My Old Friend Bob Williams

After watching the CSTV internet "Gamecast" of the UCSB game last night, I got to thinking about Bob Williams and the job he's doing this season, which has been excellent thus far. On one hand, I really believe the Gauchos can solidly dominate the Big West (losing one or two games only) and maybe get a vote or two in the "Others Receiving Votes (ORV)" category of the Top 25. On the other hand, I feel like I've been down this road before.



Let me offer an analogy of why I have such conflicted feelings to this season. Everyone has, at one point or another, had a friend (or girlfriend/boyfriend) who wasn't really a very good friend. At first, you two get along great and everything is going well. Then, there comes a point when you realize that your friend is really just a shithead (or other adjective) and isn't really that interested in being your friend. You cut off your relationship with them to let them know how you feel. Then, at some point in the near future, they contact you again, swear they've changed, and you let them back into your life. Everything goes well, until the point you realize that your friend isn't all that concerned about you, and just worries about himself. So, you cut them out again, and the cycle begins.

This reminds me of the time I invited an old friend to a holiday party with me. He used to drink way too much and make an ass out of himself. This time, I told him not to make a scene and watch what he drinks. Well, let's just say after I found him looking like this, our friendship ceased to exist.



Ok, now on to the more serious stuff. UCSB put on a strong performance last night, beating LBSU 79-64. What impressed me was that UCSB had 4 guys score above 13 points (Devine, Elliot, Harris and Powell). If the team can continue with that kind of distribution, it's going to be hard for our opponents to shut us down. Instead, it turns into a pick your poison type strategy and hope the guys you don't focus on, have an off-night. Also impressive was the fact that none of those 4 guys took a disparate amount of shots.

UCSB got to the foul line and went 10-11. That is the kind of performance that proves they are one of the better FT shooting teams in the country. Currently, they are 7th in the country in FT%.

Additionally, the Gauchos minimized turnovers (8) and created 22 on the other side. That is an awesome discrepancy from a defensive standpoint.

This game pushed UCSB to 12-2. While their non-conference schedule is very weak, their only two losses came to the #1 team in the country (UNC) and the #24 (AP) ranked team in the country, Stanford. If UCSB can go undefeated in Big West (not sure if it can happen) and win their BracketBuster match-up, I think the Gauchos could be looking at a solid 10-11 seed (a la Winthrop 2007).

As a result of this great performance, I'm really looking forward to the next couple games UCSB has. I want to see if this performance was a fluke or if they really are the emperors of the Big West.

Next victim: Cal State Northridge