First game that a plan actually worked

[KansasCityCats]

Arizona played hard. The "excuse" is that we played a basketball team that only lost ONE game since December. They're physical, talented and experienced.

Love was caught out of position but KJ never half-assed a play. Townsend is valuable on offense but Houston's ONLY easy buckets in the paint came when Trey was isolated in the lane. That never occurred with Awaka or Veesaar.

Regardless, this team is going into Selection Sunday with confidence. Matchups can trip up any program but Arizona has been solid since they arrived in KC and we'll hope that they get enough rest, prior to next week's first round game.

[Blafresh]

Houston is a good team and maybe one of the most composed in the nation. I thought we matched their physicality, played good enough to win, but every 50-50 situation went Houston's way. Additionally, I don't understand the rules of this game anymore... Carter Bryant gets hit in the nuts and called for a foul lol what a joke. I'd be surprised if Carter leaves, it's clear his defense would get absolutely cooked in the NBA. Hope he expands his bag and gets more disciplined on defense for his sophomore year at UA.

Veesaar must have bet on Houston bcuz he fouls with 9 seconds to not make AZ cover 6.5 :/

[arxpert]

Houston is a good team and maybe one of the most composed in the nation. I thought we matched their physicality, played good enough to win, but every 50-50 situation went Houston's way. Additionally, I don't understand the rules of this game anymore... Carter Bryant gets hit in the nuts and called for a foul lol what a joke. I'd be surprised if Carter leaves, it's clear his defense would get absolutely cooked in the NBA. Hope he expands his bag and gets more disciplined on defense for his sophomore year at UA.

Veesaar must have bet on Houston bcuz he fouls with 9 seconds to not make AZ cover 6.5 :/

You can say Jaden Bradley bet on Arizona by trying the 3pt shot at the end too, but he half assed it, so he probably took Houston. In the end it doesn't matter. Just another story of the same where Arizona can play ANYONE's game, but we can't make anyone play our game... Except Kansas. They somehow chose to play loose, up and down against us and we made them pay for it. No one else lets us play "our game"

Also as I have come to realize since early in the year, most teams would love to force us to hit 2 shots to earn 2 points than just give us an open look for a 3 or a 2. We do get our share of layups, but it's all Iso-Ball.

There are rarely any set plays with Awaka or Henri in front of Caleb or Carter as a screener and we get off a clean 3 like I see with basically every other team that is well coached.

Tommy's best attribute is having a play from out of bounds/out of timeouts. That's basically the only time he or his assistants can draw something decent up.

We played a good game, but good can't beat Houston. That's just the way it is.

March Madness is the great equalizer. Who knows who we will have to see in the Dance. I am just hoping to make it through the first game. After we lost to Houston earlier this year in the same way, we ended up on a Skid losing a shootout to BYU and such. So now it's a 1 game season and we will find out how much this team wants to keep playing or if their spirit is broken.

[arxpert]

Arizona played hard. The "excuse" is that we played a basketball team that only lost ONE game since December. They're physical, talented and experienced.

Love was caught out of position but KJ never half-assed a play. Townsend is valuable on offense but Houston's ONLY easy buckets in the paint came when Trey was isolated in the lane. That never occurred with Awaka or Veesaar.

Regardless, this team is going into Selection Sunday with confidence. Matchups can trip up any program but Arizona has been solid since they arrived in KC and we'll hope that they get enough rest, prior to next week's first round game.

I'm not taking any moral victories. We emptied the tank vs Houston in some ways, but Tommy held back in others. That type of game isn't where you rotate 8 guys when you don't have the types needed. In the end we can say they did as well as they could and it wasn't good enough.

March Madness is the great equalizer. Who knows who we have to play, but the Coaching has to be better. The body language moments, the mental lapses. Watching an opponent get hot and not stopping the momentum in time with a timeout. That stuff is on Tommy. He definitely knew how to Yell at the team yesterday, but there is no excuse for Carter not getting at least 6 3pt Attempts with 4 Good Looks and 2 tough looks where he makes one that surprises people. He was the only mismatch and Tommy still went with his system. I don't care if his stat line said he had a few turnovers. Some of them were not his fault. He had 6 rebounds in a limited action. He may have ended up being the reason we won the game if he were in there instead of Awaka. He will never learn to squeeze the rebound harder if he is on the bench. If we were destined to lose, then Carter learned nothing he didn't already know in that game.

Also, if this were a game that Mugging, Thugging was the theme and no one was getting 20-30 FTA, then Tommy has to tell his guys to play just as dirty down low where Nothing was being called at all. Not abandon his own players because they didn't know how to play a Man's Game in the trenches/Post.

No one will question Love, Lewis, or Bradley running in via Iso for layups, but we Flinched on the FT line. Missed some Front-End's of the 1-1's which is a real strategy.

Make a team have to make 2 shots to earn 2 points.

That is a real strategy and teams use it against us. When it is neutral courts and high pressure you can definitely expect to miss some FTs in that manner and a Front End miss is EQUAL to a Turnover/Loss of Possession. So maybe just acknowledge that for a change because it is a way that heavily combats what we do. Especially when the opponent is weaponizing it by choosing who they want to foul.

