SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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-We now have a two game winning streak in the Sweet 16!
-People are thinking of past games, ’87, ’96, ’03. My mind goes back to JB’s first Sweet 16 game, (as a head coach). Here’s what I wrote in the “The Sour 16”:
“This was the game where I found out that height matters not just in the frontcourt but the backcourt as well. We had an Achilles heel no one had been able to exploit. Jim Williams, (who hated being called “bug”), was lightning quick but only 5-9. Larry Kelley, (brother of later Connecticut star Earl Kelley), was 5-11. The 49ers, (named for the state highway that passes by the campus) had 6-3 Melvin Watkins and 6-4 Chad Kinch. Watkins and Kinch could shoot and pass, (12 for 16 with 12 assists), over Williams and Kelley at will but Williams and Kelley could not do the same with them, (2 for 15 with 4 assists).”
This time we had the big guards and they had the short ones and it was just as much of an Achilles heel for Indiana, despite their high ratings all year long, as it was for us against Charlotte back in ’77. Our starting guards out-scored theirs, 38-0! It is impossible to over-come that. Dolph Schayes used to respond to complaints about his defense by saying: If I can outscore my guy and my teammates do the same, how are we going to lose? When we are +38 in the backcourt, how is their frontcourt going to overcome that? They can’t.
-Another big stat: Our centers had 3 rebounds in 40 combined minutes against a team that came in out-rebounding foes by 8 a game. But we only lost the rebound battle by 1 because we got 19 rebounds from our three forwards, Fair, Southerland and Grant, totaled 19 rebounds.
-And another: We opened the second half with a missed jumper, two turnovers, a missed lay-up, a dunk and four straight turnovers. Keita fouled and Oladipo made two free throws. CJ Fair made a jumper and Oladipo made a three pointers. That made the score 38-32, after we’d had a 29-11 lead in the first half. We were blowing it. Carter-Williams made a jumper and Watford turned it over. CJ Fair gave it back to them , our 7th turnover in less than 7 minutes. We didn’t have another for the next 11 minutes and 50 seconds. Our last turnover came with 1:20 left and a 60-46 lead. Indiana had their one good run and that was it because we settled down and took care of the ball.
-JB’s zone is appropriately being lauded and he made a good point when he said that when man to man teams are playing poorly on defense they don’t switch to a zone so why should a zone team switch to man-to-man? But the key is the players playing the zone. Their “length” and athleticism are important but so is their effort and this was the best defensive effort I think I’ve ever seen. Our perimeter guys held a team full of 40% three point shooters to 3 for 15, (we are now 11 for 67 in the tournament, 16%). Baye Moussa Keita didn’t have huge numbers but, despite being beaten up with a head cut and a wrist injury, took on Cody Zeller and held him to 3 for 11 shooting. And he got a lot of help form the forwards, including CJ Fair and James Southerland who are more known for their offense. We had 10 blocks and 12 steals, (compared to 2 and 5 for Indiana). We totally dominated this game from beginning to end.
-One last piece of Big East conference pride. Two Big East teams just took down the Big Ten and ACC champions. And neither one was the Big East champion.
-Happiness is waking up on a late March morning, flipping on the radio and every sports station has a guy interviewing Jim Boeheim.
29-9 is pretty fine.
LET’S GO ORANGE!
-People are thinking of past games, ’87, ’96, ’03. My mind goes back to JB’s first Sweet 16 game, (as a head coach). Here’s what I wrote in the “The Sour 16”:
“This was the game where I found out that height matters not just in the frontcourt but the backcourt as well. We had an Achilles heel no one had been able to exploit. Jim Williams, (who hated being called “bug”), was lightning quick but only 5-9. Larry Kelley, (brother of later Connecticut star Earl Kelley), was 5-11. The 49ers, (named for the state highway that passes by the campus) had 6-3 Melvin Watkins and 6-4 Chad Kinch. Watkins and Kinch could shoot and pass, (12 for 16 with 12 assists), over Williams and Kelley at will but Williams and Kelley could not do the same with them, (2 for 15 with 4 assists).”
This time we had the big guards and they had the short ones and it was just as much of an Achilles heel for Indiana, despite their high ratings all year long, as it was for us against Charlotte back in ’77. Our starting guards out-scored theirs, 38-0! It is impossible to over-come that. Dolph Schayes used to respond to complaints about his defense by saying: If I can outscore my guy and my teammates do the same, how are we going to lose? When we are +38 in the backcourt, how is their frontcourt going to overcome that? They can’t.
-Another big stat: Our centers had 3 rebounds in 40 combined minutes against a team that came in out-rebounding foes by 8 a game. But we only lost the rebound battle by 1 because we got 19 rebounds from our three forwards, Fair, Southerland and Grant, totaled 19 rebounds.
-And another: We opened the second half with a missed jumper, two turnovers, a missed lay-up, a dunk and four straight turnovers. Keita fouled and Oladipo made two free throws. CJ Fair made a jumper and Oladipo made a three pointers. That made the score 38-32, after we’d had a 29-11 lead in the first half. We were blowing it. Carter-Williams made a jumper and Watford turned it over. CJ Fair gave it back to them , our 7th turnover in less than 7 minutes. We didn’t have another for the next 11 minutes and 50 seconds. Our last turnover came with 1:20 left and a 60-46 lead. Indiana had their one good run and that was it because we settled down and took care of the ball.
-JB’s zone is appropriately being lauded and he made a good point when he said that when man to man teams are playing poorly on defense they don’t switch to a zone so why should a zone team switch to man-to-man? But the key is the players playing the zone. Their “length” and athleticism are important but so is their effort and this was the best defensive effort I think I’ve ever seen. Our perimeter guys held a team full of 40% three point shooters to 3 for 15, (we are now 11 for 67 in the tournament, 16%). Baye Moussa Keita didn’t have huge numbers but, despite being beaten up with a head cut and a wrist injury, took on Cody Zeller and held him to 3 for 11 shooting. And he got a lot of help form the forwards, including CJ Fair and James Southerland who are more known for their offense. We had 10 blocks and 12 steals, (compared to 2 and 5 for Indiana). We totally dominated this game from beginning to end.
-One last piece of Big East conference pride. Two Big East teams just took down the Big Ten and ACC champions. And neither one was the Big East champion.
-Happiness is waking up on a late March morning, flipping on the radio and every sports station has a guy interviewing Jim Boeheim.
29-9 is pretty fine.
LET’S GO ORANGE!
