** It’s been over day since our loss to Wisconsin, and time hasn’t made me feel one bit better about it.
** Accepting losses is always easier when you know you gave it your best, and I don’t feel that way about this one.
** I can’t say that we didn’t give it our best because of lack of effort or focus, something that looked to be the case in several of our losses this year.
** But as has often been the case with Dixon’s team in the NCAA tournament, we never really looked loose or relaxed on the offensive end.
** On the defensive end, we were splendid. Like no other time this year, our guys grasped the idea of rotating in the half court, and covered shooters. The second half defense wasn’t as good, but was good enough for the Panthers to have come away victorious.
** But like no other time this year, our offense let us down in a big way.
** It was obvious from the beginning that Dixon’s game plan was to play for defense. In the most general terms, I don’t necessarily disagree with the notion. But in this game, I believe it was taken too far, and that may have been at least part of the difference between winning and losing.
** I spent most of the second half of the game screaming at Dixon for having Nelson-Ododa in the game. It got so bad that my 10 year old Son left the room. He came back at the timeout to tell me that I was honestly scaring him. Yes, my tirade was that intense and profanity laced. I’m not proud.
** My problem with Nelson Ododa isn’t just that he can’t bring much if anything to the table offensively. I don’t think he’s that good of a defender either, and for most of the game, he brought a mixed bag to the table in his efforts to guard.
** Still, when the TV timeout occurred at the 5:46 mark of the second half and Pitt had the ball, I took some comfort knowing that Dixon would substitute there, defense for offense. I, for one, don’t really have the same issue with Dixon’s subs patterns as many do. Mostly they make sense to me, and it was going to be a routine switch there to get Ododa out. Maybe Ryan goes in. Maybe a front line of Young, Jeter and Arits. Whatever.
** But when Alonzo came back in, this time I just quietly shook my head saying to myself “I don’t believe it.” I had to stay quiet as my Son was once again with me in the room.
** What followed was that notorious turnover. I tried withhold another tirade, but I wasn’t completely successful, especially when Wisky converted the TO into a three.
** I certainly can’t say that had Nelson Ododa and Rafel Maia combined for something like 20 minutes instead of 27, and Ryan Luther had played 11 instead of 4 that we would have won. But I surely wish that’s what would have happened.
** Still, despite what I think was mostly an inexplicable use of Nelson Ododa, this game was probably lost more because we just didn’t hit shots.
** More to the point, it was lost because James Robinson didn’t hit shots.
** I think it’s important to note that James played a very good game in many respects. He defended well, moved the ball, got into the lane, and rebounded tremendously.
** Unfortuneatly, getting into the lane doesn’t help much if you aren’t turning that work into points. Over and over, James failed to do so, when perhaps just one make anywhere could have made a significant difference in the game.
** Most certainly, it would have made all the difference in the game had James found a way to score in those last ten seconds.
** Perhaps those last ten seconds sum up everything good and bad about the career of James Robinson. He helped play good defense, then corralled the rebound. But after heading safely down the court, he neither had the speed, ability, or craftiness to make a play.
** Maybe it was Mike's fault for the bump. It was probably some of both. It doesn’t matter.
** I’m really torn wondering what the prospects for the Panthers next year without James. In many ways, I think he was a little underappreciated by some. I suspect there will be times next year when we’ll think to ourselves how much we miss James Robinson.
** But maybe in even more ways, James’ graduation provides the Panthers the real opportunity to improve. To think James wasn’t a decent player is not accurate. You don’t leave the college as the All-Time NCAA assist to TO ratio leader without being decent. But at times, you need to be able to do more than not turn the ball over, and for most of this Wisconsin game, it was one of those times.
** We’ve been hard on Jamel this year, but it wouldn’t be fair to miss giving him a shout out for hitting two big money threes down the stretch.
** And Chris Jones played one of his better games of the year, especially on the defensive end. But like with James, the Panthers needed offense, and Chris didn’t even take a second half shot.
** A few times Mike Young tried to enter the mix, but too often the shot was forced or the ball was turned over.
** Still, singling out any player for this season ending game misses the point. The point is that this team just wasn’t a high quality team. Perhaps, Dixon sold out this game far too much on defense and that affected the offense yesterday. In fact, I think this was a big part of our problem last night. But if we had better players able to make better plays, we wouldn’t have been a 10 seed in the Tournament to begin with.
** With that, one could suggest that had Dixon tried a much more offensive game plan, we might have lost this game 67-63. But a loss all the same.
** And losses in this amazing event called the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament always have a miserable feel about them. That is until you start thinking again about next year. For some in the Panther Nation, next year led by Coach Dixon brings hope. And others, it’s miserable. But I’ll get to that a little later.
