning late. With Duke fouling to put LSU on the line at the end, LSU managed to miss a couple of free throws. Unfortunately, both misses resulted in offensive rebounds for LSU, forcing Duke to foul again and LSU to shoot more free throws. One trip down the floor for LSU resulted in 3 trips to the line. In addition to that was a breakaway when an LSU player got behind the Duke pressure on an inbounds play at Duke's end of the court. You give up plays like that in the final minute, you don't really deserve to win.
I didn't watch a lot of the Texas - West Virginia game. I nearly went to bed during halftime of the late games because both were up 10+ at the time. But when I saw the local news reporting that Texas was only ahead by 3 in the second half, I returned to the game. It seemed West Virginia could not stop Aldridge, who seemed to be pulling rebounds and scoring at will. However, West Virginia did not give up. A few missed free throws by Texas late in the game kept them close. When Pittsnogle hit the 3 with :05 on the clock, I was expecting overtime. But, a great shot at the buzzer sends Texas to the final 8, where there should be a good game with LSU.
Oakland
Saw absolutely none of the Memphis - Bradley game, since Duke-LSU was on here, and I didn't watch during halftime or after Duke-LSU was over (I was watching post-game press conferences on ESPN News.) So, I hear Memphis looked impressive again. However, despite Bradley's upsets thus far, the "mid-major" teams never play as well the second weekend. Therefore, I still don't know what to think of Memphis. They look great, everyone says, but it's just like their conference - they still haven't played anyone. Their highest seed so far is #9 Bucknell. So, I'll see what they do against UCLA before I crown them national champions, as some seem to be ready to do at this point.
If the Texas-West Virginia finish wasn't good enough, how about the UCLA-Gonzaga game. I, again, almost left for bed after the Texas game was over, because Gonzaga was still up 9 with around 3 minutes left. I figured - since they'd led the whole game, and mostly by double-figures - that it was already over. But I stayed a few more plays, and suddenly it was a game again. Gonzaga fell apart in the closing minutes, allowing UCLA to score 11 straight and pull off the win. J.P. Batista fouled UCLA on the rebound of an Adam Morrison miss - Gonzaga was up 3 points - with 19 seconds remaining. UCLA hit two free throws, and then with the clock ticking down, UCLA stole the ball from Batista after the inbounds, and hit a wide-open layup to take the lead. After a Gonzaga miss and foul, UCLA hit another free throw for the final margin. It was an amazing finish for UCLA, and an equally amazing collapse for Gonzaga. Morrison buried his face in his jersey and laid face down on the floor for a couple of minutes after the game was over. Many believe this to be his last game at Gonzaga, expecting him to enter the NBA draft.
Final thoughts
Well, it seemed appropriate that Redick and Morrison, whose scoring and player of the year battles have lasted all season, would exit together. Both of these guys have had oustanding years and have been great college basketball players. It seems that at least 50% of the articles I've read today regarding the LSU game or Redick's career seem to questino Redick's true ability, suggesting or implying he's not as good as he's appeared all year. This, of course, is crap. It's pretty simple. Just look at the facts from the last four years. His improvement and his accomplishments speak for themselves. To suggest that he has become anything less than a great college basketball player (which, as I said, it seems people are lining up to say today) can only be the result of either stupidity or bias. He was a great player. One cannot suggest otherwise and expect to be taken seriously.
I look forward to tonight's games. My favorite team left in the tournament is "whoever is playing Connecticut." I really hope to see BC make it to the final four. Only a few times in the last 20 years has an ACC team not been there (87, 96, 03), so they're the only hope left. I like their players and Al Skinner, so I hope they can get it done.
Next week, I plan to have some final thoughts on Duke's season, the careers of Redick and Williams, and some thoughts on Duke's recent problems advancing past the sweet 16 (I have a theory - a couple of things that I believe contribute, at least in part, to this difficulty.)
Atlanta
Obviously, for a Duke fan, huge disappointment. LSU played great defense, particularly on Redick. I actually expected Shelden Williams to have a more difficult game than Redick. Williams was great, but he was pretty much the only one. It was not unlike the Temple game, except LSU is better than Temple. Normally, if their opponent scores only 62, Duke would win by double-digits. But their inability to score against LSU's defense was what killed them. Williams scored - 23 in fact - but Redick could not, and their lack of a consistent third scorer, which has been a problem all year, killed them again. The players not named Redick or Williams were 7 of 29 from the field. Overall, they shot horribly, but most of that was LSU, who had 9 blocks (according to the box score, but I'd say it was more than that), not to mention the altered shots. LSU was physical and the officials were letting both teams play, and Duke did not handle it well. Fouls that they normally get when driving to the basket were not being called as often, which lead to less free throws - also something they're used to doing a lot.
