Tulane blacktop breakdown.

[RichZ]

1. The Tulane run early was fueled by three things -- our inability to put the ball in the hole, an uncharacteristic propensity to turn the ball over and a seeming inability to keep them from scoring inside.
2. Brimah's stuff off Rodney's oop at about the 8 minute mark in the half cut the deficit back under 10 and seemed to be the spark that set off the first come back.
3. I do not know who these announcers were, but if I never hear them again, it will go a long way toward ensuring that I die a happy man. The idiot who calls hook shots sweepers if they are made by a white guy is way too in love with himself. The other one is just boring.
4. Crowd was very impressive the last couple minutes of the half and during UConn's run at the end of the game.
5. Brimah played about 10 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls.
6. Ryan Smith is one of the more unlikable players we've seen this year. Splits his time between poking at the opposing big mans ribs and complaining to the refs. The more annoying of the 2 announcers kept raving about what a fantastic game he was having, but he shot 4 of 11 and had one board. Brimah routinely gets crucified for better numbers than that.
7. Brimah's tip in that was waved off at the start of the 2nd half wasn't offensive interference.
8. After playing a horrendous first half, a few minutes into the 2nd, when he was called for a foul on a rebound, Adams appeared on the verge of going into his pouty mode. Started to swing the ball like he was going to heave it into the stands, but some how caught himself and regained composure.
9. Jalen's 2 handed flush on the break started by Brimah's block at about 10:40 to bring us back within two really lit the crowd up. It didn't hurt that it was followed by an alley oop from Jalen to Brimah to tie the game.
10. Maybe the high point of the game for me was when Kentan scored on the emphatic dunk on the break and Dunleavy called time out, Amidah jumped off the bench and ran almost the length of the court to chest bump Facey.
11. The call the Brimah fouled out on was iffy at best, but we were well in control by then, so it wasn't all that big a deal. Or it didn't seem like it until Facey fouled out a minute later and we were left with no scholly bigs.
12. I almost want to go back and rewatch the game again, just to count dunks. Can't remember when we've has as many flushes as we did tonight.
13. Every starter blocked at least one shot. Led by Brimah's 5, of course.
14. In addition to a dozen points, Vital gave us 10 monster boards. For a 6-2 reserve guard, 10 boards is insane. His line tonight (12, 10, 5 dimes, a steal and zero turnovers) was incredible.
15. Half Vital's points came on 6 for 6 shooting from the line. Kid needs to be in the game at winning time if it's close. He's shooting 75% for the year, but he hasn't missed a free throw since the Houston game in late December, and is shooting 93% from the line in league play. He needs to get fouled more, too.
16. I realize it says as much about the combined lousy shooting on both team's parts, but when was the last time we had 50 rebounds in a game?
17. Our three game winning streak coincides with Facey's 3 game string of double doubles. Is that really a coincidence, or is there a bit of causal relationship in there, too?
18. Winning comfortably after being down most of the game, with our two best offensive threats having horrendous games is a very big deal, no matter who were were playng against.

 

[boog204]

Great post; I was going to mention a few of these things myself. I missed the first 10 minutes or so and quite frankly, did not remember seeing Tulane last year so my impressions of Smith were just like yours. I also thought he was a really bad basketball player too. He traveled, or at least it seemed like he traveled, almost every time he touched the ball and his "sweepers" were plain ugly. The announcers were absolutely awful. Like I said, I missed the beginning. Who were those guys?

One of the great silver linings of this season is that Vital is going to be an outstanding third guard for the next 3-4 years. The run he is getting is invaluable for the future. He will be a better Craig Austrie; someone you can trust outside of your primary two guards.

Facey is good. I'm not sure I remember a true 4/5 that we have read that had a better touch around the hoop and that dunk on the break was fantastic. In retrospect, it really sucks that he's been so invisible the majority of the last two years. Talent was always there.

 

[storrsroars]

Just wanted to note on point #5 that Brimah got his 2nd foul with 3:51 left in 1st half. I recalled that because I was impressed that he was playing smart and aggressive and not getting into foul trouble.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

The crowd was awesome. Packed other than the overflow student section and very into the game. Can every home game be 8 o'clock starts in Storrs on Saturday?

 

[mauconnfan]

Great post RichZ, excellent stuff but on #12:

Were those flushes or "schwanks"? The announcer with sweepers and schwanks didn't keep your color? LOL

 

[Palatine]

Nice post. But I only wish our propensity to turn the ball over was uncharacteristic. It is a theme of opponent runs all year long.

In the first ten minutes or so, we could not get off an uncontested shot. Their D was all over us. They were deflecting balls and getting TOs. We had three TOs in the first four possessons. This lead to them scoring before out defense was set up.

