I'm not as bummed about the loss as I am about not being able to watch that group play more.
Amazing season but what should have been
- Thread starter Fanaticat98
- Start date
I agree with you (once per year!). Not on NU. It was a good game, but not quite our best. If you want to beat really good teams, you have to hit more open looks.
The atypical part of this game is that NU was so good inside. In the PSU BTT game, NU was sub 40% on twos. NU is a mediocre-to-bad shooting team. And Berry missed a lot of shots, which is what he did for most of the season.
This one was on UCLA being an awesome, awesome team, with both experienced veterans and youthful athleticism. With NU’s skill level, NU needed to play near-perfect. They played just about their best game of the season.
Imagine UCLA with their best defensive player, who also scores 13ppg. Wow!
They are very very good on defense. Chase got hot and we put more points on them in the 2nd than it could be expected.
#10’s height and Jaquez somewhat slow feet are the main weaknesses they have on the defensive end.
Total heroic effort by coaches and players. That's the most I've ever enjoyed the season.
From MSU on, as a fan I thought NU was in every game to win. Only a couple shots away from the next round yesterday, too.
UCLA looked plenty strong. Jaquez is worth his hype. A few times during the game they ran the Jaquez play, where Jaquez gets the ball near the paint, dribbles around to attract a couple defenders, then steps back and sinks a jumper.
From MSU on, as a fan I thought NU was in every game to win. Only a couple shots away from the next round yesterday, too.
UCLA looked plenty strong. Jaquez is worth his hype. A few times during the game they ran the Jaquez play, where Jaquez gets the ball near the paint, dribbles around to attract a couple defenders, then steps back and sinks a jumper.
A big reason for that is that UCLA is a very good Defensive team. I think I saw that UCLA was #1 in effective defense. They showed why they had that ranking. And when Buie drove deep, it often led to blocks and that altered other shots. We needed Barhizer, Berry or Behran to be more effective to open things up. We had a bunch of turnovers and they were effective at converting them as well
Don't have to look back far. In the BTT against PSU I believe we were 35% from 2 and 25% from 3.
Barney is at least not afraid to take shots, But remember that this is his first year of playing at this level and the next step in his development is for him to find someone open when he is blocked off rather than forcing the shot
Subjectively they are a bad shooting team (you, and some others). Objectively they are mediocre shooting team. So what, the season is over and they did great despite that. Improve next year.
This season was incredible and exceeded all expectations. The UCLA loss stings, but we knew we would likely lose if we didn’t play well offensively. And we didn’t.
I’m still very hopeful that Boo & Chase return for one more year. Then we just need an impact transfer or two, and development across the board, to get back to the dance with perhaps an even better seeding.
Side note: let’s not forget that we landed in the toughest region. The West is stacked this year. Perhaps we can get in an easier bracket next year.
I’m still very hopeful that Boo & Chase return for one more year. Then we just need an impact transfer or two, and development across the board, to get back to the dance with perhaps an even better seeding.
Side note: let’s not forget that we landed in the toughest region. The West is stacked this year. Perhaps we can get in an easier bracket next year.