** Some wins feel pretty good. Occasionally they can be euphoric.
** Conversely, most losses are disappointing. Some are really disappointing. But for me, I have to confess this one even stings a little more than usual.
** In fact, I’m stinging so much I considered not offering a post game entry today. But I’ve always pledged to write in the good and the bad. So perhaps this won’t be my best effort, but at least hopefully it will be a little bit better of an effort than our Panthers put forward today on the defensive glass.
** But this one stings a little more than usual not because of the loss in itself, but more because this is the first loss that makes me worry that this team isn’t quite the team that I thought they might be.
** I’ll readily acknowledge this could easily be an overreaction.
** So let’s be clear that I’m not yet offering any kind of predictions that our tournament berth is moving toward the bubble.
** And even if this team was most everything we thought they might be, we were always going to lose a minimum of three more ACC games after Duke, and this one was on the list of games we might lose.
** So there’s that.
** But it’s still a game I believed we should win, and I’m a bit troubled that we didn’t.
** Or maybe it’s just as simple as needing to figure out how to improve our defensive rebounding.
** This has been a real problem for us at times this year. This was the first time it cost us a win.
** Also when we needed stops down the stretch, our defense failed us.
** Louisville scored on their final four possessions and 9 of their final 10 possessions. We were up 2 when that streak started. The math is pretty simple. We lost by four.
** What adds to the sting is that we did enough good things offensively to win this. We shot well enough and took care of the ball well enough. And we scored extra points over average on a great night at the foul line.
** On the offensive end down the stretch, we showed enough poise, and truly benefited from the full return of Damian Dunn.
** For whatever reason, Damian was seemingly the only Panther who could be counted on to clear the defensive glass, especially in the second half.
** But all of the Panthers, including Damian made gaffs on the defensive end. Long story short, this team has a long way to go to figure out how to defend ball screens as a team. A couple times we went under the screen without secondary help, leaving Reyne Smith way too much room to torch us.
** Reyne may be a pretty decent player, but he’s not nearly as good as the Panthers allowed him to be today.
** While I don’t necessarily question Capel’s second half strategy to play his main five for all but 2 minutes in the second half, I do wonder exactly what he’s thinking. Has he lost confidence in GDG? And if so, I’m not exactly sure why because it didn’t appear to me to me that his defense or rebounding was particularly worse than that of anyone else.
** And Cam can’t or shouldn’t be considered the main culprit for the Panthers’ defensive struggles. But he had several issues with his own man at times, his help was untimely, and his boxing out on the defensive glass was hard to locate.
** Otherwise, while much of the needed defensive effort was there, communication and attention to detail on that end was not.
** Nonetheless, if you enjoy college hoops as much as most of us do, you know that just a few days after a stinging loss, there’s an opportunity for one of those satisfying wins.
** On the road at Florida State would be one such win. So even if this loss brings some thoughts that maybe the team isn’t quite what we thought they were, a win on Wednesday gets us back on that path.
** Conversely, most losses are disappointing. Some are really disappointing. But for me, I have to confess this one even stings a little more than usual.
** In fact, I’m stinging so much I considered not offering a post game entry today. But I’ve always pledged to write in the good and the bad. So perhaps this won’t be my best effort, but at least hopefully it will be a little bit better of an effort than our Panthers put forward today on the defensive glass.
** But this one stings a little more than usual not because of the loss in itself, but more because this is the first loss that makes me worry that this team isn’t quite the team that I thought they might be.
** I’ll readily acknowledge this could easily be an overreaction.
** So let’s be clear that I’m not yet offering any kind of predictions that our tournament berth is moving toward the bubble.
** And even if this team was most everything we thought they might be, we were always going to lose a minimum of three more ACC games after Duke, and this one was on the list of games we might lose.
** So there’s that.
** But it’s still a game I believed we should win, and I’m a bit troubled that we didn’t.
** Or maybe it’s just as simple as needing to figure out how to improve our defensive rebounding.
** This has been a real problem for us at times this year. This was the first time it cost us a win.
** Also when we needed stops down the stretch, our defense failed us.
** Louisville scored on their final four possessions and 9 of their final 10 possessions. We were up 2 when that streak started. The math is pretty simple. We lost by four.
** What adds to the sting is that we did enough good things offensively to win this. We shot well enough and took care of the ball well enough. And we scored extra points over average on a great night at the foul line.
** On the offensive end down the stretch, we showed enough poise, and truly benefited from the full return of Damian Dunn.
** For whatever reason, Damian was seemingly the only Panther who could be counted on to clear the defensive glass, especially in the second half.
** But all of the Panthers, including Damian made gaffs on the defensive end. Long story short, this team has a long way to go to figure out how to defend ball screens as a team. A couple times we went under the screen without secondary help, leaving Reyne Smith way too much room to torch us.
** Reyne may be a pretty decent player, but he’s not nearly as good as the Panthers allowed him to be today.
** While I don’t necessarily question Capel’s second half strategy to play his main five for all but 2 minutes in the second half, I do wonder exactly what he’s thinking. Has he lost confidence in GDG? And if so, I’m not exactly sure why because it didn’t appear to me to me that his defense or rebounding was particularly worse than that of anyone else.
** And Cam can’t or shouldn’t be considered the main culprit for the Panthers’ defensive struggles. But he had several issues with his own man at times, his help was untimely, and his boxing out on the defensive glass was hard to locate.
** Otherwise, while much of the needed defensive effort was there, communication and attention to detail on that end was not.
** Nonetheless, if you enjoy college hoops as much as most of us do, you know that just a few days after a stinging loss, there’s an opportunity for one of those satisfying wins.
** On the road at Florida State would be one such win. So even if this loss brings some thoughts that maybe the team isn’t quite what we thought they were, a win on Wednesday gets us back on that path.
