Sunday, March 29, 2015

Tournament Thoughts: Elite 8 Saturday

What an amazing game. By far the best game of the tournament so far.

I kind of felt bad rooting for Goliath there but I want to see history. I like watching this team play.

Aaron Harrison, ONIONS!!!!!! I told everyone who would listen that Kentucky would win this tournament and one of the first things I mentioned was Aaron Harrison who has shown himself to be a player who can hit big shots.

Jerian Grant has ONIONS!!!! too.

What a great game by Zach Auguste. He went against one of the best front line in college basketball history and had a huge game. He just couldn't guard Karl-Anthony Towns.

Calipari was completely outcoached by Mike Brey -- and me. If you read my blueprint for beating Kentucky the executed it, fewer 3-pointers, more drives. Too often Kentucky had their great interior defenders stuck outside 1-on-1 isolated against quicker guards. Willie Cauley-Stein cqn't guard Pat Connaughton. And they got of position so much, giving Auguste room for offensive rebounds.

My only regret with this game is that it basically ended on my pet peeve of basically plays. Andrew Harrison took the ball, drove hard, ran into someone and got fouled.

The worst thing an announcer can do is put fake words in players' mouth. The infamous example involves Isiah Thomas saying something about Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Batman and Robin.

Lots of Polish surnames in this tournament. Kaminsky, Tarczewski, Karnowski, Bachynski.

I wonder what Billy thinks of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson's free throw routine. We all know Billy is a stickler for fundamentals, but he also loves to shimmy. He must be very conflicted.



There is only one thing to say about this game: Wisconsin had one of the best shooting games in the history of shooting, especially the second half. I don't even think Arizona's defense was bad, the Badgers just made everything.

Arizona actually played really well. They made 28 of 30 (93%) free throws which is amazing, and they made 56% of their shots from the field, turned it over only 10 times, and never really had a chance.

55 points in the second half on 10 of 12 from 3-point range.

Sam Dekker made 5 of 6 and scored 27 points.



If they can repeat that performance in the next round they might stay within 20 points of Kentucky.

Well we got the game we wanted. It is going to be huge. I think Wisconsin can see a little bit of what Notre Dame did and execute it with their players and we might have a game on our hands.

But again, this is the thing I love about this Kentucky team. They don't just blow people out and choke when it's close. When it's close they execute on offense, they clamp down on defense and they win games. Other great teams that didn't go undefeated were equally as dominant but just didn't close out one or two close games the way Kentucky does.

1 comment:

Bill said...

I give the shimmy a 9 for originality but 6 overall. Unnecessary like the Bill Cartwright wind mill and hitch. It think he's solid at the line so it works for him.

Decker is the truth but I wonder if he's just Adam Morrison in NBA. I've like Wis all year because they finally have legit scorers. Also reason I think Ken is beatable. While clutch, don't see scorer who can carry or be go to guy. They've won all year vs weaker talent and won close games just based on talent.