First of all, great game last night. I am impressed with this team and their heart. (Measured in part by the rebounding advantage and hustle after loose balls.) Pretty crucial when the shots aren't falling. Wish I could have been in the BUC in person. Here are some observations and questions from my ESPN2 vantage point:
1. What was the atmosphere like in the BUC? Unfortunately, the main camera vantage point in the BUC, while great from a height perspective, shows the seats behind the team benches and scorer's table -- and those folks rarely stand, are often disguised as empty seats, etc. I know from a financial standpoint we couldn't give those seats to students, like Duke does, but it is unfortunate that that section of the crowd rarely seems excited about the game. It makes for a bad, and misleading, visual. Does anyone know if UM has any sort of program to allow season ticket holders to give back / donate their unused tickets to the schools -- to be awarded in a last-minute student lottery? I doubt it, but it would be a cool way to fill unused seats.
2. I missed the pre-game introductions. Was it anything special? I did see pics of the lighting, but didn't get a sense of what else might have happened.
3. Is there anyone in the nation that has improved his game over his career more than Tonye Jakiri? And its not just the rebounds and decision making. I used to cringe when he was on the line. Now, there aren't too many players on the team (clear exception for Sheldon) that I trust more to take the 10-12 ft. jumper or on the line. Kudos to him for his hard work, and to the coaching staff for great player development!
4. Example #1 ,001 of how great of a coach Larranaga is. His interaction with Angel on the bench after Angel became frustrated with Izundu was so telling in how much the players are in sync with Larranaga and the coaching staff. Walking back into the game, Angel shakes coach's hand and is immediately back into the game mentally.
5. We heard a lot about UF's defense, but I didn't see a lot that overwhelmed me. Perhaps it was because our ball movement was quite good. I thought we had good looks at the basket throughout the game that we just missed. Palmer seemed particularly unlucky -- a couple of his shots were halfway down and rattled out.
6. I love our dribble penetration, with the kick-out for an open 3 (if we can't take it all the way to the hoop or pick up a foul). It's such a crucial part of contemporary college basketball, and we do it well.
7. Good to see the defense step up last night. UF doesn't shoot well, but other than the end of the first half when UF made a little run, we kept them from getting into a rhythm. I finally saw why Murphy is considered such a great defender. We do, of course, need to develop some better defense inside when Jakiri is out of the game.
8. Telling stat -- UF scored 18 (1/3) of their 55 points in a 3 minute span at the end of the first half and in a 1.5 minute span late in the second when the game was over -- all on dunks, layups and free throws. In those two runs, UF shot 7-9 (77%). Excluding those runs, UF shot 31% (15-48) for the rest of the game.
Go Canes!
1. What was the atmosphere like in the BUC? Unfortunately, the main camera vantage point in the BUC, while great from a height perspective, shows the seats behind the team benches and scorer's table -- and those folks rarely stand, are often disguised as empty seats, etc. I know from a financial standpoint we couldn't give those seats to students, like Duke does, but it is unfortunate that that section of the crowd rarely seems excited about the game. It makes for a bad, and misleading, visual. Does anyone know if UM has any sort of program to allow season ticket holders to give back / donate their unused tickets to the schools -- to be awarded in a last-minute student lottery? I doubt it, but it would be a cool way to fill unused seats.
2. I missed the pre-game introductions. Was it anything special? I did see pics of the lighting, but didn't get a sense of what else might have happened.
3. Is there anyone in the nation that has improved his game over his career more than Tonye Jakiri? And its not just the rebounds and decision making. I used to cringe when he was on the line. Now, there aren't too many players on the team (clear exception for Sheldon) that I trust more to take the 10-12 ft. jumper or on the line. Kudos to him for his hard work, and to the coaching staff for great player development!
4. Example #1 ,001 of how great of a coach Larranaga is. His interaction with Angel on the bench after Angel became frustrated with Izundu was so telling in how much the players are in sync with Larranaga and the coaching staff. Walking back into the game, Angel shakes coach's hand and is immediately back into the game mentally.
5. We heard a lot about UF's defense, but I didn't see a lot that overwhelmed me. Perhaps it was because our ball movement was quite good. I thought we had good looks at the basket throughout the game that we just missed. Palmer seemed particularly unlucky -- a couple of his shots were halfway down and rattled out.
6. I love our dribble penetration, with the kick-out for an open 3 (if we can't take it all the way to the hoop or pick up a foul). It's such a crucial part of contemporary college basketball, and we do it well.
7. Good to see the defense step up last night. UF doesn't shoot well, but other than the end of the first half when UF made a little run, we kept them from getting into a rhythm. I finally saw why Murphy is considered such a great defender. We do, of course, need to develop some better defense inside when Jakiri is out of the game.
8. Telling stat -- UF scored 18 (1/3) of their 55 points in a 3 minute span at the end of the first half and in a 1.5 minute span late in the second when the game was over -- all on dunks, layups and free throws. In those two runs, UF shot 7-9 (77%). Excluding those runs, UF shot 31% (15-48) for the rest of the game.
Go Canes!
