Fair is Fair

[arxpert]

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.

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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.

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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.

[|ᴘ|ʀ|ʏ|ᴍ|ᴇ|]

I'll give this a Like for the effort it took to write all that, but I'm too pissed to formulate an actual response at the moment. Bear Down.

[arxpert]

I'll give this a Like for the effort it took to write all that, but I'm too pissed to formulate an actual response at the moment. Bear Down.

Dom't be pissed. The TLDR; is that we were never that good and there were no expectations going into this, but it still took Duke's best shot and a lot of help from the zebras to beat the players on the court. Nothing new about my position on Tommy, but happy to flush this season and move onto next year with better players from this experience and the new players that are incoming who should hopefully be allowed to actually play.

[KansasCityCats]

Same. I skimmed and surprisingly agree with most of the assessment.

I don't know that Tommy was out coached because our players didn't find their way through screens on the defensive end. Otherwise, the gameplan led to 93 points against a team that doesn't typically allow easy buckets.

TTU played against Calupari. It isn't apples to apples. The insisted coach that HANDED KU a national title, while at Memphis. Likely the biggest meltdown in NCAA history. I agree that this was a Final Four caliber matchup.

KJ "was" more than 2-dimensional before he injured the wrist. I'm hoping he works unbelievably hard on his jumper during the offseason, assuming he sticks around.

Carter and Koa would be a killer duo. This team would unquestionably be a top-5 team if everybody signs up for another season. We'll find out how the roster shakes up within the next couple weeks.

[Blafresh]

Duke played arguably their best game of the season percentage wise. Nobody is beating Duke if they shoot like that. We put up 93 points against an elite defense (most points put on Duke the whole season). Glad we fought back and Caleb went god mode. I wish others stepped up more but I'm proud of this group.

[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.

[Paper_Bag]

Refs certainly helped Duke but I'm proud of this team. The fact that they were even in this game is incredible. Duke shot 60% from the field, 58% from three, had more rebounds, 7 blocks to our 1, 20 assists to our 10, and 42 pts in the paint to our 30. Despite that we were within 5 points with under 2 minutes to go.

This team was imperfect and was nowhere near as talented as some of these Duke players. That to me was the biggest difference in this game. Next year, we should hopefully have a nice infusion of talent to blend with our experienced guys. 

[Szaszy]

Refs certainly helped Duke but I'm proud of this team. The fact that they were even in this game is incredible. Duke shot 60% from the field, 58% from three, had more rebounds, 7 blocks to our 1, 20 assists to our 10, and 42 pts in the paint to our 30. Despite that we were within 5 points with under 2 minutes to go.

This team was imperfect and was nowhere near as talented as some of these Duke players. That to me was the biggest difference in this game. Next year, we should hopefully have a nice infusion of talent to blend with our experienced guys. 

Six turnovers astonishes considering round 1.

[arxpert]

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.

I think the 51% thing has been a trend with this group all season. We had many "primetime" level games that we lost, but were better for 51% of the game. It's the little things, bad calls, and unlucky bounces that have been the difference a lot of the time...

The prevailing truth though is Most of the time it is as I've called out all season... the "walking out" to wide open 3pt attempts from our opponents and lack of defensive strategies that did us in for good.

When you put up 93 points in a game you should win... unless you give up 100 points.

Flagg is not just a NBA Starter Caliber player. He is the #1 Overall Pick and a Paradigm Shifting player. Whichever team gets to draft him will instantly have an Elite Franchise Player for the next 2 decades.

When I say Out Coached, I mean it. Tommy tried the same thing twice vs Duke. He wanted to shut the water off on the peripheral role players and let Flagg just run wild for better or worse.

It isn't a terrible strategy. Nothing says Flagg automatically has to have an Elite game. He could have had a 3-16 type night from the Field and we win the game by 15 points.

However, when you see Flagg is going crazy and dominating, the plan needs to change around 8 to 12 minutes left in the 1st half. Not with 8 minutes left in the 2nd half when down 15 points or whatever.

Tommy actually did have a Plan B and Plan C vs Oregon for a change. It surprised me, but I didn't see much of a plan shift in this game.

There really was an opportunity to make sure that the ball was not in Flagg's hands. We saw it a bit down the stretch. Flagg didn't do most of his damage during our comeback. It turned out to be Flagg's passing that killed us in the end and that is something I can live with. His 7 assists I believe were worth nearly 20 points I think.

I would much rather lose the game knowing that Flagg needed to get all of "17 assists" only being able to score around 10 points in what would be something extremely different and crazier than just letting him flow and score at-will. We should have bottled Flagg up even if it led to some layups (2's) for Duke.

We had an upper hand because we were shooting well from 3 last night.

So I do believe it is being Out Coached in the game itself and then with the refs too, but maybe to others it is more "out smarted". I can accept that. Words have different meanings and how things are said can be more profound and it is that profundity that makes the impact.

Tommy had us in the game early, then he let it get out of hand at the end of the 1st half. He let it get out of hand midway through the 2nd too, but to his credit he went to the Pressure / Press with around 7min or so to go and it worked. It made Duke play a little too fast for their liking. They beat it a few times for some easy buckets, but they also were messing up too. I would have liked to have seen Tommy mix that in throughout the game, not just use it as the "break the glass and hit the emergency button". Speeding Duke up seems to put them out of sorts. They love to play in the half court, methodically, and run their X's and O's.

They don't really play as slow as they seem. They get into their actions when they want to. We shouldn't have allowed that.

1 thing that Tommy could have definitely coached up better and gotten into the ref's ears about was the amount of time he allowed Duke to waste. Made Shot... Clock running... our guys just fade back or stand on the baseline...... ummm no. Go get the ball, hand it to the ref IMMEDIATELY and force Duke to inbound, not roll it up the court. We probably lost about 2 minutes of the game letting Duke do that throughout. Chippy stuff like that which never lands on the stat sheet is partly why I say Out Coached too.

Either way, I think that we played about as well as we could offensively. We were never really a Defensive team, but were able to hang with anyone this year. It is a shame we didn't pull this one off.

Duke vs Alabama will be interesting. Arizona vs Alabama would have been more interesting. 25 3pt shots is insane and one might think that Bama shot their best bullet. It will be a true shame if they go ice cold vs Duke tomorrow. We definitely would have played the same level. Always very steady offensively and always non-existent defensively most of the time.

Good Game. Season Grade overall for me is a C. Like I said - We exceeded expectations from when we were 4-5 / couldn't beat "anyone good".... but we underachieved in the sense that Arizona Basketball should be winning vs Good Teams and not just being hosed by Refs, Unlucky, or giving up 80-100pts in the biggest games or losing to Houston twice giving them their best run for their money, but not being able to close them nor anyone out... except "Oregon" that is nothing to write home about.

[KansasCityCats]

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.