Jim French Stepstool

My bad. So you had a MUCH better view than I. We were 3rd level, off the corner where McGee hit his 3-pointer.

That's a good point. The way they play now it's really come to that, at least regarding the perimeter people that can drive the ball. I actually thought it was a typically reffed game in that it had some inconsistencies to it. Nowadays you kinda have to expect that. AFA Oregon grabbing guys on the late inbounds plays, we were on the opposite end of the building so I'll defer to you. You probably had a better view of that from your sofa.

To answer the question at the head of this article, I think this is it. He'll play the Blake Perkins role, for about six weeks. How well he plays it is anyones' guess.

That's what's frustrating about it. It's like, 22 things went wrong in the last five minutes, and if it was only 21 things you probably win. Certainly shouldn't have any trouble getting kids' attention in practice.

Actually, I'd say neither for the most part. Too often we didn't attack, other times we settled instead of making an extra pass or two & making them guard longer.. I remember one shot near the rim where I thought Amos was mugged w/o a whistle, but other than that I don't think it was reffed abnormally.

AFA the conference title is concerned, the loss waaaay back when to Michigan hurt more than this one. It's now all about correcting mistakes, bouncing back & trying to stay in the top four. Sucks that Oregon hit on a nice strategy in the 2nd half. That press just threw everything off kilter. It was a good press, and we reacted to it poorly.

Just returned from Madison. A few thoughts........ I'm sure there will be a lot of wailing about a lack of aggressiveness in the 2nd half. Gard said as much. But along with that, I thought there were a lot of possessions in that half where we settled. You don't want to take the air out of the ball w/nine minutes left, but if you have a mediocre look 11 secs into the shot clock, take another ten, or twelve, or fifteen to probe for something better. IMO a lot of "What the hell, we're up 14" possessions. Evidence of that----We were well into OT & Oregon STILL had fouls to give. They worked hard defensively. We needed them to work harder. Bittle had three fouls at the half. He finished with three. Even with them doing some zone & at other times doubling Crowl, that can't happen. I credit Altman with pressing & staying with it. Even when it didn't result directly in a TO it really affected the halfcourt flow of the UW offense. And Bomba did a marvelous job on Tonje. He can make tough shots as we've all seen, but the difference was that's ALL he was getting after halftime. An OK 3pt look or two, but by that time he wasn't in any kind of rhythm. Once we got into the final few minutes we really tried to limit possessions & shrink the clock. At that time, I had zero problem with doing that. I look at it this way--we had four or five really bad TOs late. Eliminate one of them, then it's three or four which is still way too many, but we probably win the game in regulation. Klesmit with the ball late w/the game tied was........interesting. Like many I expected Blackwell or Tonje. Klesmit has actually made some humongous shots for them in that very situation, but I'll be interested in hearing something about that in the days to come. If it's one of the other two, they DID have fouls to give, so who knows? Just dicey when you aren't in the bonus. But yes, I didn't expect it to be Klesmit w/the ball.

Oregon has been real hit-or-miss since the conference season started. What concerns me is they have more than enough athleticism, decent depth & like UW they have five guys that can give you 16-17 points on a given day. No big scorer a la Tonje but Bittle is a pivot that can be trouble on both ends of the floor. Big challenge for Crowl & Winter. If they keep the floor spread it'll be risky to double the post or even hedge as both guards can make threes. Other than Bittle, I don't think they give us consistent problems w/their defense as long as we're as sharp as we've been in recent games. Crowl & Winter forcing Bittle out to defend the 3pt line would be huge. Things get interestingly tight at the top of the league w/a win.

Considering the current landscape of college FB, you raise a good point. OTOH there ARE kids being recruited from HS that stay put; they just aren't the ones making the headlines. Either way, the extension wasn't something I expected to see, not at this point in time. I think going forward, Fickell will look as smart as the new OC allows him to look.

It's great to have someone willing to take shots when needed & make them. But yeah, he won't keep dropping 30 a game & fortunately this is an unselfish group as well as a talented one so theoretically that won't be needed. It was nice to see the game (USC?) where he was held scoreless & they absorbed it well. The nice thing is he's putting up big scoring games w/o having to unload a ton of shots from the floor. Very efficient. I shudder to think how many hoists at the rim it would take AJ Storr to score 30-35.

When they come, they seem to be in bunches & are often unforced, or as a result of over-aggressiveness early in the game. That's correctable stuff. But you're right; the number isn't large & is tempered by the fact it almost always gets better after halftime.

On Bennetts' Final Four team, Watching the work turned in by Kelley vs Jaraan Cornell of Purdue was unforgettable. Give me a fantasy guard combo of Kelley & Mike Flowers, and you may not score much from the perimeter but you'd have opposing backcourts going into the locker room at halftime & not wanting to come back out.

