SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,484
- Like
- 62,663
- Back in the day when you could turn on the radio and get ‘easy listening’ music, (my favorite: it beats ‘hard listening’), this was one of my favorite tunes. It’s called “That Happy Feeling”:
I made a comment about it 10 years ago, (see below the viewing panel): “I listened to this several times and then found myself humming it to myself as I went through the day. I found something slightly sad, or poignant about it. The music builds as more and more instruments are added. Then, one by one, they are subtracted. You wind up where you started. The message seemed to be one that happiness is fleeting and becomes a memory after a while.” There was a reply I liked: “You're interpretation seems spot on to me…I also picked up the real happiness is when everyone is participating, and ebbs as others leave.”
I thought of that watching this game. We have to have everyone participating to have that happy feeling at the end of the game and tonight we did. That’s what we are going to need to make a run in the ACCT, get to the NCAAs and make a run there, too.
- Pat’s made a couple of recent calls in which he said that he believes Jim Boeheim’s strength is being able to take a strong team and have a strong season with them but that he’s not good at getting wins for an under-talent team. I think the opposite is true. We’ve watched Connecticut get to 4 national titles, North Carolina to 6, Florida to 2, Kansas to 3, Duke to 5, Kentucky to 8, Louisville to 3, and Villanova to 3 national championships since we won our only one. Virginia won their first but it won’t be their last. Will we win another in Jim Boeheim’s tenure as coach, (or ours as fans?) it’s hard to know. But we have that streak of 51 straight winning season, when everybody else, including the teams I just mentioned, has had multiple losing or even seasons in that time, which is most Jim’s tenure. That record was achieved, while playing in two of the nation’s toughest conferences, precisely because Jim Boeheim has been able to put together the puzzle of each team, even when he didn’t have all the pieces, and produced a picture of a winning team. We finished 15-8, 9-7 in the conference. Over a 31 game season, (20 in the conference) that would come to 20-11 (11-9), which would have been our best regular season record in 7 years. And that’s without a center for the most part.
- I thought after the Duke game that, playing a red-hot Georgia Tech team on the road, then North Carolina and Clemson, at home, two teams that had over-powered us in their places with their big men, was going to give us an 0-4 finish and a 13-10, 7-9 record. But we took it to tech for much of that game, losing by 7 because of a bad stretch midway through the second half and used our advent ages over Carolina and Clemson, (shooting ability, quickness) to defeat them. Against Clemson we even reversed a 25-42 deficit on the board to a 39-37 advantage.
- The team wound up 13-1 in an empty Carrier Dome. Do they really need us fans?
- These last two games were all about players grimacing and fans smiling. Guerrier and Richmond were both “walking like they shoes were coming off” (Matt Park), due to leg injuries and Marek Dolezaj had a broken finger, which is why he was 0 for 2 from the field, including a 2 foot air ball. But he pulled down 8 rebounds and helped with the defense that held Aamir Simms, who had been 7 for 9 with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the game at Clemson, to 6 points on 3 for 10 shooting and 8 rebounds tonight.
- Quincy Guerrier started, then got pulled and late earned the ire of his coach for attempting 4 threes, none of which were good. Hen he went back to doing what we need him to do, battling inside, even on his sore leg. He toughed it out for 8 points, including an alley-oop from Girard and 9 rebounds. He also was part of the defense that made things so difficult for the Tigers inside, where they missed 20 of 30 two point shots.
- Kadary Richmond hobbled his way through 18 minutes of play. He continued his problems finishing plays, going 0 for 4 from the field but hitting 5 of 6 free throws. But he had 4 assists in that time vs. 1 turnover. He had no steals but helped our exterior defense.
- Joe Girard had a strong comeback game. He only scored 7 points but ran the offense well and had 7 assists vs. no turnovers. There’s nothing wrong with that ratio. As JB, we need both of them.
- Buddy Boeheim was only 2 for 10 from outside, where he was wearing Clemson defenders. But he’s getting better and better at those drives to the paint, which often result in pull up jumpers or trips to the foul-line. He was 4 of 5 on the first, 3 of 3 on the second and scored 17 points. He also managed 5 rebounds, an assist and steal.
- But the star of the game was Allen Griffin, who played with confidence and aggression from the start, getting two blocks and 2 rebounds before he attempted his first shot, a three that got us a surprising 9-2 lead after all the bad starts in recent games. Hitting that first shot is important for Allen but he was playing as if it had already gone in before that. He then blew a three point game open by beginning the second half with three threes in a row to key an 11-0 run that gave us a 36-22 lead. He wound up 22 points, twice as much as any Clemson player, 10 rebounds and three blocks that were as spectacular as the three points, save for one late trey made as he was being shoved out of bounds that pushed the lead back up to 13 with 3:35 left and forestalled any Clemson comeback.
- Those forwards Boeheim keeps talking about in the zone played exceptional games against both Carolina and Clemson and showed us what this teams zone could look like when it’s played properly. They covered the corners and the interior and allowed the guard to get out on the shooters out front. Our good post-season runs have always been triggered by defense and we are playing the best defense we have all season.
- They’ve also been triggered by having inconsistent or non-contributors becoming consistent contributors so the opposition has to deal with everybody, not just with one or two guys. “Real happiness is when everyone is participating”. Then you get That Happy Feeling.
