Posted by Oldtimer on March 31, 21 at 19:36:22:
In Reply to: Re: I never claimed to know much about basketball posted by Big Ron on March 31, 21 at 15:47:14:
: : : But watching the NCAA tournament, I see 67 similar teams and Gonzaga.
: : I had high expectations for ASU this past year under CBH that simply crashed. I don't know if it was because of conflicting egos or what. We may never know because all of the cancellations, injuries, rescheduling and whatever.
: : What I do know is that U$C, UCLA, OSU and U of O figured out how to win in spite of the silliness of the west coast COVID edicts. That leads me to ego or injuries that spelled doom.
: The team's best offense was running in transition after defense caused a turnover. That was what made House so important to the team. His defense initiated much of the effective offense. But once the team got into a half court game, it became a one-on-one scheme with the forwards playing out at the 3-point line to open the middle. Therefore, it was no surprise that ASU lost the rebound battle in most of its games. But the one-on-one play seemed to be more Hurley offensive philophosy than player ego. With Bagley and Christopher injured, that left only Martin and Verge as true one-on-one players and they could not carry the team. All I know is that Gonzaga on the court is a different world than ASU on the court.
I get your point BR and you could be right but I thought I was seeing Sendek's teams weaving above the arc and taking shots when the clock was wearing down. Not having a tough big man to dump the ball to and Martin off of his feed, we were doomed.
My granddaughter's squeeze is ZAG alum and I watched the team all season with him. They are something special but I give kudos to the coach. He has them harnessed and playing superb ball.