1. - We beat Florida. Period. Patrick Young had the greatest game of his life and we still beat them . . . .
2.- This team is miles ahead of the '11 team in terms of projecting a national championship. There was a reason everyone thought that season was a miracle. They were all underclassmen, they shot 33% from 3, the only player that shot 40% from 3 was Bev and he only made seven 3's all year. We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench -- Bev, your veteran leader, averaged about 8 minutes and less than 2 points a game. . . . To think that this year's team isn't a better bet to win a championship is totally revisionist history.
1. Patrick Young had the "greatest game of his life"
because our centers suck so bad. Is that not obvious? Is that not as plain as can be? Is that not a verification of the theory that this team has a giant hole that likely makes it impossible for it to advance to the finals? Do you have any doubt in your mind that any competent big men are going to eat our lunches this year? Even incompetent ones.
2. Your points here all all off.
They weren't all underclassman. Okwandu - a critical puzzle piece, was a senior. Bev - a very important team leader, was a senior. Kemba was a Junior. Sure, the team was young, which made the run more unlikely, but age wasn't the critical factor.
Shooting from 3 wasn't a critical factor. So what we shot 33% from 3? That's equivalent to 50% from 2.
We had nothing like Kromah or Giffey coming off the bench? We, in fact, HAD Giffey coming off the bench. Sure, not senior year Giffey, but we had dependable bench play (Bev, Bazz, Okwandu, Giffey).
I'm not revising anything. 2011 was a great run, but we had a complete team with talent at the critical positions - great point guard with a very good back up, very good big man to defend and rebound and a good back up, excellent shooting guard, and so on.
We have a major hole in our team this year. Center.
It's the elephant in the room. CENTER.
We have very close to ZERO talent at the center position.
Look at it this way . . .
Oriakhi, Okwandu, and Wolf combined for about 14 points and 13 boards a game in 2011.
Olander, Nolan, and Brimah are going for about 8 and 5 a game, and that's mostly through cupcake season.
Further, ONB are a defensive liability for the most part, whereas OOW provided serviceable defense.
The conclusion is straight forward - the 3 point magic will wane when we play stiff competition who will not give us quite as many open 3s, and our relatively poor rebounding and center play will make overcoming the dip in 3 point shooting challenging, to say the least.
Tough not to have the homer goggles at 9-0, I know, but I hope that Nolan can turn it on, as I view him as the guy who can make the difference between a sweet 16 and final 4. Brimah is too raw, Olander is too unathletic, and Facey is too skinny.
The only way I see us threatening a NC run is if Nolan can get to 8 and 8 a game, or thereabouts.
It can happen. Lamb sure made a rapid ascent in 2011.
But there is zero doubt in my mind that a NC run this year will be much, much more unlikely than 2011.
I guess I agree with Jay - barring a major change in one or more of our players, I just don't think we have the right distribution of talent on the team to go deep.
