Fair is Fair

[CatInFL]

We didn't play well enough on defense to merit a victory tonight.

We waited too long to turn up the heat on Duke

Duke's roleplayers made those 3pt shots when we were walking to the closeouts.

Texas Tech was in the exact same situation as we were down the stretch against Arkansas. They were down BIG like us. Go check their box score. It was nearly identical. They found a way and they made the plays. So they dance on. We didn't do what was necessary tonight.

Sure, the game we played was worthy of a Final 4 Game or even the Championship. However, that is how the Brackets work. Some games are easier. Some paths and matchups on the court are easier. We played 1 of the top 6 teams in the Nation tonight and we may have been a Top 20 team overall. Our true Ranking doesn't matter. It only matters that we played to the best of our ability.

I think we played up to about 90% of our potential tonight and Duke played about 98% of their potential. It took essentially everything they had. There are no moral victories though.

---------

It is true that we didn't get a fair shake on certain Ref calls. We obviously deserved the same Hook and Hold Flagrant 1 that was assessed on Bradley. Our team doesn't flop. We don't get the benefit of any doubts. If Henri laid on the ground flailing like his elbow or shoulder was injured we would get the call. We should have gotten it Tit for Tat regardless. It changed the complexion of the game in that moment. There were also a handful of whistles where possession was going our way and then Duke cried enough about it and got the calls overturned. Tommy isn't really a Coach's Coach. He doesn't know how to get his way. Scheyer thoroughly outcoached him on the court and with the refs tonight. A true masterclass.

We had plenty of 50/50 type balls where we were called for a foul or where Duke just came away with it luckily.

In the end, Caleb Love played his ass off for someone who was 100% game planned for. There was no space for him the whole game. Tommy didn't really make any adjustments to help that situation. Caleb took matters into his own hands many times and he really showed up. I respect his last game. He can now leave with his head held high and the fanbase should treat him with decency and dignity.

Carter Bryant - I truly hope he stays another year. He is an Elite Stud. Koa Peat's commitment shouldn't have a direct effect on the decision from my POV. Tommy didn't really understand "use it or lose it". He had all season to develop Carter into a true weapon. There were many moments where Carter could have taken over and he missed some shots and passed out of opportunities where he would have gotten himself to the FT Line.

KJ Lewis - 2 Dimensional. A defensive player who can only really get to the rim and excel at the FT line. Unfortunately he cannot generally affect the game outside of that. A 3pt shot would be the best thing he can do for his life going forward. 3+D is the only valuable skillset and commodity that can separate him from anyone else. Plenty of 6'3"/6'4" guys in the NBA who can lockdown their man and pop a 3. He is better than Dalen Terry for sure.

Jaden Bradley: Felt like he never really got into the game until it was a bit too late. We needed the Maniac Mode to be activated much earlier than it was. He will be great for us next year if he returns.

Tommy stuck with Awaka way too long at times. Awaka was the monster last game vs Oregon, but tonight was a Henri game. Tommy has difficulties evaluating the moment. We had the tools to win this one, but not the X's and O's. Not a huge fan of him nor his game. Awaka has moments, but he is often sloppy. I think if he is to remain onboard, Tommy needs to get him some help on footwork, controlling his strength, and learning how to be a knockdown shooter from around the elbow. He had so many opportunities wide open.

In this game, whenever Duke allowed a player to have space to appear wide-open, it was 100% by design. Duke left Caleb Love 0 space and he still managed to have maybe his best game ever in my book. So if we are given opportunities, we have to make them pay for it. That is how to force your opponent to adjust.

Making opponents pay. Identifying EVERY player's biggest weaknesses and making them the biggest points of emphasis is all that Tommy needs to be doing as a Coach. Bring in assistants who can actually work with these guys and improve their games.

