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I wrote these half-sober on a car ride leaving the game, so they probably are incoherent and or pissy. Sorry about that. Consider this a form of my own therapy.
1. Congrats to Duke. Winning a national championship is never easy, especially with eight scholarship players. Coach K is a legend and absolutely has a claim to being the greatest coach of all-time. Guys like Cook, Winslow, and Jefferson noticeably improved under him, and it led to a title. Your fans are also great.
2. Like I said before the game, Tyus Jones is our kryptonite. He was attacking all day long, and our guards couldn’t keep up with him. Frank did a solid job contesting the majority of the shots when he was in the game. Whenever he went out, Duje picked up fouls faster than you could blink. That was a disastrous matchup and it was so utterly predictable.
3. Nigel Hayes played his worst defensive game of the season today. It’s as simple as that. There were so many missed switches. The reality is that Frank, Gasser, and Sam are very good to great defenders. That is 3/5 of the team. The other two spots (Bronson/Trae and Nigel/Duje) were bad all year and they imploded tonight. Considering Nigel and Bronson are the only two of our seven rotation players likely to return, it sure doesn’t look great for our defense next year. Or our team for that matter.
4. But even with all those disasters, we still had the better looks. They just didn’t drop. We were a top fifteen free throw team all year, clutch all tourney, and then we started 3-7 today. Sam shot 50% all tourney and he whiffed on open three after open three. If we shoot as well as normal, we are cutting down the nets. That’s gonna be the toughest thing to swallow from this game. On the other end of the spectrum, the Blue Devils made some insane, championship level shots.
5. I thought the refs called a pretty even game, but it sure was suspicious that they started calling every foul in the world on us when we were building that nine point lead and trying to expand it. A team that gets 12 fouls per game gets eight calls in eight minutes? Really? Some were fine calls where the call was made late. One of two of them were just blatantly wrong. They did the same thing when Duke was up by five in the first half, getting Winslow and Okafor in foul trouble. Maybe it evened out in the end, but it sure took the wind out of our sails.
And the replay was wrong. You could tell it on the big screen in Indy, and when I saw how clear it was on the Vine just now, I wanted to throw up. That's two straight years we got fucked over by amazingly obvious replay calls. What's the point in having replay if you can't get it right?
6. Depth did beat us in the end. Multiple players of ours looked winded at the end. Duke also had some depth concerns, but Tyus was like the Energizer Bunny out there. We just didn’t have guys capable of giving our starters enough rest, and we didn’t appear to be as conditioned as well as Duke.
7. I know everybody is all obsessed with head-to-head. We are 0 for 2 against Duke, but nothing changes my opinion that we are a better overall team which matches up horribly against them. One could say the same thing about Kentucky and Us, as well. Same with Virginia and Michigan State. I still think stats like KenPom which measure performance over the entire season are better measures.
8. Building off of 7, the NCAA tourney committee seeding still blows my mind. It was remarkably clear that the merit of the top teams heading into the tournament was: 1. Kentucky, 2/3. Wisconsin, 2/3. Arizona, 4/5. Duke, 4/5. Villanova. It blows my mind that we had to play three of those teams, winning two of them, but Duke can walk in and only play one of us, on a night where we shot poorly, and win the title. I’m not saying we were the team that got fucked over…we lose to any of these four if we shot like we did tonight. I’m just saying that it feels like a raw deal that three of the best four teams were put on the same side.
9. I just feel terrible for Bo and Frank. Bo took a bunch of 3 star recruits and made them on par with teams loaded to McDonald’s All-Americans. A team built around a guy whose #2 offer was Northwestern just went 36-4 with the most efficient offense in history. Bo deserved that title. He really did. And to lose because of two guys who became best friends on AAU teams at age 14 and played on Team USA decided to form a package deal? It’s just doesn’t seem right. I really hate the idea of a world where a bunch of packs of 15-year-old super-recruits decide to play together and whoever they chooses wins. I can’t imagine that was as enjoyable as watching this team of 3-4 star recruits from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio come together. I respect the hell out of Cook for continuing to improve over four years, but the rest of their championship just seems hollow.
And as for Frank, it is what it is. He was Tyus’ even in every way. He got Okafor into foul trouble. Duke couldn’t match his versatility. He scored at will. He rebounded well. When they put two guys on him, Frank found his open teammates (who often missed). I’m glad that Frank went out with such a good game, but beyond saddened that the rest of his teammates couldn’t raise the bar. He deserved better.
10. You can probably tell I’m bitter, right? This one fucking hurts. It really does. None of my teams have ever won a title, and after tonight I’m fully convinced it will never happen. This team really felt like the team of destiny. If this is a sports movie, they absolutely win. It’s not just the underdog coach or the unheralded recruits coming together. It’s the fact that they were so fucking good. In my lifetime, there has certainly never been a team with such low rated recruits and such talent and chemistry. Sure, there were magical runs like the Butler had, but those were sort of flukish. This team was a juggernaut. Nobody could stop them all year. I’m sure I will be able to appreciate two straight Final Fours, the win over Kentucky, and having the lead late in the title game with time. But as for right now, I feel like I got punched in the gut.
