I won't say Bo was out-coached, but aside from that 3 pointer, Kentucky essentially ran ONE FUKKIN PLAY. They drove the middle of the lane all game long.
Correction, Kentucky has ran one play all tournament. Pretty hard to stop when they can just put their heads down and get a shot or a foul call almost every time. Give Caliparri credit, he understood the loop hole in the new rule enforcement and had the horses to pull it off.
Well, here it is the next day and I am still stinging from this loss.
I just so with that last shot went in. It was extremely close.
Hats off the the Badgers and Coach Ryan! I thought that when KU came out in the second half with that run that she was all over. Our boys sucked it up and made a huge run of their own, thus setting up a great last ten minutes of toe to toe big time college basketball.
Gasser should have been a bit more aggressive in his coverage on the last shot, but who knows, he still could have made it. KU is big, fast and good and Wisconsin was right there with them and had a chance.....last shot goes in Bo is all over TV, not Cal.
I can't wait till next yr. The nucleus of seasoned, improved veterans along with the emergence of the freshmen bodes well.
On Wisconsin!
Great posts! I love to read them all. Good analysis.
I just saw a photo in our morning paper of the game-winning shot by Harrison. Gasser was there with a hand in the face-maybe a tad late-but for Harrison was way past the arc, at an angle to the basket, too-I like our chances. Yes, he's clutch, he made it. But it was still a low percentage shot from that location. Sure, I would've rather have seen a drive to the hoop and a tie game, but as another poster said, an inch difference and it's a different celebration.
Funny, my wife says the same thing. 
Yah, kinda sad when I wake up and still feel the sick feeling in my stomach. But.....the Badgers had one h*ll of a ride and next year will be a good time with most the team in place. On Wisconsin indeed.
One more thing, did anyone see the irritation on Bo's face when the scorer's table buzzed in a substitution after Trae had the ball ready to shoot his first free throw?
Maybe after the long wait due to the timeout--then gets the ball, ready to focus and the buzzer sounds--threw him off a bit on the first free throw? we'll never know, but it was a distraction.
When isn't there a irritated look on Bo's face?
But yes, I too saw that and wondered what the heck was going on..
I think getting rid of the hand checking was absolutely the right move by the NCAA. The "no charge" call on the other hand, well that just got out of hand. Perhaps they will make a correction down the road, but "lower you shoulder into the paint" isn't exactly the prettiest version of hoops I've seen.
It has impacted the game to a big man's game though. Bucky may have been better off telling Anderson to get in there, hack as hard as he could and make sure the ball never got to the rim. Making then shoot two free throws (instead of an "and one") might have kept them at bay.
Yes, I just suggested Bucky may have had a better chance putting in one of the least athletic/talented players on the team, because that is what that game became.
"The "no charge" call on the other hand, well that just got out of hand."
Agree.
The refs can see whether the player has his head up and is attempting to make a basket or if he has his head down, holds the ball like a football and leads with his shoulder.
Call a charge or two per game and get back to playing basketball.
I saw the press conference after the game on the BTN channel. Traevon said he was hit on the elbow on the last shot.
If you watch the reply, it does look like the KY player quickly pulls his hand back after the shot and looks at the ref (or looks sheepishly like "oops").
Not sure if it affected the shot or not. I don't think the refs would call that either unless it's blatantly a foul.
if indeed there was a foul, IMO at that point in the game it would have had to have been a obvious one to have been called. I did not see anything obvious and judging by their on court, real time reactions Bo and Jackson did not either. We have all seen Bo go apoplectic over much less.
Extremely difficult loss, but Kentucky made the plays at crunch time and Bucky didn't. Biggest takeaway from the run was that the Badger team was capable of winning it all and that wasn't the case the last time they made the Final Four.
I'd be a little surprised if they aren't top five in the preseason rankings.
I just keep going back to the sequence starting at Traevon's 3 FT's.
One other thing about that sequence. He missed that first FT by about a half an inch. It was that close. Hit the back of the rim and out.
If I could have that sequence back, I'd just as soon Traevon makes the last shot for the drama, but second preference would be to see how the game plays out had he made all three FT's.
Well, whatever. Haven't felt this much pain after a sporting event in a long, long time.
And finally, yeah, next year's team will be better barring the unforeseen, such as injury.
Barring that, I figure they will be good enough to get by the first two games in the NCAA's fairly easily.
But, as good as they may be, the tourney is such a crapshoot. You just never know. One reason why you want to get it when the opportunity presents itself.
Just off the top of my head, I am thinking of the UCLA team that won it all. But, they needed Tyus Edney to take the ball down the entire court and lay it in at the buzzer to avoid losing to Missouri. I think that was a second round game.
You just never know. Unless the team is a powerhouse (like the Ewing Hoyas), it is just so uncertain as to who takes the championship.
Two possessions, both in the 1st half were the ones that got me. Badgers up 30-24, Koenig misses a 3 at 5:54, O rebound by Frank, at 5:31 Brust misses a 11 footer, O rebound by Frank, and then at 5:26 Brust misses a 15 footer, rebound by Kentucky. Kentucky made shots after O rebounds, we did not.
The other possessions was at the end 1st half. After a time out the best we could do was a 3 by Koenig? Yes he was hot early in the half but he had played for 16 minutes straight by then and must have been tired because he missed 3 shots in a row late in the 1st half not counting free throws. I wish they would have tried to work the ball inside for an easy shot and maybe a plus 1.
Phaedrus, to prove your point about the crapshoot, that Ewing powerhouse lost to Villanova......
Yeah, those were toughies.
I especially remember the last shot in the 1st half. The commentators said no matter what UW did, the way the half ended, Kentucky would be psyched about the status of the game.