15-8 (9-7) with ? to go
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
I made a comment about it 10 years ago, (see below the viewing panel): “I listened to this several times and then found myself humming it to myself as I went through the day. I found something slightly sad, or poignant about it. The music builds as more and more instruments are added. Then, one by one, they are subtracted. You wind up where you started. The message seemed to be one that happiness is fleeting and becomes a memory after a while.” There was a reply I liked: “You're interpretation seems spot on to me…I also picked up the real happiness is when everyone is participating, and ebbs as others leave.”
I thought of that watching this game. We have to have everyone participating to have that happy feeling at the end of the game and tonight we did. That’s what we are going to need to make a run in the ACCT, get to the NCAAs and make a run there, too.
- Pat’s made a couple of recent calls in which he said that he believes Jim Boeheim’s strength is being able to take a strong team and have a strong season with them but that he’s not good at getting wins for an under-talent team. I think the opposite is true. We’ve watched Connecticut get to 4 national titles, North Carolina to 6, Florida to 2, Kansas to 3, Duke to 5, Kentucky to 8, Louisville to 3, and Villanova to 3 national championships since we won our only one. Virginia won their first but it won’t be their last. Will we win another in Jim Boeheim’s tenure as coach, (or ours as fans?) it’s hard to know. But we have that streak of 51 straight winning season, when everybody else, including the teams I just mentioned, has had multiple losing or even seasons in that time, which is most Jim’s tenure. That record was achieved, while playing in two of the nation’s toughest conferences, precisely because Jim Boeheim has been able to put together the puzzle of each team, even when he didn’t have all the pieces, and produced a picture of a winning team. We finished 15-8, 9-7 in the conference. Over a 31 game season, (20 in the conference) that would come to 20-11 (11-9), which would have been our best regular season record in 7 years. And that’s without a center for the most part.
- I thought after the Duke game that, playing a red-hot Georgia Tech team on the road, then North Carolina and Clemson, at home, two teams that had over-powered us in their places with their big men, was going to give us an 0-4 finish and a 13-10, 7-9 record. But we took it to tech for much of that game, losing by 7 because of a bad stretch midway through the second half and used our advent ages over Carolina and Clemson, (shooting ability, quickness) to defeat them. Against Clemson we even reversed a 25-42 deficit on the board to a 39-37 advantage.
- The team wound up 13-1 in an empty Carrier Dome. Do they really need us fans?
- These last two games were all about players grimacing and fans smiling. Guerrier and Richmond were both “walking like they shoes were coming off” (Matt Park), due to leg injuries and Marek Dolezaj had a broken finger, which is why he was 0 for 2 from the field, including a 2 foot air ball. But he pulled down 8 rebounds and helped with the defense that held Aamir Simms, who had been 7 for 9 with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the game at Clemson, to 6 points on 3 for 10 shooting and 8 rebounds tonight.
- Quincy Guerrier started, then got pulled and late earned the ire of his coach for attempting 4 threes, none of which were good. Hen he went back to doing what we need him to do, battling inside, even on his sore leg. He toughed it out for 8 points, including an alley-oop from Girard and 9 rebounds. He also was part of the defense that made things so difficult for the Tigers inside, where they missed 20 of 30 two point shots.
- Kadary Richmond hobbled his way through 18 minutes of play. He continued his problems finishing plays, going 0 for 4 from the field but hitting 5 of 6 free throws. But he had 4 assists in that time vs. 1 turnover. He had no steals but helped our exterior defense.
- Joe Girard had a strong comeback game. He only scored 7 points but ran the offense well and had 7 assists vs. no turnovers. There’s nothing wrong with that ratio. As JB, we need both of them.
- Buddy Boeheim was only 2 for 10 from outside, where he was wearing Clemson defenders. But he’s getting better and better at those drives to the paint, which often result in pull up jumpers or trips to the foul-line. He was 4 of 5 on the first, 3 of 3 on the second and scored 17 points. He also managed 5 rebounds, an assist and steal.
- But the star of the game was Allen Griffin, who played with confidence and aggression from the start, getting two blocks and 2 rebounds before he attempted his first shot, a three that got us a surprising 9-2 lead after all the bad starts in recent games. Hitting that first shot is important for Allen but he was playing as if it had already gone in before that. He then blew a three point game open by beginning the second half with three threes in a row to key an 11-0 run that gave us a 36-22 lead. He wound up 22 points, twice as much as any Clemson player, 10 rebounds and three blocks that were as spectacular as the three points, save for one late trey made as he was being shoved out of bounds that pushed the lead back up to 13 with 3:35 left and forestalled any Clemson comeback.
- Those forwards Boeheim keeps talking about in the zone played exceptional games against both Carolina and Clemson and showed us what this teams zone could look like when it’s played properly. They covered the corners and the interior and allowed the guard to get out on the shooters out front. Our good post-season runs have always been triggered by defense and we are playing the best defense we have all season.
- They’ve also been triggered by having inconsistent or non-contributors becoming consistent contributors so the opposition has to deal with everybody, not just with one or two guys. “Real happiness is when everyone is participating”. Then you get That Happy Feeling.
15-8 (9-7) with ? to go
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