We got back in by upping our intensity on the offensive end. We do this quite often, less lately, but pretty consistently this year. We come out tentative and the other team has more energy.

 

[scotty0330]

1. The Tulane run early was fueled by three things -- our inability to put the ball in the hole, an uncharacteristic propensity to turn the ball over and a seeming inability to keep them from scoring inside.
2. Brimah's stuff off Rodney's oop at about the 8 minute mark in the half cut the deficit back under 10 and seemed to be the spark that set off the first come back.
3. I do not know who these announcers were, but if I never hear them again, it will go a long way toward ensuring that I die a happy man. The idiot who calls hook shots sweepers if they are made by a white guy is way too in love with himself. The other one is just boring.
4. Crowd was very impressive the last couple minutes of the half and during UConn's run at the end of the game.
5. Brimah played about 10 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls.
6. Ryan Smith is one of the more unlikable players we've seen this year. Splits his time between poking at the opposing big mans ribs and complaining to the refs. The more annoying of the 2 announcers kept raving about what a fantastic game he was having, but he shot 4 of 11 and had one board. Brimah routinely gets crucified for better numbers than that.
7. Brimah's tip in that was waved off at the start of the 2nd half wasn't offensive interference.
8. After playing a horrendous first half, a few minutes into the 2nd, when he was called for a foul on a rebound, Adams appeared on the verge of going into his pouty mode. Started to swing the ball like he was going to heave it into the stands, but some how caught himself and regained composure.
9. Jalen's 2 handed flush on the break started by Brimah's block at about 10:40 to bring us back within two really lit the crowd up. It didn't hurt that it was followed by an alley oop from Jalen to Brimah to tie the game.
10. Maybe the high point of the game for me was when Kentan scored on the emphatic dunk on the break and Dunleavy called time out, Amidah jumped off the bench and ran almost the length of the court to chest bump Facey.
11. The call the Brimah fouled out on was iffy at best, but we were well in control by then, so it wasn't all that big a deal. Or it didn't seem like it until Facey fouled out a minute later and we were left with no scholly bigs.
12. I almost want to go back and rewatch the game again, just to count dunks. Can't remember when we've has as many flushes as we did tonight.
13. Every starter blocked at least one shot. Led by Brimah's 5, of course.
14. In addition to a dozen points, Vital gave us 10 monster boards. For a 6-2 reserve guard, 10 boards is insane. His line tonight (12, 10, 5 dimes, a steal and zero turnovers) was incredible.
15. Half Vital's points came on 6 for 6 shooting from the line. Kid needs to be in the game at winning time if it's close. He's shooting 75% for the year, but he hasn't missed a free throw since the Houston game in late December, and is shooting 93% from the line in league play. He needs to get fouled more, too.
16. I realize it says as much about the combined lousy shooting on both team's parts, but when was the last time we had 50 rebounds in a game?
17. Our three game winning streak coincides with Facey's 3 game string of double doubles. Is that really a coincidence, or is there a bit of causal relationship in there, too?
18. Winning comfortably after being down most of the game, with our two best offensive threats having horrendous games is a very big deal, no matter who were were playng against.

I only liked this post cuz I can't love it. Well done. Good to know the offensive interference was bad since it certainly looked that way from section 210. Great post and couldn't agree more on CV. His line last night was fantastic.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Ryan Smith is one of the more unlikable players we've seen this year.

Couldn't agree more. There was one play in the second half where he lost the ball on a tie-up, Rodney led the breakaway and I think got fouled. They showed an angle from under the basket and the guy was crying to the refs instead of hustling down the court. Tulane fans should hate him too.

 

[8893]

Didn't get to see the game due to family stuff, but "liked" for obscure JT movie reference in thread title.

 

[Matrim55]

1. The Tulane run early was fueled by three things -- our inability to put the ball in the hole, an uncharacteristic propensity to turn the ball over and a seeming inability to keep them from scoring inside.

I think we have to give them some credit there, for their energy. Part of playing in this conference is that we're the team on the schedule that everybody circles, so we get everybody's best shot. I've seen Tulane play 3 other times this year and they've never been able to bring energy like that to the court, and neither did USF or ECU.

Look at how early they were picking up Jalen when he was bringing the ball up. They were meeting him at nearly the half-court line, and so he wasn't able to play downhill. That put the onus on CV, Vance & Rodney to create, and after about 12 minutes they figured it out. For context: We scored 13 points in the first 12 minutes, and 63 in the next 26. Part of that is better execution on our part, obviously, but part of it is Tulane bringing unsustainable energy on both sides of the ball.

