Season ends in Anaheim
Written by: Todd Rosiak
Anaheim, Calif. -- It might sound cliche, but it's too bad either team had to lose tonight.
This game was what college hoops is supposed to be all about -- two teams playing their butts off to the finish, with lots of interesting plot twists and turns along the way.
Aside from a few spells during which it got three-happy, or forgot how important ball pressure was in trying to help the big men defend the Lopezes down low, MU played about as well as it could have.
"We worked as hard as we could, all 40 minutes and overtime," said Jerel McNeal. "Everybody gave it all they had. This time of year, you need to be at your best. We gave up some easy baskets and we needed to be at our best defensively."
That being said, let's get into the game.
-- This just in: the Lopezes are good. Really good. Brook is being touted as a lottery pick, but Robin's going to have a chance at the next level too, because of his defensive ability. They were just too much for too long for MU.
Over the final 5:42 of regulation and the overtime, they combined to score 20 of Stanford's 23 points.
At times, especially as far as Brook Lopez's strong finish, it almost looked like the 12th-grader at the YMCA playing against junior-high kids, you know, the big guy scoring at will over the little guys -- and that's meant as no disrespect to MU. Lopez was simply tremendous, and the Cardinal did a great job of using its strength to exploit the Golden Eagles' glaring weakness.
-- Ousmane Barro was solid in his final game at MU, and Dwight Burke contributed some solid minutes as well. On Lopez's game winner, perhaps the one thing Burke could have done better was try to push Lopez out of the lane a little further.
Either way, looking at the replay, he still forced Lopez to make a really tough shot, from a tough angle, and managed not to foul (even though he clearly hit Lopez, and could have been whistled). I didn't realize how tough a shot it was until well after the game, watching it on replay, because I had a horrible seat way down on the other end of the court.
Barro's fouling out with 1:44 left was costly; he may have had the length to bother Lopez more than Burke.
"When Ousmane went down with the fouls there's no question it changed for us a little bit," coach Tom Crean said. "Our ball pressure wasn't as good as it needed to be to keep the ball out of the post, and that's the best form of post defense -- ball pressure.
"And frankly, we didn't follow the game plan a couple times on a couple moves he made inside the game. But the shot he made at the end was a tough shot. Out big guys have gotten better, but we obviously need...to keep improving our inside play."
-- The two baskets Stanford got to close out the first half -- the three-pointer from Kenny Brown and the Taj Finger layup -- were killers because they gave the Cardinal some life shortly after they lost their coach, and heading into halftime.
-- Dominic James again struggled with his perimeter shot, but still affected the game positively by driving to the basket and setting up teammates. He had 10 of MU's 15 assists. He also played great defense throughout.
He also displayed some solid leadership, helping an upset Dan Fitzgerald to his feet and consoling him after Fitzgerald was unable to handle Lazar Hayward's pass at the end of OT.
-- Stanford with just eight turnovers and MU with only nine. Even if they were unspectacular, the Cardinal's guards did a great job of taking care of the basketball -- a big key to Stanford's victory.
-- Two plays that stood out to me on MU's side in the second half:
First, Wesley Matthews' heady steal on the Stanford inbounds play and dive onto the ball, leading to him calling a time out and saving a possession for the Golden Eagles.
The result? A layup by James. Then, McNeal's block of Anthony Goods' three-point attempt from the left wing in the final minute of regulation.
Very impressive on both counts.
-- Perhaps Matthews can build off a strong finish to what had to have been an otherwise disappointing season individually for him. He knocked down every clutch free throw he shot in the two tournament games, and was a real vocal leader throughout.
-- McNeal was probably a little quick to pull the trigger on the three toward the end of regulation, and might have been better served driving to the basket and trying to score that way or drawing a foul.
Still, hard to find fault with the way he responded in overtime. And you know he'll be reliving those two short jumpers he came up just short on toward the end of overtime.
He's got to be angry the season's over just based on the way he played over the last two weeks or so. He was simply a man possessed offensively, and pretty solid defensively as well.
-- I was surprised Hayward didn't spend a little more time floating outside in an attempt to draw one of the Lopezes out with him. Offensively, he was overmatched on the inside against the 7-footers, and had two key shot attempts blocked late.
-- Referee Curtis Shaw was interviewed by the pool reporter on hand afterward regarding the technicals issued to Stanford coach Trent Johnson. Here's what he had to say:
(Why wasn't Johnson allowed onto the court during the media time out?) "A time out doesn't begin until we report it. We had never called a time out. We had foul, followed by a technical foul for being out of the box, and as my partner came out to tell me what we had, (Johnson) then continued out so the time out had never been granted.
"During a time out, coaches are allowed to stay in the vicinity of their bench. They are not allowed to walk out on the floor and continue to complain. He was warned in the first half visibly with the 'stop' signal. 'Trent, that's enough.'"
(On the first technical) "It was a combination of complaining about the call while he's out of the coach's box."
(On the earlier bench warning) "Both benches were warned for standing up during a live ball, which is part of the new bench decorum point of emphasis. Both benches were warned during the first half. That has no effect on the play that occurred with the coach."
-- As for Crean's reaction to the ejection, he didn't think it would have much to do with the outcome of the game.
"They're too experienced, they're too good," he said. "They're too tough to go away, even with what happened in the first half with Trent. We knew they'd continue to play, and our intensity was fantastic, but it had a few lulls when we had the chance to deliver that knockout punch.
"But it was a possession-by-possession game, possession-by-possession overtime. They made an extremely difficult shot."
-- The double technical assessed to Lawrence Blackledge and Robin Lopez in the second half probably wasn't necessary since it was just a little yapping between players, but considering how the officials treated the Johnson ejection, it wasn't a big surprise.
-- Trevor Mbakwe played just one minute against Stanford, and that was the only minute he played in the two tournament games. A disappointing end to a disappointing year for an otherwise talented youngster who was essentially playing on one leg.
It'll be interesting to see how he bounces back next season once he's fully healthy. I know the coaching staff is expecting big things out of him.
-- Should have the season wrapup done in a few days. It'll be interesting to see what Crean thinks needs to be improved upon heading into next year, and if there are any other possible changes in the offing.
Also, the plan is to once again do in-depth wrap-ups of all of MU's signees on the blog here over the next few weeks.
Keep checking back for updates. And, as always, thanks for reading.
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Quote from: ToddRosiakSays on March 23, 2008, 02:15:05 AM
On Lopez's game winner, perhaps the one thing Burke could have done better was try to push Lopez out of the lane a little further.
I think we all saw when Ooze put a hand on Lopez he went flying forward resulting in a foul. I'd much rather have Burke play him as he did and have Lopez take the circus shot instead of two on the free throw line.
Quote from: ToddRosiakSays on March 23, 2008, 02:15:05 AM
It'll be interesting to see how Trevor bounces back next season once he's fully healthy. I know the coaching staff is expecting big things out of him.
Maybe I am dreaming but can you imagine if he can improve like Lazar did from his freshman to sophomore year?