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Taylor Made Upset?
Written by Coug-A-Sutra   
Saturday, 13 February 2010 16:53

Update 3:09 PM:

Uh, no upset.

Today, our Cougs fell victim to a 15-0 run to end the game and lost a real tough one 86-70.

A few thoughts:

1) Tough weekend for Bone.

I know some of you don't like the "Blame the Coach" stuff.  But it goes with the territory folks.  To be clear: I think Bone's a great coach.

But this weekend, he didn't have it.

I HATED the decision to bench Capers when he picked up his fourth foul.  HATED it.

I HATED even more his decision to rest Casto from the 7:30 mark all the way down to 4:30.  I know the idea, "we'll be fresher by the end of the game."

I HATED the loss of emotion in picking up a T when CAL was up five headed for a one-and-one.  The result: CAL goes up nine.  Game over at that point.

What is too bad about all of it, is that the kids played great for 37 minutes.  Casto was a god. Klay was unbelievable in the first half.

And the rest of the kids played really hard.

So, give us your takes.  Is the season over? 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Followers.

Well, our Cougs are taking a 45-34 lead into half time against the Golden Bears after playing a near flawless first half against CAL.

Last week, I told Lucas Coug in an e-mail that Klay Thompson's struggles were eerily similar to the struggles we saw Taylor Rochestie go through in the first 2/3 of last year's conference slate.

Of course, on a Saturday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion, Taylor broke out of that slump and led us to a thrilling victory against the then defending champs.

Today, Thompson has 23 at halftime and the rest of the crew are going crazy, including an unofficial 8 blocks AT HALFTIME.

Obviously, the second half will determine the fate of our season.

A few keys to the second half:

1) Keep the current rotation "structure." On Saturday, some of us wondered about Bone's inability to get guys into the flow of the game early. Today, thanks to Moore's foul trouble, Thames, Motum, and Harthun have seen key minutes.  Motum, in particular, looked good defensively.  All of which is good.

2) Defensive intensity.  The fact that we've gotten several guys several minutes means that we should have the legs to keep up what has been the best defensive effort of the year.   CAL is going to come out of the gate with their pants on fire.  I'm also looking at what happens when Klay Thompson comes out of the game.

3) Rest Klay from 15-10.  (or some such).  Klay logged lots of minutes on Saturday and has yet to come out today.  He needs to sit during that critical stretch so he's in from 10:00 left on.

4)  Moore Driving.  Reggie sat for the basically the last 15 of the first half due to two quick fouls.  We need to get him involved early the second half, and much like the last time, he needs to take Randle off the dribble over and over and over and over and over again.

5)  Weather the Zone.  Gotta think that Montgomery will come out zoning us big time.  Now is the time to show that we've turned that corner.

6)  Make Free Throws.  I see a lot of Hacka Casto coming.  Lets hope that he and the rest of the boys are ready to step up the charity stripe.

Thursday night becomes a wash if we can pull this one out.

The season's on the line, boys.  Lets see if they can gut it out.

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Comments (7)Add Comment
Season Over
written by sdcoug09, February 13, 2010
For all intensive purposes the season is over unless they play unconscious for 3-4 games in 3-4 days in a month. Other possibilities is running the table the rest of the way and strong showing in the conference tourney could maybe get last in to the NIT.

I don't like to blame the coach generally but after this week, I'm not happy with Bone. Cal's 11 point comeback is understandable with it being away and the way they can shot the three, no lead is really safe against them. But then losing by 16 on top of blowing 18 point lead against Stanford is, to me, inexcusable. Something needs to be fixed, age should not be that big of an excuse, especially after playing in more hostile environments.
Not yet....
written by Soze, February 13, 2010
Fortunately in the Pac-10, the season isn't over until a loss in the tourney. Anybody can beat anybody in the league, and that still leaves us an outside shot. I have a feeling that Cal is NOT going to win the tourney, and since SOMEONE has to win it, why not the Cougs?

Think about it from the glass half-full perspective... at least we are blowing these games now, instead of in the Pac-10 tourney. Maybe we'll pull one of these out these final weeks and remember how to do it come tourney time. There isn't a team in the Pac-10 that is hands down better than anyone...
Consistency
written by sdcoug09, February 13, 2010
For me though, it comes down to consistency. We have not been able to put together consecutive good games and in the tournament, you don't have any room for error. To have any chance we have to at least get the 6 seed for the conference tournament. Further, we have consistently giving up big leads (GU, Stanfordx2, Cal and UW are the most glaring examples or have allowed the other team to jump out to big leads (KSU, Cal, ASUx2, Oregon, UCLA). I usually think from a glass half-full perspective, but realism also comes into play and realistically it is a stretch for this team to play in the post season.
...
written by Longball, February 13, 2010
Wow, another blown lead. I'm so surprised. As a coach you aren't going to get many wins in this league when you haven't got a clue what to do when you have a lead.

Like I said the other day, the "young" excuse is over. Lets face it, we got run out of the gym in the 2nd half by a stanford team that is 90% sophomores. Talent-wise we are not the 8th place team in the conference... and lets be honest, this is the weakest the conference will ever be. If Bone can't find wins this year, good luck any other year.
Good game though....score a bit misleading
written by norcalcoug, February 13, 2010
It's a lot easier watching 37 minutes of good basketball as opposed to only 20. We all really need to keep in mind the difference between us and Cal. They are starting 4 seniors. They are physically more mature, and more game mature, and more resilient. Our guys played well, but could not sustain it. Wait until we are playing these guys, and 3 are seniors, 2 are juniors wow, look out Pac-10. Think about Cal for next year, losing 4 starters.

It doesn't make losing any easier, but you gotta keep it in perspective. Even Cal fans, in the stairways on leaving, said "that game was exhausting!" We played hard most of the game.
RE: sdcoug
written by Soze, February 14, 2010
I completely agree with you... all I was saying is that anyone can win the Pac-10 tourney, so the season isn't over yet. No, we haven't finished a game yet this year, but no one else in the Pac-10 can either.
...
written by James_wsu, February 18, 2010
We did play one complete game this year and that was against a good Arizona team that we beat by 18. We just lack the focus to concentrate for the full 40min. If we can somehow find a way to play close to that, we could win the tourney.

It's just HIGHLY unlikely.

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