The problem with WFU basketball is we (and I include me in this) have to do a ton of mental gymnastics just to conclude we might be/could be/are almost good. We live 1-2 more good players or less bad plays away from "being good."
Maybe it's that stupid, repetitive Jersey Mike's commercial (which has inexplicably fucked up my vibe; I cannot adequately describe how much I hate it), but it just seems exhausting to hitch your emotional wagon to WFU basketball. ManMan pulled me back in, but I've been slipping ever since. I watched this entire game, had moments of excitement, and moments of boredom and despair. But at the end, I'm just sort of tired.
That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen. He just stood there, like he forgot where he was and why he was there???Keller will need to have one heck of a career to make up for that play.
Had the same feeling. Maybe it was the Griffis like oopsie daisy turnovers as soon as we get momentum? Tough loss.I felt that this game was spookily similar to last week’s football game. A few inexplicable lack of effort/awareness/understanding plays away from winning the game. Easily could have won both games, but really didn’t deserve to win either.
The three separate plays in the 2nd half where our 4 non-rebounding defenders got beat to the ball by the one guy UGA sent to the boards, who passed the ball out to a 3 point shooter after the 2nd offensive rebound of the possession, who drained the 3. That shouldn’t happen once, much less three times in 10 minutes. Diving on the floor for a loose ball seems like a foreign concept to everyone on the team except Cam. That too needs to be rectified.
It was 100% about effort on rebounding, defense, loose balls. This team can be good with consistent effort, and limiting Marsh and Keller to no more than 12 minutes per game. Hoping for better in Charleston.
That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen. He just stood there, like he forgot where he was and why he was there???
This.The problem with WFU basketball is we (and I include me in this) have to do a ton of mental gymnastics just to conclude we might be/could be/are almost good. We live 1-2 more good players or less bad plays away from "being good."
Maybe it's that stupid, repetitive Jersey Mike's commercial (which has inexplicably fucked up my vibe; I cannot adequately describe how much I hate it), but it just seems exhausting to hitch your emotional wagon to WFU basketball. ManMan pulled me back in, but I've been slipping ever since. I watched this entire game, had moments of excitement, and moments of boredom and despair. But at the end, I'm just sort of tired.
I can confirm thisObviously they don’t play D in England.
I always thought that was a French thing?I can confirm this
This is pretty much it. It really seems to hinge on Efton for me i think we have enough shooters. But like Kent said we’ve been a guy or a call or an injury away for years now and it never seems to come together. So close yet so far.The Keller play looked awful, and really it WAS awful, but I at least think what he was trying to do was get the ball back without diving after it and knocking it out of bounds. I'm sure he thought he could kinda box out his man while he collected it, but it's D1 college basketball and the guy sprinted around him and was off. Hopefully lesson learned.
Sallis looked gassed to me on multiple occasions and the lift on his jumper looked tired. Have to think it's still the ankle - almost looked like he came out with it freshly wrapped in the 2nd half, hit that great bucket when he just went over everyone else, but reality set in and he missed like 6 of his last 7 shots down the stretch. That Thomasson dude was the real difference maker (21 against us, 6 against Oregon), and we came out with Sallis guarding the slower Menendez guy instead of him. If you watch the 2nd possession of the game it's a delayed break off Boopie's miss, Thomasson goes by Sallis like he's standing in concrete for a layup. Not 100% by any means, still played a ton of minutes and gave it all he had.
I thought Forbes did a pretty great job of manufacturing that comeback - hard post doubles out of nowhere, they hit the first 3 against our zone but took a few bad outside shots after that. Really did a nice job bouncing Marsh in and out of the game to mirror Tchewa (who only managed 1 offensive board). Carr picked up his 4th with 15 minutes to go in the game and still had 18/8 even though it meant some Keller minutes, and Carr had a good look to tie it on the last possession but looked like it slipped a bit out of his hand. Looked like we tried to hide Sallis for a while but then had to put him on Abdur-Rahim out of necessity.
On the plus side, Boopie looked fantastic. Carr rock solid. Marion hit a 3 and had 8 boards, just glides to rebounds as well as anyone we've had in the past decade. You look at this team and it's hard not to think we're short one effective big man and one shooter with size...