This was just one of those games.  I have to say I was not particularly pleasant to be around near the 15 minute mark in the second half.  It was one of those games that was so frustrating to watch that you started bickering with the people you were watching with-- AND THEY'RE BRUIN FANS.  
     The horrendous officiating did not make it any easier to watch either.  Obviously, bad officiating always seems worse when you're not playing well and that's exactly what happened today.  However, that does not change the fact that the officiating was, in fact, horrendous.  Kevin Love deserves a Purple Heart for the pounding he took out there today.
     Given how awful we looked during stretches today, I was still relatively pleased with most of the guys' performances.  
     Like the rest of us, I'm worried about DC.  He was largely ineffective today and still looks hesitant out there.  I don't know if it's still a little rust or if he's getting used to the brace or if he just had a terrible game.  He is a major factor in our success and we will need a lot more out of him once conference play starts.  I'm interested to see what both Darren and Coach Howland have to say about Darren's performance today.  
     The other guy I'm worried about is Mike Roll.  Every game I tell myself that this will be the one where Mike finds his rhythm early and shoots the lights out.  It still hasn't happened.  He IS an excellent interior passer and helps with our zone offense, but we positively MUST get a better 3 pt. shooting percentage out of him.  I'm not going to start pulling out the Brandon Lloyd (I cringe even saying the name) comparisons right now, but I can certainly say that he is not yet living up to my expectations of him this year.  
     Saying that I'm worried about LoMaRe is a given.  Obviously, I hope he's not too injured.  (Knocking on wood).
     On a more positive note, Kevin Love was an absolute beast out there today.  Given the fact that all of Michigan's bigs should have been fouled out in the first 12 minutes of the game and Love hardly even got a free throw out of it, Kevin's performance today seems that much better.  He is getting tougher both physically and mentally and is shaping into the monster we were all hoping he'd be.  Major props to Kevin-- he's my player of the game.  
     Luc looked solid again today making some nice moves to the hole and picking up a couple excellent blocks on the defensive end.  I know a lot of us wanted "Freshman Year Luc" back after a slight regression last year, but he's playing the best he's ever played as a Bruin right now.  
     Westy sorta disappeared there for a while-- which is slightly disconcerting, but he found himself again later in the game and was more-or-less effective in attacking the basket.  I'm certainly not doubting his aggressiveness and I'm sure he'll be back attacking next game.    
     Alfred looked fine if you forget about him throwing one of the worst passes ever thrown in the history of basketball.  It was so bad of a pass that it didn't even frustrate me-- all I could do was laugh.  
     And Josh was absolutely lethal in the last ten minutes.  His entire game performance was solid, but he was absolutely on fire there near the end and was really the one to put them away with some big 3's.  I have no problem with the 360 dunk there at the end.  In fact, I thought it was awesome.  I'll let all the old guys on BRO bitch and moan about how "classless" it was blah blah blah.  Newsflash: the game isn't going to get any "classier" so learn to enjoy it or you're in for constant disappointment.  
     As a team, I thought the zone attack was improved somewhat, though, it still has room for improvement.  The announcers seemed to think that our execution against the zone today did not reflect what we practiced yesterday, but they proved themselves to be thorough idiots anyway, so you'll have to take everything they said today with a grain of salt.  Or five.  
     The reason I think this game was so frustrating to watch is because we all know the true potential of this team and had to watch them  play well below that level for a majority of the game.  We finished strong which, again, really speaks to the never-give-up-attitude that has been so ingrained in this program since the Gonzaga game and is a direct result of the toughness that Ben Howland constantly exudes.  But we aren't going to win many games only playing 8 minutes of good basketball.  Maybe we got a little cocky with our early lead.  Maybe we were still on West Coast time.  Maybe Belein made some excellent adjustments.  Maybe it was a little bit of all of that, but we need to start finding our rhythm in both halves, not just the second.  
     The play that really reminded me of what we are capable of came late in the game when Alfred harassed the PG well above the 3 pt. line, got help with the double team, and we forced a jump ball.  That was us turning the defensive intensity up like a million notches.  That showed us all quite how good we can be and thusly, it is frustrating to watch us play at any level below that.  This is good frustration.  The kind of frustration you feel after a 15 point win on the road.  
     So no, I don't think we played all that well today.  Yes, we have PLENTY to work on.  But for those of you who are going to let one game make you Howland-doubters I am kindly asking you to take your complaints elsewhere. That being said, I NEVER want to face a Belein team in the tourney. EVER.  IN BEN I TRUST.