Date: Tue Apr 8 05:21:05 2008
Sender: Jay Schlegel
I'm shocked, shocked that I am the first person to post about last night's
championship game!
Quite exciting, which is all I care about when I don't care about the teams
that are involved. Still, in DEL terms, I am amazed that Kansas did have to
get 'lucky' to pull this off. No offense to Kansas, they did earn it. But I
did say "in DEL terms". Let me elaborate.
Kansas is leading by just one possession against Davidson, Davidson has the
ball, the pro-underdog crowd is going wild, and Davidson's star player (the one
who has torn up the entire tournament field thus far, son of an NBAer whose
name escapes me) is going to get the ball. What happens? In my opinion he
choked -- he made a bad decision(s) and did not get a good shot. Yes, good
defense was played too, but it still looked to me like the best player on the
floor choked and so Kansas advanced.
Similar story last night, though no one Memphis player choked -- basically they
all did. How many times have we seen a DEL basketball team blow a big lead
late, and how frustrated have we been to see it? How about Memphis by 9 with 2
minutes remaining? Not only did they blow it defensively and also miss their
free-throws, they had the chance to run the clock out but choked mentally (at
least once, maybe more than that) and didn't make the right decision(s).
Memphis played 38 great minutes, after playing 5 nearly-unstoppable games, then
collapsed. Like the clock struck midnight all of a sudden.
Again, this takes nothing away from Kansas. They didn't get lucky in the sense
that the refs blew a call or the clock malfunctioned or the power went out
during a shot (though they did benefit from that instant replay reversal of a
Memphis 3-pointer to a 2-pointer, it was the correct call and not subject to
luck other than that they were lucky that the NCAA uses instant replay now).
But the result sure looked lucky in DEL terms.
Date: Tue Apr 8 06:19:06 2008
Sender: William Johnson
On that 3-pointer; what is the rule for that shot? When they showed the replay,
it looked like his right foot was the last foot to leave the ground and the
left was already in the air. I heard them say something about he used his left
foot to push off the ground for the shot. Is that what the rule says? That both
feet must start from outside the line during the jump?
Date: Tue Apr 8 07:11:06 2008
Sender: Kyle Bone
Since his left foot was inside of the arc when he started to shoot, it was a
two-pointer. It was a weird jump since he leaned back and pretty much used his
right leg to push up, but since he started the motion with his left foot inside
it was a two instead of a three.
Dell Curry is the father...played over 14 years in the NBA after attending
Virginia Tech. Mainly the sixth man where he played and noted for his
three-point shooting.
Free throws where a reason, but Cal should have subbed more and kept Rose,
Anderson and Douglas-Roberts a little more fresh, which he admitted to in the
post-game interview. Rose and Douglas-Roberts were exhausted and became lazy
at the charity stripe. Dorsey played lackluster as well and his non-presence
on the court during overtime was felt with Kansas going inside with only Dozier
to worry about.
Date: Tue Apr 8 08:28:53 2008
Sender: Joshua MacOscar
Memphis was able to get by with that free throw shooting for so long. I thought
that they were going to be the example of why you don't need free throw
shooters.
Date: Tue Apr 8 10:28:18 2008
Sender: Chris Oaks
Jay, Memphis had a little luck, too. They just may have used it all on the bank
shot that got reversed.
You have to give it up to Mario Chalmers. It takes big stones to hit that shot,
and he did it. It's amazing he even got the shot off, with Sherron Collins
slipping and falling before passing him the ball.
Date: Tue Apr 8 10:35:33 2008
Sender: Kendell R Jillson
Or it's amazing that Memphis didn't foul before they even had a chance to
shoot.
With regards to the free throw shooting...as someone who picked Memphis in all
my pools...i blame Jim Nantz who made sure to mention that Douglas-Roberts had
made 5 in a row (then he missed the next 3 or so), and that Rose had made like
13 in a row (then he missed the 1st one which if he had made the 2nd one like
he did, would have made it a 4 point game). The announcers free throw jinx is
very real!
Date: Tue Apr 8 10:55:51 2008
Sender: Eric Opperman
They were trying to, Kendell...just didn't foul hard enough.
This one ranks up there with the all-time gut punches, though. Up 9, 2 minutes
from the first title in school history...and then Murphy's Law takes over.
Still an amazing team, the most fun basketball season I've ever had.
But...ugh.
Date: Tue Apr 8 11:39:10 2008
Sender: Just Oz Too
"tattoo man" on Memphis lost them the game, but not probably in the way you
thing.
With 16.8 seconds left and a six point lead, he catches the ball far up the
court on the left hand side.
If he had DRIBBLED instead of going for a tomahawk slam dunk, he could have the
run clock down to probably six to eight seconds left.
Instead he sprints toward the basket and therefore a Kansas defender and gets
fouled with 12 or so seconds left on the clock and then misses both free
throws.
Everyone has focused on the free throws, but the real failure was to understand
the situation and run the clock.
At the time, Memphis had a 3 on 1 so even if the guy came at him, he could have
passed the ball to an open teammate and maybe ran it all the way out.
I know he was one of Memphis' stars, but that one thing lost them game.
Date: Tue Apr 8 12:11:07 2008
Sender: Eric Opperman
No moreso than the Anderson turnover shortly before on the inbounds pass --
Anderson being one of the national leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio. He's
the guy who never makes mistakes, even if he doesn't finish plays as much as
you'd like...and his soft pass was a five-point mistake.
It was a total team collapse -- the only person who didn't partake in
collapsing down the stretch was Dozier, and he had a rough first half.
Date: Tue Apr 8 15:13:19 2008
Sender: Doc Barnes
Eric,
Is it Murphy's Law or Ockham's Razor?
Date: Tue Apr 8 15:14:46 2008
Sender: Doc Barnes
Nope, you're right, Murphy's law.
Date: Tue Apr 8 15:21:56 2008
Sender: John Fitzpatrick
I love college basketball, but starting the game at 9:21pm is completely out of
control for me. I live on the East Coast and refuse to stay up until midnight
for a college basketball game. I would venture to say that, overall, I am not
alone.
Date: Tue Apr 8 16:18:03 2008
Sender: Joshua MacOscar
I was saying the same thing on Saturday. I understand starting it late on
Mondays for the west coast, but why start a Saturday game late. Actually, an
8:15 EST start would start at 5:15 PST. I wonder how many viewers they lose
versus how many they gain out west.
As a kid, it would suck having to go to bed before tipoff.
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