Holy Snikeys
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Ellie Mae, too!
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Great comeback win. Traylor did not have a good game. He did however, chew an awful lot of gum. I thought Mickelson would get a chance. This would have been a great opportunity for a shot blocker, especially the first half. Glad to see the team just play ball in the second half. They look too robotic when they run the offense at this point. Long way to go with this year’s team. Georgetown on the road will be the kind of experience we need to prepare us for Conference play. Hopefully, everyone will appreciate how hard it is to win in D-1 basketball, and what an excellent job Coach Self has done over the years making it look too easy at times.
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@jaybate-1.0 LOL…love it…
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That was a win that STILL feels good the morning after!
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@jaybate-1.0 It woke me up early. We were down 45-27, and we win 71-65, so we outscore them 44-20 to end the game. It’s not how you start-it’s how you finish…
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Cliff…12 and 10 in 19 minutes…what a great 2nd half. Obviously, we won the game at the FT line. Devonte and Cliff…great! Wayne has shown that he is capable of this type of game. We just need him to play at, say even 80% of that production more often. Interesting how the guys that play down the stretch changed a bit from game to game…that could be the case for awhile.
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@Hawk8086 I would like to think Selden planted the flag last night as the leader of the team. I would also like to think that Cliff has to play more minutes… has to.
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@Hawk8086 said:
Obviously, we won the game at the FT line.
I can’t remember how many times over the last several decades of watching that I’ve shaken my head at how many key free throws our teams have given up. Drives me crazy, the one shot you know you’re likely going to take, and one that is often of vital importance at the end of a game. (Interesting article here on why after 50 years, the FT rate has stayed constant while every other aspect of the game has changed ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/sports/basketball/04freethrow.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 )
This game? Big Red Dog goes 8 for 8 and Golden Graham goes 9 for 10 and we go 84.4% as a team! That just warms my heart.
As does another ‘stay tough and get the job done after taking a huge punch to the face’ win.
As does Selden’s 21 pt answering of the new team call of ‘which one of us is going to step up, explode in prime time, and start the fire tonight?’
As does playing in the Phog. More so for us than any other place in college hoops… there’s no place like home. Since it was built back in '55 we win here 87% of the time. Yea, we’re spoiled. Spoiled is good.
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I rewatched the game this morning. During the game, I was sure Florida played a number of zone possessions late in the first half. They really didn’t. They just switched a lot, particularly up top, and trapped short corner area. Had a zone look to it. But it was man. I did the live blog with @brooksmd @DanR @jaybate-1.0 @Jesse-Newell and others. So perhaps I was distracted.
A couple observations:
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Credit Self for Win: In situations like this, it’s easy to credit the players. But most of the credit goes to Self. Though we weren’t in the locker room, I’m quite sure he calmed everyone regarding the deficit and how we could get back to even, and of course hammered home the nails that needed hammering. During the game, he tried multiple combinations. In the second half, he made a great call trying Oubre. Made perfect sense, as Vitale mentioned – Oubre being a slasher. That didn’t pan out, but we made progress on the deficit. He then went with Graham/Mason together and that worked beautifully. He went with Traylor over Cliff a bit longer than I would have – but his move worked. Cliff had an incredibly active final 10 minutes of the game. But here’s the other thing, how many times do teams make a run, only to have the other team recapture the momentum. That never happened. Credit Self.
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Traylor: Self said last week that Traylor had been consistent up until the tourney. I disagree. He’s been fumbling balls, been out of position, not blocking guys out, and contributing little to no offense all season. Look at 11:33 of the second half for another brain cramp. Traylor was nearer the man on the baseline, the ball went out top, Cliff was on him, and Traylor inexplicably flew out to try and contest a three pointer. The shooter calmly dumped the ball down the unguarded player on the baseline for the bucket, as Vitale convulsed. Lucas is playing better than Traylor now. And I can’t fathom why Self is playing Traylor over Cliff (when Cliff had only one foul). Self said he wasn’t pleased with Cliff’s attentiveness the first half. Whatever. Cliff is just better. That said, I think Traylor’s just in a rut and he’ll get out.
