It is amazing how tight UVa got...

[RF2044]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

 

[NineOneSeven]

29-8. Doesn't even make sense.

 

[FrancoPizza]

The OP title made me chuckle. With a virgin would you expect anything less?

 

[RF2044]

The OP title made me chuckle. With a virgin would you expect anything less?

Pretty much. There's no substitute for being battle tested.

This game reminded me of when uconn [barf] beat Duke for their first NC. Duke had an incredible season, tons of depth, and would roll teams. Their reserves] led by Corey Maggette] would come in the game and score double figures. Easy to do that when you've got big leads every game and no pressure.

When uconn came out and punched them in the mouth, suddenly those shots had pressure. Every pass, every shot was significant. And their a$$e$ tightend up, because they weren't accustomed to playing from behind or in such close games.

When we came out and punched UVa in the mouth, they folded like a cheap suit. And I'm not saying that to make fun of them--they had a great season, and they've had our number. But when we turned the momentum our way through sheer force of will, they got tight and couldn't execute.

As with the example above, it is much easier to make slick passes, to drill long three pointers like Perrantes, etc. when you've got a big lead. Perrantes didn't make any shots once the game got close.

Our kids deserve an unbelievable amount of credit.

 

[OttoMets]

Chuck and Kenny agreed on this: SU gets the advantage when it imposes a faster tempo on this type of team. Would love to see this mixed in appropriately in the future.

 

[AZOrange]

29-8. Doesn't even make sense.

It does if you think we're owed a couple...

 

[AZOrange]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

Crazy. But at halftime I started to figure how much we'd have to score to win. I announce to the group if we got to 70. Everyone laughed

 

[dasher]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

That was my biggest surprise. No one wanted to shoot.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We did a great job of making Virginia do things they don't like. Perrantes doesn't like shooting that much. They don't like playing fast on offense.

They got uncomfortable fast.

 

[General20]

We did a great job of making Virginia do things they don't like. Perrantes doesn't like shooting that much. They don't like playing fast on offense.

They got uncomfortable fast.

The biggest reason I think Boeheim is the best coach in the country is because he is the best coach I have ever seen at forcing opposing teams to do things they don't like to do.

 

[two3zone]

The biggest reason I think Boeheim is the best coach in the country is because he is the best coach I have ever seen at forcing opposing teams to do things they don't like to do.

The Billy Martin of basketball.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The biggest reason I think Boeheim is the best coach in the country is because he is the best coach I have ever seen at forcing opposing teams to do things they don't like to do.

Dark side is when nobodies have big games.

 

[PoppyHart]

Bennett made nary one adjustment. Pathetic.

 

[jdubs30]

The mantra from a lot of posters this week was "everyone has a plan until they're punched in the mouth". UVA has been comfortable all year -- even their losses they just had a bad shooting game. Tonight they were totally on edge and uncomfortable. Credit JB, credit Mali, credit Lydon --- when this team has their back agains the wall they just turn into a different animal

 

[rocklloyd]

The dichotomy of rolling the ball across half court in the first half to running for their lives in the second half is not lost on me.

 

[OttoMets]

The biggest reason I think Boeheim is the best coach in the country is because he is the best coach I have ever seen at forcing opposing teams to do things they don't like to do.

Two things about the rematch at the Dome next year:

First, it's now guaranteed to be a made-for-TV event, maybe a Gameday game, with a ton of hype. I'm excited.

Second, this was the first time Boeheim's had success at getting Virginia to do something it doesn't like to do. Wonder how we'll scheme them next season.

 

[Ghost]

Pretty much. There's no substitute for being battle tested.

This game reminded me of when uconn [barf] beat Duke for their first NC. Duke had an incredible season, tons of depth, and would roll teams. Their reserves] led by Corey Maggette] would come in the game and score double figures. Easy to do that when you've got big leads every game and no pressure.

When uconn came out and punched them in the mouth, suddenly those shots had pressure. Every pass, every shot was significant. And their a$$e$ tightend up, because they weren't accustomed to playing from behind or in such close games.

When we came out and punched UVa in the mouth, they folded like a cheap suit. And I'm not saying that to make fun of them--they had a great season, and they've had our number. But when we turned the momentum our way through sheer force of will, they got tight and couldn't execute.

As with the example above, it is much easier to make slick passes, to drill long three pointers like Perrantes, etc. when you've got a big lead. Perrantes didn't make any shots once the game got close.

