The Upside

[SWC75]

- We made a stirring comeback to avoid a blow-out loss that would have given the doubters a chance to suggest we didn’t deserve a #1 seed in the East. The team shouldn’t come out of this down on itself or in a state of shock, as they were in 1991 when they blew a 16 point lead to Villanova and then lost to Richmond a week later. We’ll be fine.

- We finally- FINALLY- started hitting some shots. In fact, we actually hit more threes, (13-10) than Cincinnati who hit 8 of their first 10 and were only 2 for 12 after that. Actually, if Cincy had shot the ball normally in the first half, we’d have won easily. That’s basketball- sometimes you run into a hot team. (Of course, that’s the scary part- it could happen again.)

- Dion Waiters is fully back. 28 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, a black and steal. All-American stuff. He obviously loves the spotlight and he’s got it.

- Fab Melo had 11 points and 8 rebounds. (But he had zero blocks.)

- James Southerland fell off the shooting wagon, (1 for 7) but he’s become a better and better player on other ways, especially on defense. He had 3 blocks and steal and played excellent positional defense as well. He’s also listening to JB about getting rebounds. He had 6 of them.

- CJ Fair offered little offensively but hustled his way to 11 rebounds. Despite a couple bad follow shots by Gates early in the second half, we did well on the boards, 36-36 and led in second chance points, 23-19.

- The team really wanted to win this and I really wanted them to but people will little note and long remember that they didn’t if they can win the big one. How often do you think of the 2003 Big East Tournament?

31-2 and 6 to do….. Impossible is nothing!!!!

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!

 

[SoBristol]

Good post (as usual). The upside is that this team showed real heart in the second half -- although that came too much from one guy, Dion's magnificent effort. In the 2003 NCAA run, SU got down big to Oklahoma State and fought back all the way to win (in that case, with an effective press and efforts by lesser stars like Pace & Edelin). There is a lesson in overcoming adversity -- of course, the better lesson is to come out stronger from the start.