Dell Orso played a good game from my POV too. If we actually had a real PG, he would have been a deadly player for us. Yes he can come off overmatched on Defense, but today he really wasn't. It would have been better to lean into ADO out there and let "Proctor" have to "GAMBLE" on taking him 1 on 1.. Or Kon Knueppel. Any of those players would have wanted to go at Tony Taco. It would have created a lot of shots for Duke's peripheral players and Flagg wouldn't have stayed in the Zone all night lighting us up. I don't think Tommy even considered that strategy, but it would have been something we could have adjusted to with switching and/or playing a Zone at times. Oh well. Tommy is pretty basic still learning.

Conrad had a big effect on this game. A nice 3pt shot, but he also helped us get some extra possessions. They were empty and Duke probably scored about 6 or 8 points to Conrad's 3 for his "effect" out there. He bought some valuable minutes.

The trend of Tommy's teams packing it in a little early going into the half really bit us big time. We surrendered 6 points for free at the end of the 1st Half. Those 6 points really hurt. Even the 3pts at the end that were patently unnecessary. Just bad coaching there.

Again ---> It was a good game. One of the more interesting games of the tournament if you are a student of the game. There was a ton of "Game within the Game" going on. Tommy got outsmarted and outcoached. Didn't work the refs enough at times, but also didn't command the respect either.

Duke needed 100 points tonight with the shenanigans. Without those goof ups and poor gamesmanship, we probably would have been in a 1 possession game the entire final 2:30 to 3 minutes on the clock and you never really know who would have been the hero.

--------->

This is why I put more stock into the Conference Title and Tournament Banner. So much that we could control and also top tier competition without any politics or nonsense. We got close and losing to Houston angers me 100000x more than this loss will.

Goes to show that not all wins or losses are created equally and it isn't about seeding to judge which the biggest achievements or let downs are. We would have probably defeated at least 10-12 out of the 15 remaining teams tonight with our effort and performance. This team just ran into what may be the National Champions.

Or they may get slapped around by Alabama who shot an uncanny amount of 3's and hit him. Maybe they go cold.

Either way, at this point I would personally like to see Duke vs Houston. That would be the most interesting matchup left on this side of the bracket. It could be an all 1 Seed Final Four for I believe only the 2nd time ever. We will see tomorrow. Houston may be the most suspect 1 seed remaining.

The sport is about shot taking and shot making now in the Curry Era. It will make for some boring games and also some incredible moments. The 3 Ball is a deadly weapon. Tommy will have to start coaching it. Caleb Love is gone. Bradley will be around to take shots. Bigs are going to need to pop 3's.

Tommy has to improve. He showed regression all season as a Coach, but I think this group of players really enjoyed playing together once we got Slo-Mo Krivas out of the mix and got our best team together and they looked like they enjoyed playing the game together down the stretch.

The peak of the season was before we had our loss to Houston at home. We had Defense up until that game. The next game was BYU and it was played in the 90s...

We never got that defensive mindset back. We could play defense and make a lot of physical plays. So in that sense, I will say it again. The PLAYERS really stepped up for each other. I think Tommy has to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to play more than 1 style and to stop playing for 2pt shots in a world of 3s.

Work on 3pt shooting in volume.
Have more than 1 3pt shooter on the floor.
Embrace 3+D, Long, Tall, Lenky players who have big wingspans.

Looking forward to getting the new crop in and some of the old crop out.

We have some work to do, but in the end, this season was up and down. We exceeded expectations from our lowest points. We didn't live up to our hype at our highest moments. Par for the Course.

FAIR IS FAIR.

Onward and Up,

BEARDOWN.

We didn't play well enough on defense to merit a victory tonight.

We waited too long to turn up the heat on Duke

Duke's roleplayers made those 3pt shots when we were walking to the closeouts.

Texas Tech was in the exact same situation as we were down the stretch against Arkansas. They were down BIG like us. Go check their box score. It was nearly identical. They found a way and they made the plays. So they dance on. We didn't do what was necessary tonight.

