A year ago, after leaving the bar following the loss to Eastern Washington in the championship game, I was depressed. I felt it was a game we should have won but let get away from us.
Last night? No such feeling. This was a game that we could have won, could have snatched away from Weber down the stretch, but it was a game that never really belonged to us. Weber took control early, shooting brilliantly, and never really gave the game back, playing terrific defense down the stretch to stifle our hopes. As I mentioned in another thread, I believe Weber will get a slightly higher seeding, and may be the conference's better representative at the Big Dance. I will be rooting hard for them.
But none of this deflects from the pride I feel this morning for our program--our players, their character, our coaching staff. I thought defensively our scheme was brilliant, the execution stupendous. I don't know when I've seen a team play better team defense, and that includes the Warriors, probably the best defensive team in the NBA. The shots Weber made early from long range were the kinds of shots you wanted them to take, not the inside post-up moves of a Bolomboy, who was really taken out of this game. The difference between this Griz team and the one I saw in San Jose in November was unimaginably stark.
And down fourteen in the first half, you can look at it this way: We won the rest of the game by eleven. Our kids just didn't ever give up, or play with their heads down, a testimony to DeCuire's leadership and this team's character.
One might question our late-game strategy, and I have done that myself. The other night against North Carolina, I saw Duke extend a game, and extend a game, and extend a game, and almost win a game they had no right to win. Foul, foul, foul. Put the pressure on the opposing team's foul shooters late, when they're tired and the pressure is intense. We did not do that. And suddenly, you look up, and there are only seven seconds left, and they have the ball to inbound.
At the same time, I recently saw Golden State win a game against OKC that they had no right to win, by NOT fouling late, by trapping Kevin Durant instead of fouling, and having him throw an errant pass that led to an interception and two late free throws to tie the game. There were moments where our press really rattled Weber; heck, Michael Oguine is almost a one-man press. So while our strategy did not work, I'm not going to question it given the earlier success we'd had with our traps and our double-teams.
Nor does last night's loss deflect any of the optimism I have for this program for next year, and especially the year after that. I can hardly wait to see the three new recruits on the floor together with this team, and eagerly anticipate the opening of Fall practice. The loss last night was but a cloud in a sunny Griz future.
