Saturday, January 20, 2007

Wisconsin 71; Illinois 64 and Arizona 69; UCLA 73

Big Ten

Pretty predictable result. Quite frankly, I thought Wisconsin would roll, and Illinois made it a lot closer than I expected. They were victimized by some poor officiating, two calls in particular, but even more so by their own inability to make free throws. They shot only 60% from the line, and it seemed like every time it mattered, they could never do any better than one out of two. That was huge down the stretch.

The refs didn't help. They took two points off the board for Illinois when Brian Randle jumped to catch an entry pass and bounced to the rim for the basket and the foul. The ref inexplicably ruled that the foul was on the floor, which was interesting considering he was on the floor for about a tenth of a second. Later, with Wisconsin leading by only two and under a minute to go, Marcus Landry of Wisconsin drove the basket and ran over Brian Randle for an offensive foul. Only, somehow the basket was allowed to count. He rose, hit Randle, released the ball, yet still got credit for the basket instead of having waved off. A two point lead was stretched to four, Randle made only one of two, and that was that.

Good game for Sean Pruitt who had 19 and 14 against only one turnover. Another 0-5 for Jamar Smith, who let's face it, if this is all due to his ankles, he needs to be out of the lineup until he's healthy. On his last few shots, he missed everything. It's been really ugly, and either way, he's hurting the team right now. He's trying hard, but he just doesn't have it. Randle finished with 8 points, and seemed to lift the Illini when he started to assert himself down the stretch. He's turning into a poor man's Frank Williams. He sit out the first 30 minutes, and in the last 10 minutes, he makes you think "where the hell was he in the first 30 minutes?!" Oh well, the descent continues.

Pac 10

Boy is there egg on my face after I said Arizona would probably win. I forgot that they're loaded with guys who a) can't play defense, and b) struggle against teams that actually can play defense (UCLA, U$C, Wazzu....guess who three of Arizona's losses have come against?). A certain Cat fan once said "Defense is overrated; especially if you shoot 60% from the field." I've really only watched Arizona's last three games (48% against Oregon, 38% against U$C, and 39% against UCLA) so I guess I would have to watch a team that consistently shoots 60% to test that theory. Keep in mind that UCLA was missing its best interior defender as well.

Mustapha Shakur (11 points - six of which came in garbage time when the game had already been decided, 8 assists, 3 turnovers) showed why after four years, he remains one of the most overrated point guards in college basketball, as he was pretty much completely owned by a sophomore who wasn't supposed to be anything more than a backup this season (Collison had 14, 7, and 2). Juwann McLellan has gotten so bad that Lute is wishing he had kicked off a kid earlier in the season only so that he could reinstate him to replace McLellan. I'll give credit to Ivan Radenovic, who I actually noticed in the second half for the first time in his four years at Arizona.

A lot has been made of UCLA's "struggles" against zone defenses. Teams play zone defenses in an effort to make it difficult to get the ball inside (which often helps protect their own big men from foul trouble). The idea is to force your opponent into jump shots, and make the guards beat you. If teams want to play a style that dares Collison, Afflalo, Roll, Westbrook, and occasionally Shipp to beat them, well, good luck with that.

Deserving of recognition for UCLA:
  • Alfred Aboya was only 1-4 from the field, but he grabbed 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end, and made all of his free throws.
  • Michael Roll was only 3-9 from beyond arc, but finished with 13 points and a nice assist on the interior after breaking down the defense.
  • And of course, Aaron Afflalo was the player of the game yet again, going 9-14, including 3-6 from three, for 22 points. In addition, he held down Marcus Williams to 11 points., who finished with 11 points 4-12 shooting, and turned the ball over four times.
Not really a must win for UCLA, but it keeps them atop the conference standings along with Oregon, who is clearly the no worse than the second best team in the conference, and can prove they may very well be the best at Pauley next month. And of course, it's always good to see crybaby Lute lose again. It's off the Bay Area next week for two tough games against good teams from Cal and Stanford. It's another solid test from a conference that's loaded with good teams.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let the record show that Arizona still has the #1 Non Conference SOS (like it has all year)...before playing North Carolina on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Kenpom on Arizona and the North Carolina game...

"Getting back to Arizona - it’s not so unusual that they have the #1 offense against the #1 defensive SOS. Those offensive figures are adjusted for that schedule. What it does mean is that the impressive raw numbers that guys like Radenovic and Budinger are putting up have a higher degree of difficulty associated with them than most or perhaps all other players in the nation. And they are coming off a pasting of Arizona State without Marcus Williams.

The Cats are the second best team in the Pac-10, and I think in mid-to-late March that will be obvious. This game is winnable, but if they lose, watch how they lose. None of their losses have been disgraces, they’re sitting near the bottom of the luck standings, and their defense is probably underrated by my stats because they know they don’t need it on every possession with the scoring punch they have. Don’t get me wrong, they have limitations defensively, but having one of the best offenses in the nation is worth something. Where some see fatigue, I see bad bounces and a tough schedule. They have a late-season run written all over them. "

Seitz said...

I'm sure I'd find that comforting if I thought my team was really good and couldn't square that with the fact that they have five losses.

What it does mean is that the impressive raw numbers that guys like Radenovic and Budinger are putting up have a higher degree of difficulty associated with them than most or perhaps all other players in the nation.

Budinger and Radenovic on aggregate have both shot like crap in their losses in WSU, USC, and UCLA. So congratulations, you have a team that can really fill it up against crappy teams. That should serve you well come tournament time. But this was my favorite:
their defense is probably underrated by my stats because they know they don’t need it on every possession with the scoring punch they have.

Yeah, they take it easy on defense because they know their offense is so good. That's really worked out well for them in conference play.

I hope they beat UNC. It will be good for the conference. But I'd be surprised if they do. They simply aren't very mentally tough.

Seitz said...

Wow. That was a serious ass-kicking.