I think it was Al McGuire who once said something like "You work hard on the defensive end, and you rest on offense". In the pre-shot clock era that worked really well. To increase the # of possessions & still convert to defense effectively is hard, but they're doing it & seem to be getting better at it. It helps toward that end when your bench guys can guard people. Gilmore, McGee & Janicki can all do it, and Amos has gotten much better.

In terms of shooting alone, they're on the short list for sure. If what Crowl did from long range last night is a sign of things to come, look out........I mean, they turned it over ten times, had some other sloppy possessions in the 1st half, and STILL put up 95 points.

@Oxy Made a good point the other day, about who gets the opposing shots. On the perimeter Saturday it was guys not named Smith & Loyer. Last night, Humrichous was put on the spot. He & Gibbs-Lawhorn both provided some pretty good offense, but in both games making life tough for go-to scorers paid off in the long run. Yeah, the helping & hedging has been really good lately.

Yep. And I loved the way they played under Bo. And contrary to many, I thought the way they played under Bennett was beautiful in its' effectiveness & relentlessness on defense and just the overall intelligence they showed. Under both those guys the players fit the system extremely well. Your 1st couple sentences above pretty much mirror how I sometimes feel. And let's face it, Tonje is making some deep shots that a lot of coaches would cringe at. But the pace is comfortable to them, and as long as they keep the bedrocks in place---the defense, rebounding, taking care of the ball---it's working. I find it interesting, the last couple games, to see where they take the foot off the gas w/a late lead & start to melt the clock. looks to be around 4 minutes. And Blackwell seems to have a good feel for orchestrating that, which is gratifying since that role was thrust upon him.

They can score in bunches; I was concerned too. Maybe losing Johnson & having Ivisic under the weather took a little toughness out of them. Not a consistent season from them but maybe that's what you get when you have an entirely new roster save for one or two guys.

The impressive thing is to do it w/o robbing Peter to pay Paul. Any coach can get in front of a mic on media day, say "we're going to be exciting, we're playing up tempo, yadda yadda yadda." But if you have defensive principles in place &value making good decisions, being physical & taking care of the ball, it's easy for all that to go out the window in the process. I think maybe the most impressive thing about Gard is they've done this on a more gradual plain, upping the ante pace-wise while still valuing the basketball & emphasizing fundamentals & defense. And now, here we are. The defense seems to get better as the season unfolds, and any turnover issues this season seem to get cleaned up after halftime. And this team tonite punished them on the boards in Champaign, and UW totally flipped that script (granted, Illinois was short a couple of guys from the 1st meeting). Just really impressive.

I thought the defense WAS a little better in the 2nd half. Don't know what the pace of the game was AFA how much of the shot clock was being used, but it was brisk & that probably had something to do with Illinois getting into a rhythm. Bottom line, if you can limit Smith & Jakucionis like they did the last two games you're doing something right. I thought Crowl & Winter were both real good on both ends tonight, esp Crowl obviously. Enjoyed the 'one-man delay' from Blackwell late in the game both Saturday and tonite. To not give up the ball, slither through the defense after 20 seconds & wind up with a bucket is pretty demoralizing for a defense. So too, is Tonje being Tonje. I don't know what an opponent can do with someone who scores in so many ways.

ALMOST. Well, maybe not.😛

It really says something about the offensive capabilities of this team, that they could display the sloppiness they did at times in the 1st half & still go into the break with 47 points. Almost looked a little like UW was getting too gassed to guard the last 6-7 minutes of the half. That IS a team with talent on the offensive end though. Hated to see Riley get going late. And Humrichous kinda saved them from maybe being down 18-20 at one point. Crowl scoring inside & out is great to see. Illinois is on the verge of some foul trouble. Keep looking to drive.

Morez Johnson, a freshman who has been a terror on the boards & defensively for Illinois this season, suffered a broken wrist in their last game. Out for Wisconsin tomorrow & I would guess the rest of the season.

Interesting stat of the day: Jack Janicki has played 254 minutes this season. That's the equivalent of six full 40-minute games, plus a little change. He's turned the ball over three times.

Yes. I'd put Tennessee in that last group too. Toughened by that SEC grind, & I feel they may have a bit more in them than they've shown.

I hope some sort of sanity-driven structure returns. I'd like it if a transfer is only allowed to play immediately if his previous coach retires, takes another job or gets canned. But I think the stuff you propose has a better chance of happening. As much as high majors don't like this, I can't even imagine what it's like for a mid or low-major program. "We're thrilled here at Southeastern New Mexico A&T that you're having such a terrific season for us. But could you back off on the productivity for a few games? Pitino just whipped out his checkbook & we can smell it from here."