Sure, the game we played was worthy of a Final 4 Game or even the Championship. However, that is how the Brackets work. Some games are easier. Some paths and matchups on the court are easier. We played 1 of the top 6 teams in the Nation tonight and we may have been a Top 20 team overall. Our true Ranking doesn't matter. It only matters that we played to the best of our ability.

I think we played up to about 90% of our potential tonight and Duke played about 98% of their potential. It took essentially everything they had. There are no moral victories though.

---------

It is true that we didn't get a fair shake on certain Ref calls. We obviously deserved the same Hook and Hold Flagrant 1 that was assessed on Bradley. Our team doesn't flop. We don't get the benefit of any doubts. If Henri laid on the ground flailing like his elbow or shoulder was injured we would get the call. We should have gotten it Tit for Tat regardless. It changed the complexion of the game in that moment. There were also a handful of whistles where possession was going our way and then Duke cried enough about it and got the calls overturned. Tommy isn't really a Coach's Coach. He doesn't know how to get his way. Scheyer thoroughly outcoached him on the court and with the refs tonight. A true masterclass.

We had plenty of 50/50 type balls where we were called for a foul or where Duke just came away with it luckily.

In the end, Caleb Love played his ass off for someone who was 100% game planned for. There was no space for him the whole game. Tommy didn't really make any adjustments to help that situation. Caleb took matters into his own hands many times and he really showed up. I respect his last game. He can now leave with his head held high and the fanbase should treat him with decency and dignity.

Carter Bryant - I truly hope he stays another year. He is an Elite Stud. Koa Peat's commitment shouldn't have a direct effect on the decision from my POV. Tommy didn't really understand "use it or lose it". He had all season to develop Carter into a true weapon. There were many moments where Carter could have taken over and he missed some shots and passed out of opportunities where he would have gotten himself to the FT Line.

KJ Lewis - 2 Dimensional. A defensive player who can only really get to the rim and excel at the FT line. Unfortunately he cannot generally affect the game outside of that. A 3pt shot would be the best thing he can do for his life going forward. 3+D is the only valuable skillset and commodity that can separate him from anyone else. Plenty of 6'3"/6'4" guys in the NBA who can lockdown their man and pop a 3. He is better than Dalen Terry for sure.

Jaden Bradley: Felt like he never really got into the game until it was a bit too late. We needed the Maniac Mode to be activated much earlier than it was. He will be great for us next year if he returns.

Tommy stuck with Awaka way too long at times. Awaka was the monster last game vs Oregon, but tonight was a Henri game. Tommy has difficulties evaluating the moment. We had the tools to win this one, but not the X's and O's. Not a huge fan of him nor his game. Awaka has moments, but he is often sloppy. I think if he is to remain onboard, Tommy needs to get him some help on footwork, controlling his strength, and learning how to be a knockdown shooter from around the elbow. He had so many opportunities wide open.

In this game, whenever Duke allowed a player to have space to appear wide-open, it was 100% by design. Duke left Caleb Love 0 space and he still managed to have maybe his best game ever in my book. So if we are given opportunities, we have to make them pay for it. That is how to force your opponent to adjust.

Making opponents pay. Identifying EVERY player's biggest weaknesses and making them the biggest points of emphasis is all that Tommy needs to be doing as a Coach. Bring in assistants who can actually work with these guys and improve their games.

Dell Orso played a good game from my POV too. If we actually had a real PG, he would have been a deadly player for us. Yes he can come off overmatched on Defense, but today he really wasn't. It would have been better to lean into ADO out there and let "Proctor" have to "GAMBLE" on taking him 1 on 1.. Or Kon Knueppel. Any of those players would have wanted to go at Tony Taco. It would have created a lot of shots for Duke's peripheral players and Flagg wouldn't have stayed in the Zone all night lighting us up. I don't think Tommy even considered that strategy, but it would have been something we could have adjusted to with switching and/or playing a Zone at times. Oh well. Tommy is pretty basic still learning.

