I had half of this review written up. Then Cal Poly happened. They never quit. They knew that a Ben Howland team can be had defensively, especially when both Wears are in the game (and starting!). Paired with suspect perimeter defense, there was seemingly nothing the Mustangs wanted that they couldn't have in the last ten minutes as they came roaring back from a double digit deficit to turn Howland's No Excuses Tour into the Farewell Tour. Scoring over a Wear? No problem. Kick out to Kyle Odister and Dylan Royer to bury a knife in Ben Howland's back? Too easy.
Almost as disconcerting as our defensive ineptitude, which we've seen all season, is the aimless and directionless way this team tries to score. It is giving it too much credit to call it an offense. We were already terrible against a 2-3. Now with Cal Poly rolling out a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap and them actually being ill suited from a personnel standpoint to run it, and the Bruins still looking completely befuddled against it, there doesn't appear to be a defensive scheme out there that we can successfully penetrate. There isn't a fastbreak out there that we can't botch. Shabazz Muhammad should be a finisher, not a passer. Same goes for the Wears. The only fastbreaks we ran that weren't ugly were led by actual point guards. It's shocking how a team this talented can look this lost on both ends of the floor.
This one is going to be short. For those that still had hope for the season like me, you'll probably understand the deep seated anger over this and why there's just not much reason to expound further on the game. The rest of you that had watched with amusement and knew this was going to be a disaster, well, I can't blame you. Tyler Lamb had the right idea. The No Excuses Tour is over. Let the Farewell Tour begin.