[Rosiak's Blog] Quick quotes from Louisville

[ToddRosiakSays]

Quick quotes from Louisville
               



Louisville, Ky. -- I'm going to be hitting the road here in a second, but wanted to get up some quick quotes before I left. I'll have my post-game wrapup blog posted later tonight.

               

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/113817209.html
               

[ChicosBailBonds]

Some interesting quotes to be sure

[chapman]

Besides the last sentence from Buycks "We have to learn from our mistakes", I still don't think he gets it.

[Tugg Speedman]

I think you're reading too much into it.  I took it as him using "we" when he meant "I".  He probably used "we" because Buzz has schooled the team concept into him and that is how he speaks to the press.

[CTWarrior]

Buycks has been playing basketball for a long time.  If he doesn't already know you play keep away unless you have an uncontested layup with less than shot clock time left and the lead he probably never will.

[NickelDimer]

It's obvious DB thinks he got fouled, and I don't disagree. 

In fact on our last two baskets, one by Jae and the other by Buycks, I think fouls could've and should've been called. Particularly the second basket by Buycks.  He took major contact and finished

[Josey Wales]

It's obvious DB thinks he got fouled, and I don't disagree. 

In fact on our last two baskets, one by Jae and the other by Buycks, I think fouls could've and should've been called. Particularly the second basket by Buycks.  He took major contact and finished

But why take the risk? He knew Louisville was going to foul him a couple seconds anyways.

[brewcity77]

It's obvious DB thinks he got fouled, and I don't disagree. 

In fact on our last two baskets, one by Jae and the other by Buycks, I think fouls could've and should've been called. Particularly the second basket by Buycks.  He took major contact and finished

That killed us a bit too. Granted, we completely threw that one away, but the refs went from being very liberal with their whistles to swallowing them in the last 5 minutes. The end of that game wasn't officiated in an even remotely similar way to the opening 35 minutes.

But it's still not the refs fault we lost.

[NickelDimer]

But why take the risk? He knew Louisville was going to foul him a couple seconds anyways.

That I can't explain nor argue.  That was inexcusable.  But even if he had pulled it out and been fouled, I have no doubt we would've lost in some other way. 

[romey]

But why take the risk? He knew Louisville was going to foul him a couple seconds anyways.

Exactly.  It would be one thing if he was headed to an open basket and a defender was trailing him - go to the basket and get the easy lay up/dunk.  But when the defender is IN FRONT OF YOU, you pull it back out, or at the very least, stop, draw him toward you and give the ball up to Fulce, who then has the easy two, or he dribbles it out away from the defender and force them to foul to stop the clock.

[pillardean]

Exactly.  It would be one thing if he was headed to an open basket and a defender was trailing him - go to the basket and get the easy lay up/dunk.  But when the defender is IN FRONT OF YOU, you pull it back out, or at the very least, stop, draw him toward you and give the ball up to Fulce, who then has the easy two, or he dribbles it out away from the defender and force them to foul to stop the clock.

To his defense I thought he was going to get the foul call.  Why not go for a possible and one rather than just shoot the two?  I get the mentality and the idea.  Foolish the way it turned out.  If he would haver drawn the foul and hit the shot with the throw we would be pronouncing genius.  I did wonder how there was no foul call there.  There was a lot of contact and there was absolutely no ball on the swipe from Jennings.  Tough the way it played out.  No one knows that more than Buycks. 

[Danny Noonan]

I agree that there was contact on out last 2 buckets by Crowder and Buycks and that there could have been fouls called. I don't think there was enough contact on Buycks' last drive to warrant a foul call and there was no reason for him to even think about shooting that ball.

[Marquette84]

Buzz is known for his ability to recall the most obscure fact, so this one is a head scratcher . . .

"Normally the close ones are close from start to finish. They're not several-possession
games that turn into a one- or two-possession game. Our experience in those close games
is beneficial in a lot of ways, but we've never had a game where we were ahead the way
that we were and then finished the way that we did."

Did he forget North Carolina State down in Florida two years ago?  Washington in the NCAA tournament last year?   

[Lennys Tap]

Buzz is known for his ability to recall the most obscure fact, so this one is a head scratcher . . .

Did he forget North Carolina State down in Florida two years ago?  Washington in the NCAA tournament last year?   

North Carolina State down in Florida two years ago? I assume you mean Florida State 14 months ago. Neither that game nor Washington in the tourney compare to 18 up with 5:44 left. Not even close.

[brewcity77]

Buzz is known for his ability to recall the most obscure fact, so this one is a head scratcher . . .

Did he forget North Carolina State down in Florida two years ago?  Washington in the NCAA tournament last year?

