BracketBuster Recap

TGM spaced out on Friday thinking the BracketBuster game was on Saturday. However, when TGM hit up the gym Friday night, he was shocked to see that the game was taking place in front of his very eyes.

Needless to say, it was a disappointing loss with the Gauchos going down in flames 72-59 to Utah State. The Gauchos always seem to play their worst on the "national" stage. Don't believe me? See Stanford, UNC and now Utah State. When I say "national," I mean games on television or against a well-known opponent. Three of the Gauchos three worst offensive efficiency rated games have come against said three opponents. Either the boys need to grow balls and turn into men or our coaches need to learn the definition of "big game."

From an efficiency standpoint, the Gauchos registered an 89.6. Utah State managed a 109.3, good for seventh best on the season against the Gauchos. To digress slightly, at least the Gauchos are consistent. The Gauchos have allowed 9 opponents to register 100 or higher on the efficiency scale. 7 of those 9 worst defensive performances have resulted in our losses. For those of you keeping score at home, we have 7 losses on the season.

Let's look at the Four Factors and see how miserable our performance was.

Effective Field Goal Percentage

UCSB: 41.1%
USU: 58.3%

UCSB was right around their three point percentage average with a 9-23. Unfortunately, they ran into the EFG% juggernaut that is Utah St. Taking away USU's three pointers (4-10), they shot 22-38 from inside the three. When they weren't busy torching us from inside the arc, they went to the line and killed us with 16-21.

Kudos to Alex Harris and James Powell for being the only dudes who showed up. If it wasn't for those two, an NAIA team (Westmont, anyone?) probably would have kicked our ass. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure I saw a milk carton with a missing person's ad with Chris Devine's picture. Devine was the epitome of horrible, going 1-8 from the field, no free throw attempts, 1 rebound (not bad for a 6-9 forward) and 3 turnovers in 19 minutes. Seriously, when I saw that line, I thought they had confused Nedim for Chris Devine because there was no way (at least I thought) that he would have a line like that. Not to mention (this is really an assumption because I don't know), his counterpart on the Utah side, Tai Wesley, went 10-14 from the floor, 4-8 from the line, 9 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes. That, my friends, is the type of game where you can insert any AND 1 slogan and it will work. Take notes, son.

Free Throw Rate

UCSB: 17.7
USU: 43.8

UCSB got back to their normal percentage range on Friday. The problem? The problem was that they went 8-11, while sending Utah St. to the line 21 times. The embarrassing thing is that none of our forwards got to the free throw line once. I believe a couple midgets put in at forward could have gotten to the line at least once. That is about as pathetic a performance as you're going to see from the forwards. Whatever the opposite of mad props is, that's what I'm saying to the forwards tonight.

Offensive Rebounding Percentage

UCSB: 23.0%
USU: 29.4%

At first glance this stat isn't that bad. However, consider that Utah St. shot 54.2% from the field and 57.9% from inside the arc. Basically when Utah wasn't owning our defense, they were getting offensive rebounds. Of Utah State's 22 misses, they managed to snag 7 offensive boards, leaving 15 to the Gauchos.

Of UCSB's 41 misses, the Gauchos managed to get 9 offensive rebounds. This was the lone bright spot (kind of like finishing in last place, but still getting a medal) for the forwards.

This is one of the two stats that I've resigned our fate to. The other being free throws. Either the team is completely incapable of getting to the free throw line more than 15 times a game or the coaches don't tell them to get there, hence the players don't care. Same thing for offensive rebounds. Bob Williams needs to go to East Lansing when his season ends in mid-March and beg Tom Izzo to sit in on his practices and watch his players duke it out in rebounding drills. Then Bob needs to acquire some football pads and helmets for his players and make them fight each other for rebounds. Basically, rebounding comes down to how tough you are and how bad you want it. If you're a weakling and don't give a shit, then you're probably not going to grab a board. Want it more than the other guy and most of the time you'll win the battle.

Turnover Percentage

UCSB: 12.2%
USU: 24.3%

Actually, TGM was a little harsh earlier. This was another good spot for the team. They were able to double Utah State's turnover rate, as compared to UCSB's. In fact, the Gauchos only had 8 turnovers, which is quite impressive, compared to the 16 of USU.

That's all for the game analysis. Basically, we can sum the game performance up in two words: we sucked. Sometimes the truth hurts, but you gotta learn sooner rather than later. However, not all is doom and gloom for the Gauchos as they are still fighting for their lives in the Big West with three games to go. Get a #2 seed and they may have a chance at making the NCAA Tournament. Operative word is may.