 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Players should not be allowed to foul out of Final Four games. The Refs should not have such a strong stranglehold over the outcome. Instead of fouling out, when a player gets his 5th (and more), it should be treated like a Technical -- The other team gets two Free Throws and the ball -- But no foul out and no ejection for 2 T's.
This way, bad calls and ticky-tack fouls can't prohibit a star player from competing in the most important games of his life.
Yesterday's Final Four games demonstrated this problem. In the first game, both teams' star Centers got in serious foul trouble, and had to sit for extended minutes. The Buckeyes beat the Hoyas in part because they were better without Oden than Georgetown was without Hibbert.
Then came the UCLA game. The Bruins' leader, Arron Afflalo picked up two fouls in two minutes, then came back in and got his third before Intermission. With Afflalo on the bench, UCLA needed someone to step up, and Josh Shipp did. Shipp put on an amazing Offensive performance against a very tough Defensive team, coming up with 18 points. Shipp also had 4 Rebounds, 5 Assists, and 4 Steals. The only thing Shipp couldn't do was hit Three's. Shipp missed all four of his attempts from Downtown, as the Bruins went a pathetic 5-for-23 from behind the arc. That's 21%, which was not nearly good enough to keep pace with the Gators, who shot 40% from Three, and 53% overall.
While Shipp did step up to fill the void left by Arron, no one stepped up to fill in for Shipp. Stunningly, only James Keefe had a personally above-average game. Keefe got to play 15 minutes, working his ass off against more talented and athletic players to grab 6 Rebounds, score 2 points, and NOT get exposed on Defense.
But everyone else was either in foul trouble or just didn't play up to their potential. Lorenzo Mata and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute were both Zebra victims, while Michael Roll and Darren Collison were just victims of thier own bad shooting. Don't credit the Gator Defense; Collison and Roll combined to go 4-for-19 with plenty of open looks.
Arron Afflalo finished with 17 points, but went only 5-for-14 for the game, and he had zero points in the first half, which the Bruins finished trailing by 6. The Gators got the lead to to the high teens before Arron finally started to score.
But every time the Bruins made a shot and then forced a miss, the Gators would get a put-back score. In the First Half, the Gators got ZERO Offensive Rebounds; In the Second half, they got EIGHT Offensive Rebounds, and each one of them led to two points (most on dunks). With Mata and Luc in foul trouble, the Bruins could not protect their glass.
The Bruins, to their credit, did not quit. They got the lead back down to 10 with a few minutes to go, which IS enough time. But a few misses by Arron and Darren, along with a couple of horrible calls, quieted any last-minute Bruin uprising.
The Gators proved once again that they were the better team, but slightly different circumstances could have led to a different outcome. Foul trouble, and ice cold outside shooting are the two things that come to mind. The foul trouble led to (but does not excuse) a 42-25 Rebounding edge for Florida, and to the Gators scoring 47 points in the Second Half, after not making a Field Goal against the Bruins for about the first quarter of the game.
There is no shame in going to back-to-back Final Fours, even though the double-digit second half lead made this game feel eerily familiar (in a bad way). The silver lining is that Afflalo is already hinting at a return for his Senior year, in order to snatch that elusive Championship. And with phenom Kevin Love about to splash down, it is certainly not a far-fetched idea.
--------------
Now, all that's left for this College Basketball season is to root against Florida when they play Ohio State on Monday Night. Despite the fact that the Gators were not as classless in victory as they were last year, they are still too arrogant to deserve our support, especially for a Two-peat. We don't like ANYONE else to have that much success. But when you add in the fact that Florida is already Simultaneous Reigning Champs in Basketball AND FOOTBALL (which is unprecedented), we absolutely don't want them to win Basketball again.
The Gators are 4 and a half point Favorites over the Buckeyes, but if Conley can control the pace, like he did against Georgetown, and if Lewis can hit a few shots from outside, then Oden can give Noah a taste of his own rejection medicine...unless of course Oden is riding the pine, saddled with Foul Trouble.
|
|
|
