First, I didn't get to see the game on TV. Although UCSB claimed the game would be on TV, it was nowhere to be found. Apparently, the only place you could have seen the game was at a sports bar, but only if you liked watching a blacked out game. If any of the TV geniuses who devised this brilliant plan (black out a UCSB game being played in NC), please post a comment and enlighten my ignorant mind because I'm baffled.
Instead, I listened to the game over an audio stream from some NC Country station. Mad ups to the Rooster, you guys did a pretty good job conveying the mass slaughter to me (so much that I stopped listening with about 10 minutes to go).
On the other hand, these TV idiots may have saved me some grief. Instead of seeing Tyler Hansbrough 360 jam on a fastbreak, I was able to listen to it. In case you don't know what the looks like, you have two options. Option 1: Watch one of the 85 Sportscenter reruns between now and 10 a.m. Option 2: Look at the youtube video below. It's from UNC's Midnight Madness
It still amazes me that a 6'10 F/C can do that. It also amazes me that UCSB was serving up fast breaks like no ones business (more on that below).
Second, UCSB had 2 fast break points, UNC had 45. The ridiculous thing; that's not a typo.
I'm no rocket scientist, and after today's game, it's safe to say that Bob Williams (the other Coach Williams) is not one either.
In all honesty, you would think that at some point, either one of UCSB's assistant coaches or the other Coach Williams would have thought they should change up their scheme because they were giving up fastbreak points like a freshmen chugging free beer at a random DP party (like it's going out of style). The other Coach Williams, if you read this blog (highly unlikely), I'd like you to post a comment as to what adjustments you made to reduce their fast break points (note well: it didn't work).
Third, I'm actually scared for UCSB. For the record, I like our players. For the record, I'm not the biggest "the other Coach Williams" fan. Why am I scared? Because if UNC can score that many fast break points, it's highly likely that the other Coach Williams didn't make any adjustments. That's a scary concept. If Coach Williams can't make any changes in the biggest game he's coached in (arguably), how is he going to make changes in the mighty mighty Big (Little) West?
On the other hand, it's also scary if he did make changes. They obviously weren't working and if he kept doing the same thing over and over, he deserves to be fired on the spot because he's clearly insane. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. You get my point.
Fourth, check the boxscore of the game. You can do so here:
http://ucsbgauchos.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2007-2008/ucsb.html
UNC played 17 players. Where the hell does Roy Williams find 17 players? I'm convinced he started pulling people from the stands. I know I'm being facetious, but up until today, I had never heard of a basketball team carrying 17 players. That's insane.
Fifth, UNC opened the second half on 9 for 11 shooting. Those nine baskets consisted of 7 lay-ups, 1 dunk and 1 hook shot. Another thing I want to know: what did the coaches tell our players at halftime? Going into halftime, UCSB was close (sort of) 52-32 and they had a couple nice runs. I was of the opinion that the Gauchos would come out all fired up, stop those easy baskets and make this a close game. Man, was I wrong. It had the opposite effect. In fact, I propose that whatever our coaches told our players, they never ever say it again.
Sixth, I'm going to give you two numbers, 21 and 30. Do you know what those numbers are? 21 is the number of UNC offensive rebounds. 30 is the number of UCSB total rebounds. Obviously, when we weren't giving up two of UNC's 45 fast break points, we were allowing them to take 21 second chance shots. I'm no NCAA coach, however, I used to coach a little b-ball back in the day. I knew that if my team was to stand a chance against better teams, I couldn't allow them many second chance shots. Either our players forgot to box out or UNC is really good.
It's also embarrassing when your opponent has 2/3 of your total rebounds only on the offensive side of the ball. If I was the other Coach Williams, my players would be in the gym learning how to box out. Here's a quote from Roy Williams after his team beat Nicholls State on Wednesday 88-78 (in which they played poorly) asking him whether his team was tired; "They may be tired of me but they will be a hell of a lot more tired of me tomorrow."
Check out this intense quote from the other Coach Williams; "The Tar Heels were everything we expected and more, but it's just amazing how quickly they get that ball up the floor. They exposed us in a lot of ways." Wow. In fairness, I'm sure Coach Williams had some other quotes that probably showed he was a little PO'd, but I couldn't find them. We'll search the web for them in the following days.
Seven, I was disappointed with the foul discrepancy. In my opinion, most games are played on an even level. When one team is fouling, usually the other team is also. Today, it wasn't the case as UCSB was called for 17 fouls and UNC only 10. UNC had 24 free throw attempts to UCSB's 4. Without being able to watch the game, I couldn't confirm my suspicions, but this has all the marks of a poorly officiated game. Certainly, the free throws would have helped UCSB as they are one of the better FT shooting teams in the nation.
The free throw discrepancy also leads me to one of my biggest beefs with Mr. Hansbrough. He is, no doubt, a fantastic player and a hard worker. However, just like I hated it when we played "The Screamer" in intramural basketball, I have an extreme dislike for a guy who screams every time he's in the post. However, if the refs are dumb enough to send him to the line every damn time he yells, there's nothing we can do. In today's game, though, Hansbrough only went to the line 4 times, coincidentally, the same amount of FT attempts UCSB got.
Eighth, I was impressed that the Gauchos were able to get up to 70 points. UNC came off a poor performance in their prior game. Roy Williams was pissed. You knew they'd come out firing on all cylinders. Being down that bad is pretty demoralizing to any team. For the Gauchos to keep pouring a good effort into the game when it seemed lost from the start of the second half is to be commended.
Ninth, I'm willing to chalk this one up to nerves and a combination of lots of things. Basically, we played our worst game at the most inopportune time. This will serve as a learning experience for our players and hopefully, they'll never have a "tough" game from here on out. We gave up way too many offensive boards, we didn't board enough, we gave up too many fast break points and we weren't catching any breaks from the refs.
Tenth, so far, we still deserve the paper tiger label. Until we can romp through the Big (Little) West and beat down Eastern Washington, we don't deserve votes or any consideration. To get some respect, we needed to have beaten Stanford or UNC or kept both games close. We haven't done either. We've won the games we're supposed to and lost the ones we're supposed to.
I think this game effectively eliminates us from at-large NCAA consideration. I didn't really think it was ever a possibility, but I know some in Gaucholand believed it could happen. Without a cupcake schedule in a cupcake conference, we can't afford to lose games like these.
All in all, I'm disappointed (what true Gaucho fan isn't?), but I'm confident we can learn from this and take our seat at the head of the Little West table.
Next up: @ Eastern Washinton on 12/29
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