1. Congrats to Duke. Winning a national championship is never easy, especially with eight scholarship players. Coach K is a legend and absolutely has a claim to being the greatest coach of all-time. Guys like Cook, Winslow, and Jefferson noticeably improved under him, and it led to a title. Your fans are also great.
2. Like I said before the game, Tyus Jones is our kryptonite. He was attacking all day long, and our guards couldn’t keep up with him. Frank did a solid job contesting the majority of the shots when he was in the game. Whenever he went out, Duje picked up fouls faster than you could blink. That was a disastrous matchup and it was so utterly predictable.
3. Nigel Hayes played his worst defensive game of the season today. It’s as simple as that. There were so many missed switches. The reality is that Frank, Gasser, and Sam are very good to great defenders. That is 3/5 of the team. The other two spots (Bronson/Trae and Nigel/Duje) were bad all year and they imploded tonight. Considering Nigel and Bronson are the only two of our seven rotation players likely to return, it sure doesn’t look great for our defense next year. Or our team for that matter.
4. But even with all those disasters, we still had the better looks. They just didn’t drop. We were a top fifteen free throw team all year, clutch all tourney, and then we started 3-7 today. Sam shot 50% all tourney and he whiffed on open three after open three. If we shoot as well as normal, we are cutting down the nets. That’s gonna be the toughest thing to swallow from this game. On the other end of the spectrum, the Blue Devils made some insane, championship level shots.
5. I thought the refs called a pretty even game, but it sure was suspicious that they started calling every foul in the world on us when we were building that nine point lead and trying to expand it. A team that gets 12 fouls per game gets eight calls in eight minutes? Really? Some were fine calls where the call was made late. One of two of them were just blatantly wrong. They did the same thing when Duke was up by five in the first half, getting Winslow and Okafor in foul trouble. Maybe it evened out in the end, but it sure took the wind out of our sails.
And the replay was wrong. You could tell it on the big screen in Indy, and when I saw how clear it was on the Vine just now, I wanted to throw up. That's two straight years we got fucked over by amazingly obvious replay calls. What's the point in having replay if you can't get it right?
6. Depth did beat us in the end. Multiple players of ours looked winded at the end. Duke also had some depth concerns, but Tyus was like the Energizer Bunny out there. We just didn’t have guys capable of giving our starters enough rest, and we didn’t appear to be as conditioned as well as Duke.
7. I know everybody is all obsessed with head-to-head. We are 0 for 2 against Duke, but nothing changes my opinion that we are a better overall team which matches up horribly against them. One could say the same thing about Kentucky and Us, as well. Same with Virginia and Michigan State. I still think stats like KenPom which measure performance over the entire season are better measures.
8. Building off of 7, the NCAA tourney committee seeding still blows my mind. It was remarkably clear that the merit of the top teams heading into the tournament was: 1. Kentucky, 2/3. Wisconsin, 2/3. Arizona, 4/5. Duke, 4/5. Villanova. It blows my mind that we had to play three of those teams, winning two of them, but Duke can walk in and only play one of us, on a night where we shot poorly, and win the title. I’m not saying we were the team that got fucked over…we lose to any of these four if we shot like we did tonight. I’m just saying that it feels like a raw deal that three of the best four teams were put on the same side.
9. I just feel terrible for Bo and Frank. Bo took a bunch of 3 star recruits and made them on par with teams loaded to McDonald’s All-Americans. A team built around a guy whose #2 offer was Northwestern just went 36-4 with the most efficient offense in history. Bo deserved that title. He really did. And to lose because of two guys who became best friends on AAU teams at age 14 and played on Team USA decided to form a package deal? It’s just doesn’t seem right. I really hate the idea of a world where a bunch of packs of 15-year-old super-recruits decide to play together and whoever they chooses wins. I can’t imagine that was as enjoyable as watching this team of 3-4 star recruits from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio come together. I respect the hell out of Cook for continuing to improve over four years, but the rest of their championship just seems hollow.
And as for Frank, it is what it is. He was Tyus’ even in every way. He got Okafor into foul trouble. Duke couldn’t match his versatility. He scored at will. He rebounded well. When they put two guys on him, Frank found his open teammates (who often missed). I’m glad that Frank went out with such a good game, but beyond saddened that the rest of his teammates couldn’t raise the bar. He deserved better.
10. You can probably tell I’m bitter, right? This one fucking hurts. It really does. None of my teams have ever won a title, and after tonight I’m fully convinced it will never happen. This team really felt like the team of destiny. If this is a sports movie, they absolutely win. It’s not just the underdog coach or the unheralded recruits coming together. It’s the fact that they were so fucking good. In my lifetime, there has certainly never been a team with such low rated recruits and such talent and chemistry. Sure, there were magical runs like the Butler had, but those were sort of flukish. This team was a juggernaut. Nobody could stop them all year. I’m sure I will be able to appreciate two straight Final Fours, the win over Kentucky, and having the lead late in the title game with time. But as for right now, I feel like I got punched in the gut.