Conrad had a big effect on this game. A nice 3pt shot, but he also helped us get some extra possessions. They were empty and Duke probably scored about 6 or 8 points to Conrad's 3 for his "effect" out there. He bought some valuable minutes.

The trend of Tommy's teams packing it in a little early going into the half really bit us big time. We surrendered 6 points for free at the end of the 1st Half. Those 6 points really hurt. Even the 3pts at the end that were patently unnecessary. Just bad coaching there.

Again ---> It was a good game. One of the more interesting games of the tournament if you are a student of the game. There was a ton of "Game within the Game" going on. Tommy got outsmarted and outcoached. Didn't work the refs enough at times, but also didn't command the respect either.

Duke needed 100 points tonight with the shenanigans. Without those goof ups and poor gamesmanship, we probably would have been in a 1 possession game the entire final 2:30 to 3 minutes on the clock and you never really know who would have been the hero.

--------->

This is why I put more stock into the Conference Title and Tournament Banner. So much that we could control and also top tier competition without any politics or nonsense. We got close and losing to Houston angers me 100000x more than this loss will.

Goes to show that not all wins or losses are created equally and it isn't about seeding to judge which the biggest achievements or let downs are. We would have probably defeated at least 10-12 out of the 15 remaining teams tonight with our effort and performance. This team just ran into what may be the National Champions.

Or they may get slapped around by Alabama who shot an uncanny amount of 3's and hit him. Maybe they go cold.

Either way, at this point I would personally like to see Duke vs Houston. That would be the most interesting matchup left on this side of the bracket. It could be an all 1 Seed Final Four for I believe only the 2nd time ever. We will see tomorrow. Houston may be the most suspect 1 seed remaining.

The sport is about shot taking and shot making now in the Curry Era. It will make for some boring games and also some incredible moments. The 3 Ball is a deadly weapon. Tommy will have to start coaching it. Caleb Love is gone. Bradley will be around to take shots. Bigs are going to need to pop 3's.

Tommy has to improve. He showed regression all season as a Coach, but I think this group of players really enjoyed playing together once we got Slo-Mo Krivas out of the mix and got our best team together and they looked like they enjoyed playing the game together down the stretch.

The peak of the season was before we had our loss to Houston at home. We had Defense up until that game. The next game was BYU and it was played in the 90s...

We never got that defensive mindset back. We could play defense and make a lot of physical plays. So in that sense, I will say it again. The PLAYERS really stepped up for each other. I think Tommy has to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to play more than 1 style and to stop playing for 2pt shots in a world of 3s.

Work on 3pt shooting in volume.
Have more than 1 3pt shooter on the floor.
Embrace 3+D, Long, Tall, Lenky players who have big wingspans.

Looking forward to getting the new crop in and some of the old crop out.

We have some work to do, but in the end, this season was up and down. We exceeded expectations from our lowest points. We didn't live up to our hype at our highest moments. Par for the Course.

FAIR IS FAIR.

Onward and Up,

BEARDOWN.

Thanks for the consistently well thought out analysis over the years.  I don't always/usually agree, but I respect the work and the thought.  You  always say something thought-provoking.

My much more simplistic view of the game is that both teams played extremely well. It was one of our best (probably the best) games of the year. I was amazed at how well these guys fought back and never quit. I was a bit in awe of Duke at times (damn that's difficult to say), they've really become a great team over the year. It's really too bad the refs couldn't match the effort of the players. They called the game inconsistently both ways for most of the game, but the first 4-5 minutes of the 2nd half sure seemed to be lopsided towards Duke. Over all a great, well played game and our guys did themselves proud.  Bear Down

[arxpert]

I don't think the guards are walking their way out to the defensive assignments.  Instead, guys like Maluach and Bittle are setting moving picks at the top of the key, which prevents our undersized defenders to have an opportunity to go "through" the screens, as they've been taught for years.

