I really didn't think the Cats had much of a chance before yesterday's game but I was not expecting that kind of a beat down. It was especially surprising because Chase (the most inconsistent of the Big Three) played really well. If you would have told me that Budinger was going to go 9/15 for 22 pts I would have said we would win. Instead he was the only player that didn't look petrified. Jordan Hill was completely absent from that game. He was intimidated, blocked and out muscled by the thicker Samuels. His play was so bad my dad texted me that he just played himself out of the lottery. Phil kept texting me that we were being out coached. I don't know if either of these assessments are true. I still think Hill goes in the top 5 and I feel like the coaching staff put the cats in the right position to win. We broke the press repeatedly in the first 10 minutes. We got open looks in the middle of the key and on the wings. We just didn't take advantage of them. We were not going to stop the Cardinals 3-point barrage but if we would have been able to score we could have put some pressure on them. Instead Chase was the only player that looked like he was ready for the track meet. Once the Cardinals realized this, their swagger and confidence grew and they began to bury us.Still I am proud of this Cats team. We made it deeper than any other Pac-10 squad and we kept the streak alive. Wise and Horne will need a lot of help next year and I hope Livengood can find a replacement that will get us to that 28th straight tourney record.
Will it be Few? Gillispie? Pitino?
The ASD will be here to speculate and comment.
I liked Jamie Dixon before he got to the tournament and didn't prepare his team to come out in the beginning of any of the tournament games. that would suck if he was our coach and then we just kept getting beat in the tournament early rounds. Pitino is a dream coach and Few would be nice, whoever it is I hope we hire them fast so that we can steal some recruits who like the NCAA tournament because there is no better school that us to get to it, even when we shouldn't be in we get it, we have a 2 straight years streak of getting in when we shouldn't going, that is the best in the nation.
ReplyDeletedamn my punctuation sucked in that last one.
ReplyDeleteYeah it was, I've re-read the last "sentence," quite a few times and I still don't quite comprehend it. Haha, but I do understand your point: if players are competitive they ought commit to a place that dances year-in and year-out, even when they seemingly are dressed for the occasion.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, we had a commitment from a player you described in Reger Dowell (a point guard no less) and we spurned him in favor of Gaddy. And we all know what direction the program turned after Lute's retirement.
I hope Livengood can hook a big fish. If he's unable, he wasted four months of our time, and could've hired a very successful mid-major coach in Dunlap without even leaving his living room couch.
"...in addition to Kentucky, Arizona came after him over the weekend offering not a salary but a blank check. Calipari said, "No thanks.""
ReplyDeletehttp://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/mar/31/tigers-coach-john-calipari-said-be-making-decision/
How about Avery Johnson? Id like him.
ReplyDelete