I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[CoachC]

Mar 12: We are up to #12 in the AP #11 in coaches poll, and 7th in RPI. How that will translate into tournament seeding remains to be seen. College Insider still believes we may be seeded no better than 4 or even 5. That's out of our hands though so we'll just wait and see how the game of basketball politics plays out this afternoon.

[CoachC]

Mar 12: UConn is top seed in the east. Texas the top seed in the Midwest. Arizona the top seed in the south. Maryland number 1 out west where we finally find our fate. We are indeed a 4 seed (no justice) and will play 13 seed Wagner in the first round. The talking heads think we'll win in a rout, but I'd rather not hear that, especially after our defensive letdown against Air Force. Air Force gets the top seed in the south in the NIT, and Godzilla O'Connors Runnin' Bulldogs are a number 2 seed in the west (good for them!). Wyoming gets a top seed in the CIT.

[CoachC]

Mar 14: Air Force wins their first round game in the NIT by 10 over St. Peters while Wyoming falls to Butler in a high scoring game, and their season comes to close.

[CoachC]

Mar 16: Air Force defeats Missouri St. 54-48 to advance to the Quarterfinals in the NIT. G-W remains alive as well.

[CoachC]

Have some familiarity with the Wagner program, having faced them with G-W at MSG last season in the NIT semis. Stylistically they are similar to Air Force in that they will play primarily 1-3-1 zone, and rely on their perimeter people for scoring. Our defense must be much better than it was against Air Force or we could be facing an embarrassing one and done. There are no gimmes this time of year. Our only mutual opponent was their conference rival LIU whom we both defeated on the road.

A chilly first half offensively, and lack of energy on the defensive end saw us trailing the entire half. Better play in the final 3 minutes allowed us to cut the half time deficit to 4, 30-26, but it's a loud locker room. We rebounded well, but need to do much better at everything else.

We come out with better energy and finally take our first lead of the game at the 16:18 mark.

But the energy was just never really there, other than for Taylor who fouled out late after a terrific final game as a Lobo.

The defense and rebounding were good enough, but we just didn't get into the passing lanes like we usually do, and our offense mostly centered around watching Taylor work. The lack of fast break opportunities hurt us.

Wilson and Martin both struggled in the first half but played a little better in the second, but didn't give us enough offense to get us out of the rut we were in.

Wilson had 9 pts, 4 asts, 5 rebs. Fernando had 9 points. We had very little production from the 3 spot in this game, and we sorely needed it. Stetson was lost. Willis did give us some energy on defense at the end of the first half. Madic worked hard in his final game, but had trouble getting his shots to drop(2/13). He had 6 pts, 2 asts, 4 rebs, 2stls, and a block. Inyo had a subpar game with just 2 pts, 5 rebs. Taylor as noted was a force. He just needed more support. He finishes his career with a 17 pt, 10 reb performance. Tatum did give us a lift early in the 2nd half with 8 quick points off the bench. In the end, however, our downfall was just too little offensive flow, especially when Taylor was on the bench.

A very disappointing end to a wonderful season


Final:

UNM 57 Wagner 62

[CoachC]

Mar 21: Air Force advances to MSG after thumping Lipscomb 74-54

[CoachC]

Mar 27: Final Four is set with top seeds Maryland and Arizona facing off in one semifinal. 2 seed Pitt takes on 9 seed Marquette in the other.

[CoachC]

Mar 29: Air Force loses to G-W in the semis at MSG 60-51. Obviously had mixed feelings watching that game. For the second season in a row the Dogs are in the championship game. For the sake of White, O'Connor, and Sanders, I wish them the best. 'Zilla had an impressive game against Air Force with 14 pts 12 rebs.

[CoachC]

Mar 31: The Runnin' Bulldogs pull it off defeating Utah St. 76-67 in the championship game. Holmes is a fine coach, and I call to congratulate him for what he accomplished given how little he had coming back this year. If he thinks the university will now budget more money for him, he'll probably be sadly disappointed. Earlier in the week Citadel defeated Nevada for the CIT crown.

[CoachC]

Apr 1: Unranked Marquette takes Cinderella to the ball and will face Maryland for the national championship