Gee, and I was worried Selby might have some jitters. He sure looked like Self's best recruit ever, if one game is any indication. I thought his strength was supposed to be at getting to the hoop -- he didn't do that, but what he did do was stroke it from deep -- which is exactly what this team has been needing. He was a bit of a liability on defense, which is probably why Self sat him from about 12: to 6: in the second half -- but that was exactly when we played our worst.
I guess Self was right when he said at halftime that our veterans were already standing around waiting on Josh to make plays. TT was terrible, and the twins once again got outmuscled by some admittedly talented Pac-10 big men. (What is the deal with all these unranked Pac-10 teams taking us to the wire?)
Other than Selby's shot and a couple of plays here and there, we played like garbage in the 2nd half. UCLA almost beat us a few weeks ago by making circus shots, whereas USC just broke our asses down on both ends of the floor. And again, the free throws. This team freezes up a bit at the Fieldhouse; we seem to be begging someone to take this home streak off our backs.
(While Markieff and Marcus weren't great, Bob Knight noted that "Maurice" Morris was making some contributions. So there's that.)
Aaron, are you out there? I think I caught some glimpses of you.
I’m here and yes I was at the game -- you can definitely see me in some of the highlights. That was far from pretty but my philosophy is always, if you can learn some lessons in a close one and still get the W, it’s all good. That being said we threw away a 14 point lead twice in the game and let USC go on an 11-0 run. The highlight was definitely Selby. I was pretty sure he’d need a few games to find his rhythm and shake off the nerves, but he was electric (at least on offense). It was nice to see his mom was in attendance at the Fieldhouse. Speaking of, the Fieldhouse was rocking like I hadn’t seen since... well, since UCLA, but before that there’s been a lot of blowouts at home. After the game my friend Dan and I actually tried to tally up all the super close home games we had been to. I’m sure we forgot several, but the only ones that really jumped out of our memory was the A&M game we lost back in ’07 (our last home loss), Arizona (also in ’07), the Durant show, and the Beasley game. It’s been a pretty impressive run -- 65 and counting! We also apparently have the longest streak of tournament appearances (I’m watching the Texas UNC game and they just flashed the stats). We’ve been to 21 in a row (second is Duke with 15). But if it weren’t for the ’89 probation I think our streak would be 28.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, what is going on with our free throwing!?
The Cal game was mostly enjoyable -- nice to get our first one on the road, and we had to overcome some obstacles to do it. Needless to say, the refs totally screwed us; our guy gets thrown out for an elbow while Gutierrez is allowed to throw punches.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit, Selby is no fluke. What's he shooting now, 70 percent? (I know X. Henry got off to a similar start, but that was against, like, Hofstra. Selby's unlikely to go through a slump the way X did, because he has absolutely no conscience.)
Excellent work also from Tyrel, 'Kieff and T-Rob when we needed them most.
Some causes for concern, however. WTF were Marcus and Brady thinking? These guys are supposed to be our elder statesmen now. And why have Tyshawn and EJ suddenly frozen up with Selby out there? His presence should make their lives easier, not harder.
Hey, how about that KU contingent at Berkeley? It had to be disconcerting for Gutierrez to be booed every time he touched the ball -- on his own homecourt.