Friday, March 09, 2007

Survive and advance

We stole that game. Wow. A win is a win. I'll have more coherent thoughts later tonight. Now let's get some revenge against the Heels.

3 comments:

ORDEagle said...

No way we should have won that game after the middle 20 minutes. I know everyone kills Oates but he made big shots and had a couple of important rebounds. Blair needs to learn how to rebound. No concept of playing angles or blocking out. Also, while he can block shots, he gets lost a lot on defense - he is slow in recovering off the switchoffs and that allowed a lot of the layups. Marshall is too slow or tired to guard a guy who can stick a three or blow by him. He got exposed there and we would have lost the game if Miami had gone to more of an isolation at the end. Miami played well. Dudley took himself out of the game in the first half. He was on the perimeter rotating the ball - not possting, not cutting. It's not touches - he just needed to get inside get the ball and get fouls. One thing POY gets you is calls on contact under the basket.

But hey - it's a win. The team showed a lot of heart and composure, Oates and even Roche hit some big shots down the stretch. Oh and that Rice kid can score according to Dickie V.

Unknown said...

I know Mendoza Oates hit that big 3 but it is absurd that he even took that shot. After making that dunk at the end of regulation, you knew his confidence was high enough that he was going to pull the trigger the first chance he had in OT. We got lucky.

He has got to stop taking 3's early in the shot clock, period. That shot will always be there at the end of the shot clock and after ball rotation at least the defenders might be out of position on the boards. I think he fails to perceive himself as the permanent role player that he is. It seems like he believes he's going to be a scorer next year, and that the shooting is just him beginning to assert himself as he emerges into a double-digit scorer and team leader. His shot selection is otherwise totally inexplicable, especially when you consider that Dudley consistently passes up semi-open three-pointers and works for a better shot. The good news is Oates made a few today. The bad news is this means he's definitely gunning tomorrow.

On the plus side, we have to feel better after the way Rice shot the ball today. When he's shooting well we are a good team, and Dudley is going to bring his a-game tomorrow. Hopefully Spears and Haynes can contribute something to help us deal with UNC's depth.

Deacon Drake said...

First off, is anybody watching the NCST/UVA game? I've never seen such a pitiful display of officiating in my life. 11 offensive fouls on UVA? Plus a couple more on State) Holy shit! Unbelievable incompetence. If we get this crew tomorrow, Dudley won't make it to the 2nd half. He's clearly playing on tired legs, picking up 2+ offensive fouls per game, and tuning the ball over regularly.

Nice of Oates to have the game of his life... the 3 was big, but the clumsy assist to Marshall at the end of regulation was basically saved the game.

The amoeba (sp) has to go... any decent team can exploit it and get mismatches. Even Dudley was getting beat on switches.

I think Miami got a few lucky rolls early on to build the lead. Every hurried and contested jump hook fell. Blair and Spears looked terrible on the defensive boards, also.

Honestly, sticking with the flex saved the game. Eventually, Miami got tired and started fouling... Rice could have put the game away in regulation with a couple free throws.