Yeah, that was FSU down in Orlando. Though we were up 9 on NC State at the BC last year at halftime and then didn't score for the first 4 minutes of the second half and pretty much handed it to them, going down big before a too-little-too-late comeback attempt in the final minute made the score look closer than it actually was.

[Marquette84]

North Carolina State down in Florida two years ago? I assume you mean Florida State 14 months ago.

You're correct, I was mistaken.

Neither that game nor Washington in the tourney compare to 18 up with 5:44 left. Not even close.

Hard to see how anyone wouldn't consider these situations close.  In all three games:

--We had a big lead in the 2nd half in all three games. 
--In all three games, we let the lead slip away
--In all three games we lost on the opponents's final shot
--The opponent's last shot in all three games came with under 15 seconds to play
--In all three games we had time to get off a final shot of our own.
--In all three games, we failed to get off a good shot.

All three games had similar leads
All three games ended almost identically.   

[chren21]

We failed to get a good shot off today?  By butler?  The one from 13' that he short armed?

[Marquette84]

We failed to get a good shot off today?  By butler?  The one from 13' that he short armed?

If it were a good shot, we would have won the game.

[chren21]

If it were a good shot, we would have won the game.

If you mean the form on his shot or the result of the shot was bad then ok, but to get a wide open 13 footer when inbounding under your own basket is the definition of a great shot.

[warriors1965]

If you mean the form on his shot or the result of the shot was bad then ok, but to get a wide open 13 footer when inbounding under your own basket is the definition of a great shot.

Not a bad shot at all under the circumstances, imo.

Too bad Butler did his best T-Rex impression.

[Lennys Tap]

Hard to see how anyone wouldn't consider these situations close. 
















 

If you think a 15 point lead with 14 minutes left is close to an 18 point lead with 5:44 left you don't know much about basketball or arithmetic

[Marquette84]

If you mean the form on his shot or the result of the shot was bad then ok, but to get a wide open 13 footer when inbounding under your own basket is the definition of a great shot.

While I suspect you're playing rope a dope in an effort to avoid the main point, I'll merely point out that if you watch that last play again, Butler attempted to split two UL defenders, lost the handle, had to reach to recover it, resulting in an off-balance jumper while moving across the FT line.  No wonder he missed.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6024808

Had he not lost the handle, perhaps it would have been a great shot.  Had he not lost the handle, perhaps he would have passed to Crowder, who was wide open under the basket and it would have been a great shot.

However, the way the game ended had a lot in common with Washington and FSU.  And the loss of a big lead had a lot in common with Washington and FSU.  

[Marquette84]

If you think a 15 point lead with 14 minutes left is close to an 18 point lead with 5:44 left you don't know much about basketball or arithmetic

Right.  Because we blow so many 15+ point second-half leads that we need separate them into different categories.

Blowing the 15 point Washington lead or 17 point FSU lead is WAY different than blowing the 18 point UL lead--because, you know, we had had to fold so much more quickly against Louisville.  

Meanwhile, when we look at what's the same and what's different:

Similarities:
--We had a big lead (15 to 18 points) in the 2nd half in all three games.  
--In all three games, we let the lead slip away
--In all three games we lost on the opponents's final shot
--The opponent's last shot in all three games came with under 15 seconds to play
--In all three games we had time to get off a final shot of our own.
--In all three games, we failed to get off a good shot.

Difference:
--We blew the big lead earlier in the game against FSU and Washington.

Sorry, Lenny.  Not a lot of difference here.  Size of the lead was very close.  Endings were nearly identical.  The only difference is when the collapse started.

[Lennys Tap]

Saying 18 points in 6 minutes = 15 points in 14 minutes is ignorant.

[brewcity77]

Right.  Because we blow so many 15+ point second-half leads that we need separate them into different categories.


Sorry, Lenny.  Not a lot of difference here.  Size of the lead was very close.  Endings were nearly identical.  The only difference is when the collapse started.

Actually, you were right with the first part of the statement. We've done it three times in the past 2 years, and the first two were not comparable to yesterday's blown lead. Making up a point or two a minute is realistic and possible for quality teams. Making up 18 points in less than 6 minutes, basically a 3 a minute, is near-historic. As was pointed out in another thread, there were only 2 games in the NCAA record book where a team pulled a bigger choke job than we did yesterday. Conservatively, let's say that our blown lead yesterday was probably one of the ten worst choke jobs in the history of NCAA basketball. That's how bad it was, and that's probably putting it lightly (more likely top 5). The other two were bad, yesterday was near-historically bad.

And it becomes worse because it was Louisville. It's one thing choking on your own penis against a non-conference opponent who you won't see again. You can put it out of your mind. But against Louisville, I guarantee you we will be reminded of this game every year, and the pain will flood back all over again. That's why this is the worst loss I've ever seen in Marquette history. Because it was a choke of epic proportions and because we will have to relive it again and again and again.