FanPost

Random Thoughts on the UW Game

Bumped. I have already made my thoughts on SPTRs clear last night. That said, I do believe 66 and others have some great points on what went down yesterday. As usual great (and not so random) thoughts from 66.  GO BRUINS. -N

1. It's really difficult to determine the total impact the SPTR's had on this game. It's easy to see the discrepancy in points at the line -- they gained 26 points on us with FT's.

But, I think the difference runs much deeper. We were taken out of our defensive game by some very questionable calls that both put fouls on our starters AND forced us to step back a bit. 

I've rolled back the DVR on several calls and they were terrible. And, it may be that I'm a Bruin but I don't think the game was called consistently on both ends of the floor. If they came inside, they almost always got a foul call. When we did, we didn't. Watch the replays -- and decide for yourselves.

The T on Aboya? 

And, the timing of the fouls was critical. They were in the bonus way too early.

2. We have to expect this type of officiating and find a way to win -- even if we are playing 5 against 8. One thing we must do is make the FT's they allow us to take. We could have stayed a bit closer if we had not shot so poorly from the line -- when it counted.

3. Talk about when it counted -- we were given our FT's after the game was out of hand. It may be the conspiracy theorist in me, but I think the ref's went to work trying to narrow the gap -- but they just couldn't.

4. But, I think the thing that really hurt us was that they were just much faster than we were. Several times they brought the ball up and straight to the hoop -- Tyus style -- and scored.

And, as we expected, we had trouble with Brockman -- though we did hold his scoring down, he had 8 rebounds.

5. I wish we could merge JK and ND together. JK's toughness, rebounding, banging and ND's scoring. They are not fungible, now. We lose O with Keefe in the game and D with ND. And, I think the drop off is clear.

6. To me, the best part of this game is the fact that the youngsters got a lot of playing time in a very tough game in a very tough venue and played very well. We will see the benefit of this experience at the end of the season.

I remain very impressed with DG who, when he adds 20 lbs of muscle, will be unstoppable. Bobo played very well; in a marked difference from how he played at the beginning of the year, he was getting back on D quickly. JA gives us very valuable minutes, plays aggressively but under control and makes smart decisions. He is essential to getting DC some rest and that's important now, and even more so later.

7. Where will our points come from? That is the big question in all of our games. We need more consistency from ND, AA2, and DC. And we need more from JH. I still have the feeling he could take over the game a bit more. We started this game with JH and DC going inside and we pulled ahead. I'd like to see more of that. We've had some games with very balanced scoring -- but this was not one of them. JS had 25, DC 12, AA2 4, ND 8 and JH 8. 

8. Unlike Bruin teams of the past, we are getting beat in the second half. I don't think it's coaching or that there are that many adjustments we can make. We play man D and run our same O. We just drop off. And, I'm not sure it's fatigue -- CBH played the bench a lot to give our starters first half rest.

But, I do think some of that drop off in this game was the fact that the ref's called 10 fouls on us within the first few minutes of the second half.

9. Is it just me -- does anyone else agree that we don't use our offense in a way to take advantage of the fouls on our opponents. When their guys get in early foul trouble, we seldom go at them. Game after game, guys with 3 on them early in the first half somehow are able to last for the entire game.

10. Final point: Splitting on the road may well get it done IF we hold firm on our home court. We cannot lose any more home games and will have to steal at least one more on the road.

I still like where we sit. I like our team and talent and I'm still optimistic that we will win the conference.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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