Championship Week Recap Vol. 3
Is it me or did they take the tape from the last Texas/Kansas game last week and just replay that game? Could those two games have been any more alike save for the OT? This sounds bad, but I just had a bad feeling with about 7 minutes to go in the first half (when Kansas went on an 14-3 run) that Texas wasn't going to be able to pull it out. Durant was...I think we've used every adjective in the book for this guy, but he was unreal. I'll throw this little sidebar out here - if he (for some reason) comes back next year, you can chisel Texas into next year's final four. He's that good.
Unfortunately today, no one else was really that good. More importantly, no one else played with any consistency. I'm not sure what happened to DJ Augustin, but since the conference tournament started, he has regressed quite a bit. For the first time in a long time, he never looked comfortable running the offense. And I can't for the life of me figure out why we set up our half-court offense up at mid court. I understand spreading the defense out, but they play so far away from the basket and in turn, have to settle for long jump shots more times than not.
Look, Texas really should have won that game, but yet again, come crunch time in the last minute, Texas blanks out mentally:
1. You're up by 2 and breaking their press beautifully - there's one guy the other team WANTS to put on the line. Durant has the ball, still has his dribble and the clock is running down, they're not ready to foul yet. He then, immediately passes to the one guy Kansas WANTS to foul...they foul him. We need 2 free throws to ice the game. He makes one.
2. Kansas coming down - they need a 3 to tie it. I'm no division coach, but I'm telling my guys to pick up man-to-man full court and if you can go for a steal, go for it. Play aggressive. Worst-case scenario, you foul them...where they get 2 free throws. What do we do? Drop back in a f'ing 2-3 zone???? The same zone that for the past half of basketball they've been consistently getting wide open 3s? Sorry, that's all on Barnes right there. They were playing not to lose there.
Don't get me wrong, Kansas is really REALLY good - probably a final four team. But man Texas, you have to be able to win games like that. I've said it before and I'm saying it again - their defense and rebounding are killing them. Not just today, but all weekend, the opposing team's guards were going right around Abrams and Augustin both - drive and dish all day long.
The one thing we know for sure (and have known), Durant can carry this team on his back, but other folks have to step up and make plays to win games like this against top tier competition.
Some would argue that Kansas State got hosed a bit, but I think at the end of the day it came down to the body of work of the season - Tech had more meaningful wins throughout the year, and won the head-to-head regular season game. And I just don't think both of those teams deserved to get in.
Should be a great tournament, I think this field has a lot of parity, more than in past years. Get those brackets filled out - I'll definitely have my not-so-locks for the big dance before the madness begins on Thursday. And special note to senior management on this list - this will be, without question, your least productive week of the year.
Unfortunately today, no one else was really that good. More importantly, no one else played with any consistency. I'm not sure what happened to DJ Augustin, but since the conference tournament started, he has regressed quite a bit. For the first time in a long time, he never looked comfortable running the offense. And I can't for the life of me figure out why we set up our half-court offense up at mid court. I understand spreading the defense out, but they play so far away from the basket and in turn, have to settle for long jump shots more times than not.
Look, Texas really should have won that game, but yet again, come crunch time in the last minute, Texas blanks out mentally:
1. You're up by 2 and breaking their press beautifully - there's one guy the other team WANTS to put on the line. Durant has the ball, still has his dribble and the clock is running down, they're not ready to foul yet. He then, immediately passes to the one guy Kansas WANTS to foul...they foul him. We need 2 free throws to ice the game. He makes one.
2. Kansas coming down - they need a 3 to tie it. I'm no division coach, but I'm telling my guys to pick up man-to-man full court and if you can go for a steal, go for it. Play aggressive. Worst-case scenario, you foul them...where they get 2 free throws. What do we do? Drop back in a f'ing 2-3 zone???? The same zone that for the past half of basketball they've been consistently getting wide open 3s? Sorry, that's all on Barnes right there. They were playing not to lose there.
Don't get me wrong, Kansas is really REALLY good - probably a final four team. But man Texas, you have to be able to win games like that. I've said it before and I'm saying it again - their defense and rebounding are killing them. Not just today, but all weekend, the opposing team's guards were going right around Abrams and Augustin both - drive and dish all day long.
The one thing we know for sure (and have known), Durant can carry this team on his back, but other folks have to step up and make plays to win games like this against top tier competition.
Some would argue that Kansas State got hosed a bit, but I think at the end of the day it came down to the body of work of the season - Tech had more meaningful wins throughout the year, and won the head-to-head regular season game. And I just don't think both of those teams deserved to get in.
Should be a great tournament, I think this field has a lot of parity, more than in past years. Get those brackets filled out - I'll definitely have my not-so-locks for the big dance before the madness begins on Thursday. And special note to senior management on this list - this will be, without question, your least productive week of the year.
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 9:24 PM
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