Sunday, February 12, 2006
Bombed in Columbus
The Bible teaches patience and tolerance under hardship. I'll be staying late after school today for some addition work on these two values; I have neither right now. We were out-gunned by the BUCKS today in a terrible display of basketball. The only thing good about today's game was the officiating. Help - we've fallen and can't seem to get up.
Sure they shot lights - out from beyind the arc (outscoring us there by 24 points alone). But, following what was probably our worst loss in 101 years of b-ball history at Illinois (at home vs. Penn State), we came out flat today and did not bring the energy or decision-making to the hardwood. I got the answer to my question regarding how we would respond with the 8-day lay-off after the 'upset'. It was the one I feared and not the one I hoped for.
We've now lost 2 in a row and 4 in the last 9 after staring 15 - 0. It seems as if we've been stuck on 20 wins forever. It's amazing how fast you can go from a high to a low in just 1 week of play. We have some work to do on both ends of the court, but especially in our half-court offense. We also have to find ways to get the ball in transition more often.
On the bright side, the BIG-10 race is still wide open - meaning we still have a chance to win the toughest conference in college basketball. No way Gonzaga or Duke are un-defeated if they played in the BIG-10. We have the highest RPI of all conferences and the most balance top to bottom of anyone. On any given night, the 'upset' can happen. Just look at what's transpired over the past 7 days.
We get NW and Indiana at home over the next week; which should be good news in terms of fixing what's broken with some home cooking. But looking beyond that stretch, it doesn't get any easier with games against Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Michigan State (3 of the last 4 on the road). Now is the time to get healthy by fixing what's wrong. And my top - 10 as we are only 4 weeks away from selection Sunday:
1) UCONN
2) DUKE
3) Villanova
4) Texas
5) Memphis
6) Gonzaga
7) Florida
8) Pitt
9) WV
10) Tennessee
Sure they shot lights - out from beyind the arc (outscoring us there by 24 points alone). But, following what was probably our worst loss in 101 years of b-ball history at Illinois (at home vs. Penn State), we came out flat today and did not bring the energy or decision-making to the hardwood. I got the answer to my question regarding how we would respond with the 8-day lay-off after the 'upset'. It was the one I feared and not the one I hoped for.
We've now lost 2 in a row and 4 in the last 9 after staring 15 - 0. It seems as if we've been stuck on 20 wins forever. It's amazing how fast you can go from a high to a low in just 1 week of play. We have some work to do on both ends of the court, but especially in our half-court offense. We also have to find ways to get the ball in transition more often.
On the bright side, the BIG-10 race is still wide open - meaning we still have a chance to win the toughest conference in college basketball. No way Gonzaga or Duke are un-defeated if they played in the BIG-10. We have the highest RPI of all conferences and the most balance top to bottom of anyone. On any given night, the 'upset' can happen. Just look at what's transpired over the past 7 days.
We get NW and Indiana at home over the next week; which should be good news in terms of fixing what's broken with some home cooking. But looking beyond that stretch, it doesn't get any easier with games against Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Michigan State (3 of the last 4 on the road). Now is the time to get healthy by fixing what's wrong. And my top - 10 as we are only 4 weeks away from selection Sunday:
1) UCONN
2) DUKE
3) Villanova
4) Texas
5) Memphis
6) Gonzaga
7) Florida
8) Pitt
9) WV
10) Tennessee