Our kids deserve an unbelievable amount of credit.

Man, I don't recall any specifics from That game, just that I spent 2 hours wondering what coach K was doing. I thought he choked at the time.

 

[Dave85]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

My blood just turned a deeper shade of Orange as a result of last night's game!

 

[Hoo's That]

One thing to keep in mind in your discussions of speeding us up - Iowa State pressed us, too, and they had to give it up. The big difference was that we made the baskets against them and missed them/turned it over against SU. If (and please notice that's a big "if") we make those easy baskets does Coach Boeheim keep the press on, since there's a good chance you're still down by double digits? Regarding another strategy, when we rolled the ball to half court, it was after made baskets, so the game clock was running but the shot clock wasn't. That actually shortened the game. Works great when you're ahead, however, ...

 

[RF2044]

One thing to keep in mind in your discussions of speeding us up - Iowa State pressed us, too, and they had to give it up. The big difference was that we made the baskets against them and missed them/turned it over against SU. If (and noticed that's a big "if") we make those easy baskets does Coach Boeheim keep the press on, since there's a good chance you're still down by double digits? Regarding another strategy, when we rolled the ball to half court, it was after made baskets, so the game clock was running but the shot clock wasn't. That actually shortened the game. Works great when you're ahead, however, ...

BTW, this thread isn't intended to make fun of your team. Your players / Bennett were extremely classy in the post-game press conferences.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

Watching it again this morning, their body language said it all. They had no idea what just happened to them.

 

[Hoo's That]

BTW, this thread isn't intended to make fun of your team. Your players / Bennett were extremely classy in the post-game press conferences.

I'm not taking it in a bad way at all. The SU fans have been more than very gracious and classy in their comments and have been much more courteous than the Tar Hole or dook fans would have been by light-years. I'm just saying I think that the speed-up occurred because we missed, not just because we faced a full-court press. Missing them made everything worse and to say the combination made us lose our composure is to make the understatement of the year.

 

[corpjet]

In my opinion the biggest reason for the success in the last 10 minutes was not only the press but UVA was afraid to play defense when we drove the lane, look at how many baskets we made down the stretch driving the rock and the UVA big men were all afraid to get any more fouls.

Regardless what an awesome game and so proud to have witnessed it in person!

CUSE IN THE HOUSE.....

 

[SU94]

One thing to keep in mind in your discussions of speeding us up - Iowa State pressed us, too, and they had to give it up. The big difference was that we made the baskets against them and missed them/turned it over against SU. If (and please notice that's a big "if") we make those easy baskets does Coach Boeheim keep the press on, since there's a good chance you're still down by double digits? Regarding another strategy, when we rolled the ball to half court, it was after made baskets, so the game clock was running but the shot clock wasn't. That actually shortened the game. Works great when you're ahead, however, ...

Boeheim has done this before. For him, a loss by 25 points is the same as a loss by one point. So, that was his risk (which really was no risk at all). If UVa hits those shots, we lose by 20+. Fortunately, it triggered an avalanche and won the game.

SU fans have seen this before. When we beat Auburn in the Sweet 16 in 2003, we were down 12-14 in the early stages of the second half (I am going off memory, but it was close to that). We ended up reclaiming the lead and (barely) holding off a surprising tough Tigers squad. The big difference that year was that we had Jeremy McNeil anchoring the zone. He was the best shot blocker against a press we ever had. Tyler Lydon did a very good job last night altering shots just enough.

So you know, we add a 7-2 transfer next year. We're pretty excited by that.

I thought Bennett's big miss last night was having Perrentes inbound the ball. He should have been the once making the decisions.

Hey, so you know, Hoo's That ... that was a special squad you had the last 3 years. They were borderline remarkable. So much to be proud of there. More to come for Bennett and UVa.

 

[stuckinbig11]

...which was directly a by-product of us taking over the game.

Look at how they normally execute. Things were going smoothly when they were up. There's zero pressure, there's no dire "negative" consequences of missing / making mistakes when you're up 12 or 14 or 16.

Once we made it close, their sphincters tightened. Considerably. Nobody wanted to take a shot.

As great of a team as UVa is, and as good as their players are, they seemed ill-prepared for the adversity they faced tonight. Conversely, we stepped up when the game was teetering on the precipice, and seized control of the game.

Incredible last 9:30. Still shocked.

VA typically scores more inside. Mr. Lydon said NO.