Thoughts on the game:
First, It was a terrible watch. And, I'm not talking about how we played. That was a sanctioned MMA wrestling match and not a basketball game. This is where the game has gone in the last 15 years and I just hate it. Miss State just fouled the hell out of everyone with the ball every play and dared the officials to call it, and they didn't. We could have done it too, but just weren't tough enough or in some cases, thick enough, to do it effectively. Every 5-10 years the NCAA says they are going to clean up the game and then some of the blue blood coaches with all the giant big guys raise hell and we let it go.
Second, you can diagnose it any way you want, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to put the ball in the hole. We got, and then missed, so many makeable shots and free throws there was simply no way to win the game regardless of everything else or coaching.
Third, I thought the kids played hard enough. Just respectfully disagree with some of you with a contrary opinion.
Fourth, the basketball skill is "blocking out" and not rebounding. When my dad coached, he said he did drills where the players were not allowed to get the ball off of the glass while it was in air and before it had hit the ground. He didn't track rebounding, he tracked blocking out. We simply didn't block out and make their players go over our backs on most occasions. Just find a guy, get between him and the goal, get in a stance, and try to keep from being pushed under the rim.
Finally, I thought we played OK defensively, but am I the only one that spent the entire game screaming for our guards to quit taking a left fake and letting both there guards go to their right. Should have been overplaying their right hand from the tip.
Back to the drawing board, and lets hope we steal one this saturday.
