The Baylor Louisville Game Revisited

[RockyMTblue2]

I know this got a lot of discussion at the time, but here is an opinion from a coach I know Geno respects. There was a special edition of Beyond The Beat the day after the Notre Dame Game(youtube link below). In one segment Coach Agnus Berenato appeared. She was asked how big a deal she thought the Louisville upset of Baylor was. She saw it as a very big deal and she said she was glad Jeff W won -they go way back together. However, she also volunteered that she did not think it was, I think the word was, "purely basketball" as to the physicality that was allowed AND then she said "it was a travesty." She also had some strongly implied criticism for Kim Mulkey for not throwing a hizzy fit very early on.

It really caught my ear when a coach with no dog in the hunt says something that strong. Frankly, that was my impression of that game. I am never going to credit Louisville for that Baylor victory because of the way they got it.

 

[rbny1]

The refs let them play that way. It was up to the refs to do something and, if not, it was up to Baylor to adjust. I suppose I might feel differently if I were a Baylor fan, but I think Louisville deserves credit for the victory. They did what they had to do and Baylor didn't.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Revisiting an old argument -- Having re-watched the game: It WAS very physical in the first 8 minutes. Then Louisville players, Hammond (?) included, and then it was NO longer physical.

To me, anyone who argues otherwise is ignoring the actual facts on the court.

 

[Fiftyish]

FYI, Berenato's segment begins at the 27:27 mark of the video.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Kim lost the game by coaching one of her poorest games. She never adjusted to Slaughter, leaving her wide open to make the 3's that she did. If Griner was taken out of the game, like she was, then Baylor has other talented offensive players that she should have gone to. I also think Odyssey Sims waited to long until she decided she was going to take over the game and almost got Baylor the win by her play down the stretch. Louisville played a Junk Defense and Kim let them get away with it.

 

[UcMiami]

I agree that the refs let things get too physical as they have in other games as well. I thought that Baylor benefitted from that fact for the last 10 minutes of the game as well when they made their run, but that Louisville had benefitted in the first 10 minutes.
I also thought Kim did a horrible job coaching and adjusting to Louisville and that the Baylor team played poorly for 30 minutes - they expected a cake walk and got a knife fight and it took them three quarters of the game to wake up. I've seen that happen with Uconn a few times too.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Did anyone else watch the entire video???

Loved seeing Swin and Debbie Antonelli, but did anyone else think Richard Kent was being a little arrogant in his remarks both Swin and Antonelli??

Maybe it was me but I thought he was looking at both of them like they were nobody.

 

[easttexastrash]

No comment

 

[DaddyChoc]

No comment

"shocked"

 

[JellyBean]

I have no problem giving Louisville the credit for beating Baylor. When u look in the record books it won't say how you beat them, just that u did beat them. Now Louisville did play Baylor pretty physical, which for a minute, took Baylor a minute to adjust and get back in the game. But the refs gave the Cards this//that game.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Did anyone else watch the entire video???

Loved seeing Swin and Debbie Antonelli, but did anyone else think Richard Kent was being a little arrogant in his remarks both Swin and Antonelli??

Maybe it was me but I thought he was looking at both of them like they were nobody.

I watched it all and did not get that vibe at all.

 

[HGN]

Personally, I loved the game. Ref's miss calls in every game ; and make calls that no one else see's ; and they tend to make a lot mistakes sometimes. But in this case I don't have a problem with how that game was called. It allowed us to face Louisville instead of Baylor. We won the Louisville game. And who knows who would have won a UConn/Baylor matchup for the NC. We won our 8th Championship maybe because Louisville beat Baylor that fateful night.

And I for one don't want to question the NC Gods.

 

[willtalk]

Personally, I loved the game. Ref's miss calls in every game ; and make calls that no one else see's ; and they tend to make a lot mistakes sometimes. But in this case I don't have a problem with how that game was called. It allowed us to face Louisville instead of Baylor. We won the Louisville game. And who knows who would have won a UConn/Baylor matchup for the NC. We won our 8th Championship maybe because Louisville beat Baylor that fateful night.

And I for one don't want to question the NC Gods.

True! Officiating is one of the many variables that can influence the probability of an outcome in basketball. "Match-ups" and "Timing" are two others. In this case Louisville seemed to have had the benefit of all three. Ironically the year before Baylor got the benefit of some of the variables themselves. In the Stanford game two fouls that should have been on Griner went on one of the "O" sisters. So one of them went to the bench rather than Britney. These things happen all the time at critical junctures. The NCAA's single elimination format is often a crap shoot. Would Baylor have beaten UConn as easily as they did ND last year? Probably not! ND was a much better and easier match up for them than Uconn would have been. Was T A&M the best team in the country a few years back? No but they also were the beneficiary's of Match ups and Timing along their way to a NC.

As to whether Uconn might not have beaten Baylor, I for one don't share that concern. While towards the later part of the season Uconn was vulnerable and very beatable, but as well as they were playing during the later two weeks of the tournament I don't think anyone would have done so. As stated before, "Timing and "Match-ups play a significant part, but depth and balance go a long way in mitigating either. Two things that Uconn had were depth and balance.

 

[alexrgct]

I started a thread back in May that covered this topic. Nan reused it for the front page. Upon re-reading it, my position since has not changed. Here it is:

http://the-boneyard.com/blog/reviewing-the-louisville-baylor-final-four-game/

 

[msf22b]

I started a thread back in May that covered this topic. Nan reused it for the front page. Upon re-reading it, my position since has not changed. Here it is:

http://the-boneyard.com/blog/reviewing-the-louisville-baylor-final-four-game/

Tremendous post.
Spot on.

 

[Zorro]

I thought it was a poorly officiated game which favored Lville in the first half and outrageously favored Baylor in the second. Some of the calls against Lville and some of the non-calls on Baylor at the end I thought were almost incomprehensible.