Chin Diesel
Power of Love
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 33,152
- Reaction Score
- 102,624
Welp, everyone has an excuse to have a drink for a celebration and to calm nerves after this one.
Props to Auburn. Everyone plays hard and they all lay it on the line. An easy team to root for and a total annoyance for their opponents. Hustle, hustle. Aggressiveness and never giving up.
Sanogo. Beast mode but you can tell he got tired in the second half. Played masterfully with four fouls and that is good since refs watch film too. Great touch and FT percentage for the team's primary low post scorer. Had that killer crossover and Kessler had a better recovery. Love watching that play.
Cole. First 10 minutes were rough. Second part of first half was masterful. First part of second half was masterful and then he got rattled. When he is playing on the perimeter and shooting, he is great. You can tell he still gets gobbled up trying to penetrate and create. That same lack of athleticism is what hurt on all those inbound plays. He isn't quick enough to get separation. FT's were clutch. And he was a bazillion light years better than Gaff.
Polley. Welcome to the roller coaster. It's almost Dave Kingman fun not knowing if you are getting four K's on 12 swings and misses or three bombs. His shooting off the bench started the first half run.
Whaley. Great defense because he was able to man up Smith straight. That alone was a win.
Martin. Played well for the most part and was really physical. Demolished his defender when the played defended him with a smaller guard. Still cringe watching him trying to create while dribbling. Not his game at all.
Jackson. Had some real good entry passes to Sanogo and was working the two man game with Sanogo real good. That being said he can't play a game and not score.
Hawkins. Masterful first half. Like many in the chat room, thought Hurley kept him on the pine too long to start the second half. We'll discuss the fumble after his stopped dribble later. His stroke is great. He is a perfect instant offense off the bench.
Gaff. Unmitigated disaster in the first half. Played panicked ball, couldn't run the offense and was destroyed on D. I honestly though Cole was playing the entire second half. His FT percentage is down this year but he nailed them in 2OT. Someone needs to coach him up on moving along the baseline to inbound passes after made baskets. He can get better angles being on the move.
Akok. Non-factor for most of the game. Incomplete. Definitely his worst game this season.
Shades of the Boston Garden? Seemed like the spot where Hawkins fumbled his pick up was a same spot where Gaff had a ball go out of his hands. @August_West mentioned slippery floors but almost seemed like there were some dead spots and bouncy spots in this game.
Hurley and his staff have to come up with some better inbounding plays when teams press UConn. It was Naked Gun cringe worthy watching the same mistakes of inbounding ball in to the corner to Cole. Cole isn't big enough or fast enough to escape the double or triple team and can't jump and pass out of that.
Seemed like Refs missed a bunch of calls anticipating fouls. Players were high level athletes and made some great, clean plays that refs blew the whistle on. But, i think they were consistent and there were enough blown calls on both sides to call it a wash.
32-38 and 33-41. How nice is it to see two teams who can make their FT's.
15-26 and 12-30 from 3PT. Auburn had 4-5 "Hail Mary" type chucks that went in. Weren't in flow of offense but they still count.
Happy Turkey Day to all. On to the next round.
Props to Auburn. Everyone plays hard and they all lay it on the line. An easy team to root for and a total annoyance for their opponents. Hustle, hustle. Aggressiveness and never giving up.
Sanogo. Beast mode but you can tell he got tired in the second half. Played masterfully with four fouls and that is good since refs watch film too. Great touch and FT percentage for the team's primary low post scorer. Had that killer crossover and Kessler had a better recovery. Love watching that play.
Cole. First 10 minutes were rough. Second part of first half was masterful. First part of second half was masterful and then he got rattled. When he is playing on the perimeter and shooting, he is great. You can tell he still gets gobbled up trying to penetrate and create. That same lack of athleticism is what hurt on all those inbound plays. He isn't quick enough to get separation. FT's were clutch. And he was a bazillion light years better than Gaff.
Polley. Welcome to the roller coaster. It's almost Dave Kingman fun not knowing if you are getting four K's on 12 swings and misses or three bombs. His shooting off the bench started the first half run.
Whaley. Great defense because he was able to man up Smith straight. That alone was a win.
Martin. Played well for the most part and was really physical. Demolished his defender when the played defended him with a smaller guard. Still cringe watching him trying to create while dribbling. Not his game at all.
Jackson. Had some real good entry passes to Sanogo and was working the two man game with Sanogo real good. That being said he can't play a game and not score.
Hawkins. Masterful first half. Like many in the chat room, thought Hurley kept him on the pine too long to start the second half. We'll discuss the fumble after his stopped dribble later. His stroke is great. He is a perfect instant offense off the bench.
Gaff. Unmitigated disaster in the first half. Played panicked ball, couldn't run the offense and was destroyed on D. I honestly though Cole was playing the entire second half. His FT percentage is down this year but he nailed them in 2OT. Someone needs to coach him up on moving along the baseline to inbound passes after made baskets. He can get better angles being on the move.
Akok. Non-factor for most of the game. Incomplete. Definitely his worst game this season.
Shades of the Boston Garden? Seemed like the spot where Hawkins fumbled his pick up was a same spot where Gaff had a ball go out of his hands. @August_West mentioned slippery floors but almost seemed like there were some dead spots and bouncy spots in this game.
Hurley and his staff have to come up with some better inbounding plays when teams press UConn. It was Naked Gun cringe worthy watching the same mistakes of inbounding ball in to the corner to Cole. Cole isn't big enough or fast enough to escape the double or triple team and can't jump and pass out of that.
Seemed like Refs missed a bunch of calls anticipating fouls. Players were high level athletes and made some great, clean plays that refs blew the whistle on. But, i think they were consistent and there were enough blown calls on both sides to call it a wash.
32-38 and 33-41. How nice is it to see two teams who can make their FT's.
15-26 and 12-30 from 3PT. Auburn had 4-5 "Hail Mary" type chucks that went in. Weren't in flow of offense but they still count.
Happy Turkey Day to all. On to the next round.
