When I was in high school, the best team one year was Kentucky, led by future NBA star Rick Roby and Jack "Goose" Givens, who returned from an injury to lead the Wildcats to the national championship game. All season long, it was all about Kentucky and how much better they were than anyone else. Indeed, they won that final handily over Duke, but there was little celebration afterward. The Wildcats sighed with relief because they had only done what everyone expected them to do.
Fast-forward to Saturday, and a very nervous San Diego State basketball team managed to do what everyone expected them to do, which was make the Sweet 16. Those were the expectations -- win the first two games of the NCAA Tournament and take your chances from there. Everything from here on out is gravy. But you have to get there first, and practically from the opening tip Thursday the Aztecs played with the kind of jitters that cause you to miss shots from close-in. Both games, they shot well from the three-point line, but were horrible in the paint. Weird, and I think it was nerves.
From now on, it's all joy, I hope. The freedom should allow them to play freer and easier and shoot better. They should have beaten Northern Colorado by 30 and Temple by 15 or more, but a lot of missed inside shots and some strange turnovers made the game vs. the Owls close. Yeah, but the bottom line is they made it to Anaheim. The pressure is off now.
Think having three senior starters is important now? Oh, yeah. They've been there, done that. We can harp on it all season long, and this is when the payoff comes...DJ Gay's defense against larger Owl G Juan Fernandez was spectacular...The thing about Kawhi Leonard is that he's there to produce at winning time, from high school to last year's MWC final against UNLV to overtime against Temple...Next up is UConn and G Kemba Walker. All we need is a quicker Jimmer who plays defense and has a better supporting cast.
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