There's a reason we put them away down the stretch, just as we did to USF and ECU.

In a better world we'd have the horses to dominate from the start, but we're not there yet. Next year, hopefully.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

1. The Tulane run early was fueled by three things -- our inability to put the ball in the hole, an uncharacteristic propensity to turn the ball over and a seeming inability to keep them from scoring inside.
2. Brimah's stuff off Rodney's oop at about the 8 minute mark in the half cut the deficit back under 10 and seemed to be the spark that set off the first come back.
3. I do not know who these announcers were, but if I never hear them again, it will go a long way toward ensuring that I die a happy man. The idiot who calls hook shots sweepers if they are made by a white guy is way too in love with himself. The other one is just boring.
4. Crowd was very impressive the last couple minutes of the half and during UConn's run at the end of the game.
5. Brimah played about 10 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls.
6. Ryan Smith is one of the more unlikable players we've seen this year. Splits his time between poking at the opposing big mans ribs and complaining to the refs. The more annoying of the 2 announcers kept raving about what a fantastic game he was having, but he shot 4 of 11 and had one board. Brimah routinely gets crucified for better numbers than that.
7. Brimah's tip in that was waved off at the start of the 2nd half wasn't offensive interference.
8. After playing a horrendous first half, a few minutes into the 2nd, when he was called for a foul on a rebound, Adams appeared on the verge of going into his pouty mode. Started to swing the ball like he was going to heave it into the stands, but some how caught himself and regained composure.
9. Jalen's 2 handed flush on the break started by Brimah's block at about 10:40 to bring us back within two really lit the crowd up. It didn't hurt that it was followed by an alley oop from Jalen to Brimah to tie the game.
10. Maybe the high point of the game for me was when Kentan scored on the emphatic dunk on the break and Dunleavy called time out, Amidah jumped off the bench and ran almost the length of the court to chest bump Facey.
11. The call the Brimah fouled out on was iffy at best, but we were well in control by then, so it wasn't all that big a deal. Or it didn't seem like it until Facey fouled out a minute later and we were left with no scholly bigs.
12. I almost want to go back and rewatch the game again, just to count dunks. Can't remember when we've has as many flushes as we did tonight.
13. Every starter blocked at least one shot. Led by Brimah's 5, of course.
14. In addition to a dozen points, Vital gave us 10 monster boards. For a 6-2 reserve guard, 10 boards is insane. His line tonight (12, 10, 5 dimes, a steal and zero turnovers) was incredible.
15. Half Vital's points came on 6 for 6 shooting from the line. Kid needs to be in the game at winning time if it's close. He's shooting 75% for the year, but he hasn't missed a free throw since the Houston game in late December, and is shooting 93% from the line in league play. He needs to get fouled more, too.
16. I realize it says as much about the combined lousy shooting on both team's parts, but when was the last time we had 50 rebounds in a game?
17. Our three game winning streak coincides with Facey's 3 game string of double doubles. Is that really a coincidence, or is there a bit of causal relationship in there, too?
18. Winning comfortably after being down most of the game, with our two best offensive threats having horrendous games is a very big deal, no matter who were were playng against.

Brimahs tip in was a baaaad call. Came late from the ref near half court. Ref right on the baseline didn't call anything. There was a foul on Adams that bull spit too. I think right before he looked ready to fling the ball into the stands. He came from the freee throw line and wrestled the ball from a couple Tulane guys. It was an otherworldly athletic play and the ref probably couldn't believe it was clean.

 

[RichZ]

I forgot to include that the really annoying announcer scraped his nails on my chalkboard by using one of my pet peeve bball analyst phrases. A phrase that was part of Fudgie's use at least once a game checklist.

"Player's Name almost got away with a travel there."

What is that supposed to mean? "Got away with a travel" means he traveled but didn't get called for it.

So what does the almost mean? That the ref caught it at the last instant and called it? Hell no, Neither this , nor the fudgemaster used the term following a travel call frm the ref.

Maybe it means that he looked like he was about to move hs pivot foot, but shot/passed/dribbled the ball just in time to avoid traveling. In that case, what did he get away with? He didn't travel. He didn't get wrongly called for one. Nothing to comment on, other than to say, "I thought he was going to move his pivot foot there, but he didn't." Which kinda doesn't need to be said.

 

[RichZ]

Didn't get to see the game due to family stuff, but "liked" for obscure JT movie reference in thread title.

Glad someone got the reference. My brain cannot hear the words two lane without automatically adding blacktop to them. Since my brain is old and rusty, it doesn't differentiate between Tulane and two lane.

 

[joober jones]

The whole "sweeper" thing was driving me nuts as well.