My two cents worth: Houston needed this win. We could have USED this win. Big difference, because both teams played the way they saw it. Sucks but that’s life.
Here is my concern moving forward…the three (4 if you want to count UCLA) teams we’ve played and lost are the types of teams we will see in the NCAA tourney. If we want that run we have all been craving, we simply have to be better. Our half-court offense is a mind bender against decent teams simply because we do not move the ball quick enough and force the defense out of position. It’s quite easy to defend—double the post so there’s a kick out and force JJ or CB or JC or JE to burn you from three, something we haven’t seen anyone one of those guys do consistently AGAINST QUALITY competition. It’s stagnant. Houston showed how to beat our defense. Constant movement and ball reversal with 2-3 shooters salivating.
Devil’s Advocate: beat Wichita and we may be able to look back at the Houston game and realize that despite going about 12 minutes without a FG, on top of playing very poor defense for a majority of the game and them playing at their ceiling, we only lost by 5 and that’s just the breaks for a the night.
Double Devil: Offensively, we must be better gentlemen. The NCAA is about matchups and if we see a team with shooters we may be in trouble, especially if they don’t mind a half-court game. We have to play inside out and when the ball gets kicked out, we have to be consistent (not spectacular) at keeping the defense honest. That opens it up for our bigs. If our guys don’t knock down open shots then the defense will double the post all day.
Here’s hoping last night night was just one of those days. Sundays response is going to tell us a lot about this group as we progress into the important part of the season. We simply cannot afford to lose at home. Houston also has a trip to Jekyll/Hyde Temple coming up so things can still break favorably for us within the conference.