It's partially on Lloyd to call out our opponents for the consistent violation but it's also a simple whistle from the officials that would allow Arizona to guard the perimeter.

Pretty frustrating when you have to watch from the living room because our transition, post and man defenses are pretty stellar, with the exception of those illegal high screens.

But even if you and I bought 4 total tickets and sat each half right where those "illegal screens" are taking place and we SCREAMED they were happening, do you honestly believe Tommy would hear us? Do you think the Refs would give a shit?

I think that in the end, if the refs aren't doing anything about it then it is on us to muck it up ourselves... and we did to a degree.

Not all of the 3s were screened. Gillis was wide open. Some are just defensive gaffs. I think at least 4 or 5 shots were taken that were just given up on. "if you make it, you make it"... like in Rocky, "if he dies, he dies".

We truly cannot rely on refs to see the game our way nor call it like that even if they do. Tommy certainly needs to try though.

I am all for leveling the playing field however possible. I heard enough UofA and Arizonaaaa chants through the TV. Not enough "ILLEGAL SCREEEEEN CLAP CLAP CLAP'CLAP'CLAP"....

[KansasCityCats]

I think that having a pre-game or halftime conversation to point out an opponent's flaw would help. Lute did it regularly   

To your point, our defenders were still occasionally lost along the perimeter on Thursday. It was unlike our defense throughout the season but we did the same thing to Dook, as they regularly separated themselves from our shooters.

Great overall game that could have been changed by a couple plays.

[Naterade]

I don't agree that Tommy was out coached. What lost the game for us was too many wide open threes due to lack of effort and a NBA starter caliber player in Flagg just playing great basketball and going off. Honestly I thought Arizona was the better team for 51% of the game. We lost to a better and much bigger and stronger team. The missed flagrant call was atrocious and should be reviewed and the refs should be penalized. Also the fast break where KJ put his head down at half court and didn't think to look for Henri behind him for a dunk, instead getting blocked was a brutal play that would have really given us a chance. All in all this was the funnest season I can remember in a long time. I'm going to miss Caleb Love, the guy really did make an effort to grow as a player and I think he deserves a chance in the league no doubt.

I saw some real promise in Conrad's minutes late in the year and I think he's going to contribute next year. ADO is a few pounds of muscle away from becoming a legit college player. Carter is clearly not ready for the NBA and I hope he comes back, I think he's one drive in traffic and dunk away from unlocking his offensive potential.

Holy shit the refs actually were penalized. None of the refs from our game are going on the the elite 8. They actually lost some good money for fuckimg us, which is all I can ask for

[arxpert]

I think that having a pre-game or halftime conversation to point out an opponent's flaw would help. Lute did it regularly 

To your point, our defenders were still occasionally lost along the perimeter on Thursday. It was unlike our defense throughout the season but we did the same thing to Dook, as they regularly separated themselves from our shooters.

Great overall game that could have been changed by a couple plays.

I agree... yet I still want to know what happened to that Arizona Defense that was dominant up until the first loss to Houston @McKale. It just seemed like we never got it back except the one other time we played Houston. After that tough loss, we were playing everyone on their terms from a defensive standpoint. I don't know what happened from Tommy's coaching perspective. If he just let go of that rope and said "fuck it" then I would hope this offseason he develops some more mental fortitude in that department.

[arxpert]

Holy shit the refs actually were penalized. None of the refs from our game are going on the the elite 8. They actually lost some good money for fuckimg us, which is all I can ask for

That's awesome. Are you certain they are all finished for the year? Or are they basically getting the Elite 8 "off" only to come back for the Final 4?

Tony "Paid"illa was in the other game (BYU) doing his damage to BYU which had me shook tbh. While his calls didn't really matter in the end due to Bama going hambone, when he made the calls, it was still a game and very close. Paid-illa seems to be on the take overall. All Year.