** Accepting losses is always easier when you know you gave it your best, and I don’t feel that way about this one.
** I can’t say that we didn’t give it our best because of lack of effort or focus, something that looked to be the case in several of our losses this year.
** But as has often been the case with Dixon’s team in the NCAA tournament, we never really looked loose or relaxed on the offensive end.
** On the defensive end, we were splendid. Like no other time this year, our guys grasped the idea of rotating in the half court, and covered shooters. The second half defense wasn’t as good, but was good enough for the Panthers to have come away victorious.
** But like no other time this year, our offense let us down in a big way.
** It was obvious from the beginning that Dixon’s game plan was to play for defense. In the most general terms, I don’t necessarily disagree with the notion. But in this game, I believe it was taken too far, and that may have been at least part of the difference between winning and losing.
** I spent most of the second half of the game screaming at Dixon for having Nelson-Ododa in the game. It got so bad that my 10 year old Son left the room. He came back at the timeout to tell me that I was honestly scaring him. Yes, my tirade was that intense and profanity laced. I’m not proud.
** My problem with Nelson Ododa isn’t just that he can’t bring much if anything to the table offensively. I don’t think he’s that good of a defender either, and for most of the game, he brought a mixed bag to the table in his efforts to guard.
** Still, when the TV timeout occurred at the 5:46 mark of the second half and Pitt had the ball, I took some comfort knowing that Dixon would substitute there, defense for offense. I, for one, don’t really have the same issue with Dixon’s subs patterns as many do. Mostly they make sense to me, and it was going to be a routine switch there to get Ododa out. Maybe Ryan goes in. Maybe a front line of Young, Jeter and Arits. Whatever.
** But when Alonzo came back in, this time I just quietly shook my head saying to myself “I don’t believe it.” I had to stay quiet as my Son was once again with me in the room.
** What followed was that notorious turnover. I tried withhold another tirade, but I wasn’t completely successful, especially when Wisky converted the TO into a three.
** I certainly can’t say that had Nelson Ododa and Rafel Maia combined for something like 20 minutes instead of 27, and Ryan Luther had played 11 instead of 4 that we would have won. But I surely wish that’s what would have happened.
** Still, despite what I think was mostly an inexplicable use of Nelson Ododa, this game was probably lost more because we just didn’t hit shots.
** More to the point, it was lost because James Robinson didn’t hit shots.
** I think it’s important to note that James played a very good game in many respects. He defended well, moved the ball, got into the lane, and rebounded tremendously.
** Unfortuneatly, getting into the lane doesn’t help much if you aren’t turning that work into points. Over and over, James failed to do so, when perhaps just one make anywhere could have made a significant difference in the game.
** Most certainly, it would have made all the difference in the game had James found a way to score in those last ten seconds.
** Perhaps those last ten seconds sum up everything good and bad about the career of James Robinson. He helped play good defense, then corralled the rebound. But after heading safely down the court, he neither had the speed, ability, or craftiness to make a play.
** Maybe it was Mike's fault for the bump. It was probably some of both. It doesn’t matter.
** I’m really torn wondering what the prospects for the Panthers next year without James. In many ways, I think he was a little underappreciated by some. I suspect there will be times next year when we’ll think to ourselves how much we miss James Robinson.
** But maybe in even more ways, James’ graduation provides the Panthers the real opportunity to improve. To think James wasn’t a decent player is not accurate. You don’t leave the college as the All-Time NCAA assist to TO ratio leader without being decent. But at times, you need to be able to do more than not turn the ball over, and for most of this Wisconsin game, it was one of those times.
** We’ve been hard on Jamel this year, but it wouldn’t be fair to miss giving him a shout out for hitting two big money threes down the stretch.
** And Chris Jones played one of his better games of the year, especially on the defensive end. But like with James, the Panthers needed offense, and Chris didn’t even take a second half shot.
** A few times Mike Young tried to enter the mix, but too often the shot was forced or the ball was turned over.
** Still, singling out any player for this season ending game misses the point. The point is that this team just wasn’t a high quality team. Perhaps, Dixon sold out this game far too much on defense and that affected the offense yesterday. In fact, I think this was a big part of our problem last night. But if we had better players able to make better plays, we wouldn’t have been a 10 seed in the Tournament to begin with.
** With that, one could suggest that had Dixon tried a much more offensive game plan, we might have lost this game 67-63. But a loss all the same.
** And losses in this amazing event called the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament always have a miserable feel about them. That is until you start thinking again about next year. For some in the Panther Nation, next year led by Coach Dixon brings hope. And others, it’s miserable. But I’ll get to that a little later.