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Oubre/Greene: Token playing time. Seven guys got the majority of the PT. Lucas, Greene, Oubre got 9, 8, and 8 minutes each. But I sense that if either Oubre or Greene did something productive, they would have gotten more PT. Not so much with Lucas.
Selden had a terrific bounce back game, and he keyed the win. But the comeback was keyed by coach Self.
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@HighEliteMajor I finally took a breath when they took the lead cause as you said many a time a team comes back but never makes it over the top.
“Self wasn’t pleased with Cliff’s attentiveness the first half.” Just Cliff’s? Hell I can’t remember being pleased with anybody’s attentiveness the first half. They need to dig a hole and bury that first half.
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@KUSTEVE Im going to hope all season long that Mason gets another 10 boards in a single game.
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“They look too robotic when they run the offense at this point.”
That’s common when young guys are trying to learn offense. They often get worse before they get better. Seems we sort of did this last year… beating Duke and looking okay, then playing some shaky ball.
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@Lulufulu It would be great, but it’s a rare feat for a guard.
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@KUSTEVE Rondo does it with regularity. Im not saying Mason is like Rondo. I still maintain he is a lot like Sherron. But with Mason’s nose for the ball, its not out of the question. He wont average double figs in boards, but I bet he gets there, or very nearly does again.
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@Lulufulu It would be great if he could average 7 boards a game. Nearly unheard of !!!
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@drgnslayr Hopefully, it will come in time. Thanks.
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That first half was just bizarre. I really did not understand keeping Traylor out there that long, but a great job by Self to figure out the right lineup for the second half. Hated to see Svi sit, but (as Jaybate has pointed out), he’d been out-manuevered.
I rewatched the second half this afternoon with my pessimist wife who gave up at halftime lat night. I warned her that it was not an exciting comeback or finish.
On a second viewing, what a tortuous (and tortoise-like) comeback that really was. Selden hit two or three? 2 point shots right inside the arc, two total defensive lapses (dunk that traylor gave up–wtf?–and then the wide open three from the corner a couple possessions later), a crapload of free throws that Cliff and Devonte thankfully nailed, one mason ankle sprain, two ref timeouts to check out-of-bounds replays. We were helped by the pace completely keeping Florida totally out of sync. Then, in the last minute, Donovan just sort of threw in the towel only down two possessions. Very anti-climactic.
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@jaybate-1.0 I live about a mile from Ella Mae, AKA Donna Douglas, (for real, I drive right by her house every day on the way to work) and she does have a cement pond, I’ll go toss her in!
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Something is going on with Traylor, and I suspect that Bill Self is trying to salvage him, in a parental-like manner. Self took pride in deciding to leave Jamari on the court in closing minutes of Tennessee game, telling him, “They are going to foul you and you are going to hit both freethrows.” Which did occur. But then Jamari struggles again in the Florida game…and now the early Sunday morning arrest. I hope everything works out in the best of all possible ways. The squad needs his refocused contributions. Jamari needs to finish his years of collegiate eligibility in productive style. His struggles and life’s story are the stuff of intriguing novels or moviemakings.
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@REHawk I did some snooping, and came across this:
https://twitter.com/j_mari31/status/485073415397584898
That doesn’t sound like the Jamari i envisioned in my mind.
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That is an old post. He tried to explain but the explanation was as bad as the post. Here is the most recent post…
The time frame (Dec. 6) would seem to indicate he is equating getting arrested with becoming a “real” man or at least.that is the first thing that comes to mind. I hope this is not the case.
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Pretty sure the last tweet of Mari’s was before his arrest, check the time. As for his rant about his dad, I can’t imagine Mari’s life, not even close, and until we walk in his shoes, we can’t. He did try to apologize, I’m sure he had some help, but he’s a kid that’s missing his dad. Doesn’t mean I agree, I just understand.
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Best looking gospel singer I ever saw!
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@JayHawkFanToo I forget how radical I was back then when I was that age. I remember being outraged that Jimmay Carter made us register for “selective service” way back when, and being furious about it. I’m getting older, and I forget how all ideas were measured when I was that age. Back then, I’d try ideas on for size …some were immediately discarded, some were tried on, and remain with me today. i hope every idea that brings good things are worn all the time by Jamari.