This plays into when I say Caleb Love just walks over to a wide open shooter because he feels "beat". No. You can't have that happen. If you foul a 3pt shooter at worst it sucks and they make 3 Shots to earn 3 points with 13min to go, but they could still miss one, two, or even three no matter how good they are and that would make the whole sequence worth it. The fact is Arizona needs to make teams earn it. Not just give the shots away and then try to go too fast. Houston took advantage of that early and often.

Walk before Run in games like this where the Stubborn opponent isn't going to play your game.

[KansasCityCats]

Bryant didn't play poorly but he couldn't create open looks, which is the reason he took four threes (and two were way off). He tied for the 5th most minutes (despite not starting) and would have played more if Houston didn't kick him in the nuts (thanks for the no-call, officials).

Love was arguably our best defender this season, alongside KJ. He has the occasional lazy "walk down the court" moment, which is frustrating but he's primarily a lockdown defender, regardless of matchup.

[arxpert]

Bryant didn't play poorly but he couldn't create open looks, which is the reason he took four threes (and two were way off). He tied for the 5th most minutes (despite not starting) and would have played more if Houston didn't kick him in the nuts (thanks for the no-call, officials).

Love was arguably our best defender this season, alongside KJ. He has the occasional lazy "walk down the court" moment, which is frustrating but he's primarily a lockdown defender, regardless of matchup.

2 were off? 2 were On and Unguardable with his length. The difference between us and them is they get in the face of every shooter while you condone our players walking up on closeouts casually just giving the shot away. Meanwhile whenever we did contest a shot they missed most of them hence our 3 primary comebacks in the game. Then Tommy went back to the bad lineups and gave away all the hard work earned in the opening 5 minutes of the 2nd half repeating the same lesson learned in the 1st half except he shouldn't have done that, telegraphed, because Sampson had a response for the line change adjustment this time and it led to the 10pt deficit that was unnecessary. When we regained the lead with 5 to go, then Tommy opted to lean into Henri and Awaka which ended our chance to stay in the game for good as KJ Lewis was necessary to sustaining it and Sampson shut the water off on the drives for layups.

Carter would have risen up for a 3pt shot and hit at least 2 in the clutch.

I know for certain that whether he made them or not it would have forced players out of that lane and made space for the layups.

Awaka needed to be benched with 5 to go and Tommy got scared. Flinched. And we scored like 2 or 4 points the rest of that game to their 7 or 9. I lost count. It was there for the taking just like the first game.

I have been done with giving out Silver Stars for trying hard, but losing and I am not up for handing out a Purple Heart for killing our season with the same mental lapses in Coaching.

[KansasCityCats]

Leaving the same five players in the game for 40 minutes isn't sustainable when you're playing a third game in a three day span.

Awaka's ability to keep the Cougar frontcourt out of the paint was his only purpose, and it was pretty successful.

Bryant's airballs weren't close but fortunately didn't affect his confidence. He definitely deserved more looks but it was obvious that he wasn't 100% after he took a cheap shot (with NO attempt to review from the officials).

Regardless, Houston was the better team and I'm sure the staff is focusing on our matchup(s) in Seattle.

[arxpert]

Leaving the same five players in the game for 40 minutes isn't sustainable when you're playing a third game in a three day span.

Awaka's ability to keep the Cougar frontcourt out of the paint was his only purpose, and it was pretty successful.

Bryant's airballs weren't close but fortunately didn't affect his confidence. He definitely deserved more looks but it was obvious that he wasn't 100% after he took a cheap shot (with NO attempt to review from the officials).

Regardless, Houston was the better team and I'm sure the staff is focusing on our matchup(s) in Seattle.

If Carter was knocked out of the game then he should have laid on the floor dead. If Tommy held him out on purpose due to a shot to the nuts then that is a brand new level of soft that I do not accept.

No excuses overall. It was the wrong way to coach the matchup. If Houston loses in March Madness I guarantee there will be X's and O's involved.

[KansasCityCats]

None of the above.  Carter was in serious pain but convinced Lloyd to put him back in the game, as soon as he gathered his composure.  He wasn't the same player when he returned...with good reason.  The kid is tough.

There is a perfectly good excuse: we played a team that lost one game since December.  They're a favorite to win the National Title and Arizona played them tough.  If we replicate that performance over the next few weeks (which I doubt will happen), we would likely get a rematch with UH in the Final Four.

[arxpert]

None of the above.  Carter was in serious pain but convinced Lloyd to put him back in the game, as soon as he gathered his composure.  He wasn't the same player when he returned...with good reason.  The kid is tough.

There is a perfectly good excuse: we played a team that lost one game since December.  They're a favorite to win the National Title and Arizona played them tough.  If we replicate that performance over the next few weeks (which I doubt will happen), we would likely get a rematch with UH in the Final Four.

That team barely won tonight vs Purdue because the refs got a call blatantly wrong giving Houston an extra possession where they hit a 3pt shot... they won the game by that 3pt shot in the end.

Sometimes you just have to punch the kid back in the nuts (in an intelligent way). Go up like Draymond. Start something. We can't always be the nice guys. That's what I learned from this season.