weird game, starting with the un-college like atmosphere--no students, no cheerleaders or pep band, canned national anthem, but most of all, very little crowd support for santa clara. last year, dick davey, the popular long-term coach there, was forced to resign by an administration that wanted a younger coach who could build the program in the likeness of gonzaga, and obviously, a lot of alums are showing their displeasure by staying away in droves. in fact, the largest bloc of fans there was a group that came over from nearby hollister to root for hometown hero kyle sharp, giving us a distinct rooting edge.
woody allen once said of san francisco after shooting "play it again, sam": "first you mellow, and then you rot." after two days in the bay area, our kids must have begun the process, because they absolutely stunk up the joint. they were out-hustled, out-quicked, out-shot and most of all, out-bigged by a 6'10", 310 pound freak of nature, john bryant. i've seen him play summers in the local pro-am leauge, and several times on tv against gonzaga and st. mary's, and after all that experience, the kid definitely has game. he just pushed qvale around at will. with hasquet still struggling on a bum ankle, the "big" advantage we've been touting here absolutely fell away, and a quicker, better-shooting santa clara quickly took us out of the game. we rallied toward the end, and had we made the front end of some one-and-ones, and shot it better from outside, we might have made a miraculous comeback. but mr. bryant was right there for an alley-oop dunk at a key moment late, and that was the game.
i agree with gb1 at this point, the glass is either half empty or half full, and i'm still on the side of half full. there's definitely talent there, especially with our bigs, but also with staudacher, who seemed to be looking for and getting his shot more this game, and elgin-taylor, who is a tenacious defender even if he has yet to demonstrate much offensive game. zach graves played well off the bench, and kyle sharp, who played much of this game, is emerging as a real force, especially on the boards. we definitely have talent.
at the same time, there are some things that seem to be missing, such as:
-- a reliable point guard that can organize, penetrate and dish;
--consistent free-throw shooting, as we missed several front-ends last night, costing us a lot of points;
--more athleticism on the perimiter.
--finally, an ineffable "something" that i just can't put my finger on. this team is just not crisp, makes careless blunders at key moments, misses critical free throws and three-pointers, fails to find the right player at the right moment (rundles missed a pass late game to a wide-open staudacher at just the moment we most critically needed a three), and at least last night, didn't seem to have an effective game plan. looking back, i think we might have tried to "fazekas" john bryant, because andrew strait played a good game, showing those deft inside moves for which he's known. had we got the ball to him early, we might have put bryant on the bench, because he picked up a stupid foul real early, but there seemed to be no coherent strategy to do that.
in short, this team continues to baffle me. i hope it all smooths out by conference, because the talent is there, but it could well be we'll have to wait till next year, when the "pieces" we so obviously miss--taylor, mcgillis, stockton--will be there. in any event, whichever big sky team makes it to the big dance is now looking at a 16-seed and a one-and-done, likely against u.c.l.a. i'm not quite there yet, but the chant is forming in my mind: "wait till next year!"