Up 6 instead of 4 would have been nice.
On a good note, UW's comeback after being down 8 (and it sure seemed precarious) was awesome.
Ammo I agree, they should have worked it around at the end of the half. if I am not mistaken UK was in a bit of foul trouble and had some second stringers in at the time.
Phaedrus, to prove your point about the crapshoot, that Ewing powerhouse lost to Villanova......
Yup and in fact yesterday I saw that portion of the espn 30 30 on the Big East.
Come to think of it, one of the Ewing teams only beat #16 seed princeton by a point and I think Princeton had the final possession and did not convert.
Good posts by El ka Bong and Free Safety
Phaedrus, to prove your point about the crapshoot, that Ewing powerhouse lost to Villanova......
Yup and in fact yesterday I saw that portion of the espn 30 30 on the Big East.
Come to think of it, one of the Ewing teams only beat #16 seed princeton by a point and I think Princeton had the final possession and did not convert.
If that is the same game I am thinking of Gtown had Alonzo and Charles Smith, Pat was with the Kincks by then. 1989 I think it was
ahhh, thx PP!
Do the aprox. 100,000 people that are watching the first game in the stadium have to leave, after the game ends, so that another 100,000 people get to come into the stadium for the second game or do the people in there now get to watch both games??????
Jesus ****
One other thing. Is there a way to start a petition to get rid of Greg Anthony. I mean the guy said so many idiotic things during that telecast. At least Steve Kerr basically called him out on a bunch of things. He kept claiming that the push that Kaminsky got to his face wasn't a foul. Then, at the end, he criticized Gasser for not being close enough to Harrison even though Gasser has to defend a drive with 6 seconds left and did contest the shot fairly well that was taken ABOUT 6 FEET behind the three point line with 7 second left. It was terrible shot selection but it went in.
I am still smarting from this game.
In the last 20 years, the only losses that rate for me this high are 95 against Cowboys and 97 SB loss. 4th and 26 and Terrel Owens do not rate as high as for me the significance of those games not as high, neither even being the conference championship.
I kind of disagree on the point about defending the last shot for the simple reasons that the guy hit too many daggers before and a 3 beats you. The defense I would have preferred is to stick to him like a flea on a dog when behind the arc. If he gets by, just need defensive help and if that allows a 2, so be it.
Do not let that one guy beat us with a 3 unless he makes one with a guy right on his face.
Couple more thoughts. Traevon. What is his % success? Is it all that high? One shot I recall (and they showed it on espn) was Kaminsky's put back of a Traevon miss. Traevon had a wide open ~8 footer in the FT paint area and the shot did not even draw iron.
Another thought. The early two fouls on Traevon probably actually helped the Badgers because I don't think he ever got in foul trouble and it caused the Badgers to give Koenig more minutes and I believe Koenig got 11 points in the first half. His contribution was huge.
Final thought (for now!) is this. Many harp on how excellent guard play is critical in the college game, especially the tournament.
That being said, Koenig was sensational for awhile. The guy is 6'3" at point guard! Nice outside shot. Beautiful pass. What kind of starting 5 will the Badgers have? Gasser is a guard, right?
Can you imagine Koenig, Traevon, Gasser, Dekker, and Kaminsky with the playmaking guard play of Koenig/Traevon at the same time?
And I forgot Nigel Hayes.
That is one hell of a lineup.
And I am pretty sure the starting PG ought not be Traevon. It probably ought belong to Koenig.
I thought the final UK shot was defended well.
Just my opinion, no big deal.
Everything AFTER the defender's distance from Harrison was extremely well in my opinion.
There was a fair amount of distance though. He was far from right in his face. Again, just my opinion, but the correct defense is right in his face.
I know they were not as long, but he did it too many times before. I think in the prior game he made 4 straight. Made the big shot the game before that.
Put it this way. What was the distance of the defender's feet from the shooters feet just before the shooter jumped to take his shot.
I think it could easily have been four feet.
I would that it was six inches.
the generals got spanked by the globetrotters...happens all the time....move on
I thought the final UK shot was defended well.
It was. He had to shoot it from the boonies. Props to the kid for hitting it. BTW, people who want to rip Trae Jackson for taking the last shot, they need a life. It was a good shot. With 5 seconds left, no coach is going to pass the ball around.
BTW, people who want to rip Trae Jackson for taking the last shot, they need a life. It was a good shot. With 5 seconds left, no coach is going to pass the ball around.
Yup, agreed.
If you have to find a glaring error to lose the game -- I would submit the turnover TJ had when he bounced the ball off of his shoe a minute or so earlier. That was back-breaking IMHO.
Then we follow that up with another unforced error by throwing the ball away. Those two possessions were when we had a 2 point lead under 2 minutes to play.
I thought we defended the last play well. The guy hit an unbelievable shot.
If you flip a coin and heads comes up 4 times in a row, there's still a 50-50 chance Heads will come up again.
BTW, people who want to rip Trae Jackson for taking the last shot, they need a life. It was a good shot. With 5 seconds left, no coach is going to pass the ball around.
Yup, agreed.
Clean look, good shot. It was just a hair off.
The other thing is that many players don't want to take those shots. They all say they do, but some don't want the pressure. Say what you want about Traevon, but he doesn't shy away from the pressure of those moments.
The problem that I think I saw on Harrison's game winner was not that Gasser did not close and get a hand in his face, that was fine. It seemed to me that the pass from the corner to Harrison was too easy, Gasser did not deny the ball at all. I know easier said than done, nit picking etc. But if he is denied the ball there perhaps they have to take a 2 pt shot, perhaps they get no shot, who knows.
