I want to start out with an apology. I could not work up the energy to do one after Oklahoma. It was just not worth it. I will continue to make my best effort to get this up the next day at the latests, but I think I will start posting one asap after the game with an open PP/NN discussion thread, then adding in my official one. I hate to go all Fitz on everyone here, but the late night week games take a toll.
PEGGY PO'S!The comfortable townie tucks have been evicted. The result was a classic angry crowd of K-Staters. There was neery a call unboo'd, hardly a moment chastened by converntional mores. It was a primal scream. It was a conjuration of rage. It was the return of the
OCTAGON OF BOOOOOOO! Great crowd. GREAT collective performance, but let's also call out some all-stars. It is time for
goEMAW's Angriest _FAN'S of the Game! Hero #1: Student(s) warned by an usher for using profane language in the direction of the officials.
Hero #2: Dude with the enormous sign claiming copyrighted ownership of Texas in the first row behind the Texas bench.
Hero #3: She is a virtual lock for
goEMAW's Most Adorable _FAN of the Year Mrs. Assley! She absolutely killed it last night. 5 stars. On the "Longhorns on Ice" travel no call on the loose ball in front of UT's bench, Mrs. Assley repeated her patented stair march up and down. She also added in
two additional distinct elements that must be mentioned as they resulted in her nearly perfect 9.9 average score by our illustrious (and top secret) panel of goEMAW _FAN judges. Element #1: the travel motion with the
shoulder shrug. Element #2: Her incorporation of her audience. Got crowd participation from a young child who was learning the traveling motion. She also had a portly gentleman in the first row play straight man while she explained the traveling using a combination of sign and dialogue. A real narrative began to develop as she seemed frustrated that she seemed to be the only sane woman in a world gone crazy. A real breakout performer that goEMAW is excited about! Congrats to Mrs. Assley on her title as goEMAW _FAN of the GAME!
Rodney McGruder is the leader of this basketball team. (that "." reads "period") Rodney was unstoppable. Career High. Team High in boards. 4-6 from downtown. Rodney was able to get in to the lane for his floater. He demanded the ball. In the second half in key stretches he touched it multiple times a posession. He was cutting as hard as I've seen all year off his screens. He looked like a dangerous man with ill intent. The exclamation point to end the game was pitch perfect. Unbelievable. In addition to all of this, Frank gave him the responsibility of Brown to start the game and he handled it well. Only two NN embedded here are his decision making on the break. Turned the ball over out of control when he tried to push the ball all the way up the court. Also, on the 2 on 1 (that, to be fair, ended in two made FT by Rod) the ball needed to go back to Will and then be an alley oop. Will did a terrible job of spacing too, BUT THIS IS PEGGY PO'S! The moment I take away from this game was in the first half when Angel was getting yanked by Frank and mouthing off, not listening and destined to sit and stew. Rodney went over. Lamont was there to be good cop and Rodney was like "I got this." He went over in Angel's face and told him how it was and how it was going to be. He got the daps back from Angel. He did it again later in the game, but that was the real moment when it came together. No one should doubt who gets the ball in crunch time. No one should doubt who will be running the huddle. No one should doubt who's voice is heard above the rest. Rodney is the man.
Jamar was solid He is not going to be a 10 rebound a game guy. Moving on, he will be a consistent contributor. Moving on, he will be a 70% FT shooter who can get to the line. This is who he is. It is a solid Big 12 contributor. Don't get it twisted, Jamar can ball. He isn't what some hope and others demand, but he is what we have and we need him. All the morons that hate on Jamar, please cease and desist. Last night was not a reason to hate, yet there you were front row guy. Being a moron. Student section needs to police its own or I will. I can stomach the old fart tucks complaints, but students calling out good players playing well is ridiculous. Youth should not be that jaded and crotchety.
Gipson balled hard. His limited minutes were frustrating, but he turned it on. I was impressed with how he rebounded and how he handled UT's size. He may have passed out playing 20+ minutes as he looked gassed out there in the 2nd. He does look as though he's shed weight, but the conditioning is still coming along. At first I thought Frank was holding out Gipson because he had two fouls (while UT got back in the game) but it seemed like post-game Frank has no regrets about Vic's minutes. But we'll get to that later. I want to say first that his rebounding has improved significantly. He was the most consistently aggressive big and has learned how to draw fouls and bounce off people while finishing. He will be a load and will foul out players for years to come. Really encouraging developments here.
Sprads was Sprads. He hit a big 3. He played reasonably well under pressure. He did not turn the ball over. He drew charges. He played reasonable defense on people much better than him. Grabbed his lunch pale and worked through lunch.
Vic. Peggy Po's and Nancy Neg's is graded on a scale and for 19 minutes I saw a lot to be happy about from Vic. He rebounded and he played strong defense. Of course he is overmatched on both ends of the floor. Of course he should not have been on the floor for 20 minutes. But that isn't his call. He had more rebounds than Jamar in fewer minutes. It is what it was.
Tay/#teamangel Gritty defense at times, terrible defense at other times. Tay not closing out on J'covan when in the 3-2 was terrible. Angel not cutting off Kabongo (who took it coast-to-coast) was equally atrocious. Tay took his lumps, Angel whined about it, but both were there down the stretch. Martavious made the steal to seal the deal. Angel played hyper agressive D. He still has not figured out how to respond to how the game is being called. The refs were terrible, but he made some stupid decisions that unecessarily took himself out of the game. The refs are not going to talk as sweet as Lamont or give you a slap on the butt.
Nancy Neg'sThe ref coming out before the second half and apologizing to Angel for blowing the goaltending call The refs were poor. The traveling/Jump ball/Timeout/Foul calls on loose balls were inconsistent and absurd. They actually did a great job resisting most of the flops. Barnes does not get enough credit for coaching. His players were constantly pulling their heads back when they were dribbling (to induce a call), flopping in the post or otherwise being annoying. Outside of that small PP, they were rightly boo'd extensively.
The inbounds plays The only play that consistently works without turning the ball over is to spread our players across the floor and do a lob back to Rodney. Everything else is a turnover waiting to happen. Thankfully our players knew to call a timeout. At the end of the game Jamar actually did a bang up job leaving the ball on the court until people were back and set, but besides the timeout and the inbound there was little improvement. Close games bring a microscope on the little things. This is a little thing that has already cost us a shot at a tie/win. It is inexcusable that it continues to fester.
Frank's Franking Vic? No JO (not that he deserved more minutes). Probably sat Gipson too long. Well, I love the taste of this delicious sausage, but this is one gruesome factory.
Paging DJamer Johnno Jesus. Between the commercials, the band and the worst 7 nation army drop I've ever heard it was a miracle that the sheer white hot anger of rural Americans propelled Kansas State to victory.
GOATS UP/GOATS DOWN DISCUSSION!
I will be back later on to give my final thoughts.