In the end, they still had a shot at winning late. With Duke fouling to put LSU on the line at the end, LSU managed to miss a couple of free throws. Unfortunately, both misses resulted in offensive rebounds for LSU, forcing Duke to foul again and LSU to shoot more free throws. One trip down the floor for LSU resulted in 3 trips to the line. In addition to that was a breakaway when an LSU player got behind the Duke pressure on an inbounds play at Duke's end of the court. You give up plays like that in the final minute, you don't really deserve to win.
I didn't watch a lot of the Texas - West Virginia game. I nearly went to bed during halftime of the late games because both were up 10+ at the time. But when I saw the local news reporting that Texas was only ahead by 3 in the second half, I returned to the game. It seemed West Virginia could not stop Aldridge, who seemed to be pulling rebounds and scoring at will. However, West Virginia did not give up. A few missed free throws by Texas late in the game kept them close. When Pittsnogle hit the 3 with :05 on the clock, I was expecting overtime. But, a great shot at the buzzer sends Texas to the final 8, where there should be a good game with LSU.
Oakland
Saw absolutely none of the Memphis - Bradley game, since Duke-LSU was on here, and I didn't watch during halftime or after Duke-LSU was over (I was watching post-game press conferences on ESPN News.) So, I hear Memphis looked impressive again. However, despite Bradley's upsets thus far, the "mid-major" teams never play as well the second weekend. Therefore, I still don't know what to think of Memphis. They look great, everyone says, but it's just like their conference - they still haven't played anyone. Their highest seed so far is #9 Bucknell. So, I'll see what they do against UCLA before I crown them national champions, as some seem to be ready to do at this point.
If the Texas-West Virginia finish wasn't good enough, how about the UCLA-Gonzaga game. I, again, almost left for bed after the Texas game was over, because Gonzaga was still up 9 with around 3 minutes left. I figured - since they'd led the whole game, and mostly by double-figures - that it was already over. But I stayed a few more plays, and suddenly it was a game again. Gonzaga fell apart in the closing minutes, allowing UCLA to score 11 straight and pull off the win. J.P. Batista fouled UCLA on the rebound of an Adam Morrison miss - Gonzaga was up 3 points - with 19 seconds remaining. UCLA hit two free throws, and then with the clock ticking down, UCLA stole the ball from Batista after the inbounds, and hit a wide-open layup to take the lead. After a Gonzaga miss and foul, UCLA hit another free throw for the final margin. It was an amazing finish for UCLA, and an equally amazing collapse for Gonzaga. Morrison buried his face in his jersey and laid face down on the floor for a couple of minutes after the game was over. Many believe this to be his last game at Gonzaga, expecting him to enter the NBA draft.
Final thoughts
Well, it seemed appropriate that Redick and Morrison, whose scoring and player of the year battles have lasted all season, would exit together. Both of these guys have had oustanding years and have been great college basketball players. It seems that at least 50% of the articles I've read today regarding the LSU game or Redick's career seem to questino Redick's true ability, suggesting or implying he's not as good as he's appeared all year. This, of course, is crap. It's pretty simple. Just look at the facts from the last four years. His improvement and his accomplishments speak for themselves. To suggest that he has become anything less than a great college basketball player (which, as I said, it seems people are lining up to say today) can only be the result of either stupidity or bias. He was a great player. One cannot suggest otherwise and expect to be taken seriously.
I look forward to tonight's games. My favorite team left in the tournament is "whoever is playing Connecticut." I really hope to see BC make it to the final four. Only a few times in the last 20 years has an ACC team not been there (87, 96, 03), so they're the only hope left. I like their players and Al Skinner, so I hope they can get it done.
Next week, I plan to have some final thoughts on Duke's season, the careers of Redick and Williams, and some thoughts on Duke's recent problems advancing past the sweet 16 (I have a theory - a couple of things that I believe contribute, at least in part, to this difficulty.)
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