A few thoughts (some of which might have been already said, but I don't have the patience to read through the 15 new pages of a game that makes me sick):
1) A huge period of the game was when there were just under 10 minutes to play. We had the ball three straight times down 9 points, and we had two turnovers and one missed three which Gtown promptly rebounded. At that point, I knew we weren't going to win b/c time was running out and sooner or later Gtown was going to score again. We squandered three chances right there when we could have put ourselves back into the game.
2) Gtown is a really good team. I'm not going to whine about how we got screwed by their being a #7 seed that we had to play in the second round b/c IMO it's pathetic and childish to do so. I've just got to give them credit. They are a very fundamentally sound team -- to the best of my recollection, they only missed one foul shot, they shot the ball well from the field, they rebounded the ball well, and they made very few turnovers, which is not only critical, but also very difficult when you run a Princeton-style offense in which you hold the ball, passing it and dribbling it for 30+ seconds per possession.
3) We had a great season, but we overachieved. It was obvious to any impartial observer that Gtown was the better team on the floor yesterday. IMO if we play them 10 times, they'd probably win 7 or 8. And that's no cut against our guys, it's simply a recognition that Gtown is very, very good; and it's a credit to our guys to the fact that they had a spectacular year even though we might not have had the best talent. I'm proud of this team.
4) This is petty, but I didn't like the three pointer that Gtown shot with 5 seconds to go. When you're up 15, you just take the shot clock violation and give us the ball back. I thought that was highly unnecessary and somewhat tarnished any good feelings I had toward John Thompson III and Gtown.
5) I'm wondering if the fact that we didn't play well toward the end of the season is in part attributable to Matta. As I've said multiple times, it was almost as if there wasn't much of a game plan at the end of the season, and yesterday was another example. On offense, with the exception of Dials who was quite active by setting screens and posting up, we just seemed to be content throwing the ball around the perimeter with no real movement by players without the ball. Gtown, on the other hand, had a real game plan, flashing guys into the high post who were looking to shoot if open or pass to the open man in the low post or on the baseline if the defense crashed. Maybe I'm being too hard on Matta, but it seems that going into a game in which the opposing team's front line goes 7'2", 6'9" and 6'9", we should've had a better game plan as to how to score; instead, it seemed like we just did the same things that haven't been working for the last 7 games.
:osu: 
