A handful of thoughts.
1 thanks Boo for coming back. This has been a fun ride. He’s developed from a sometimes streaky scorer, to a consistent performer, to an excellent all around floor general who can be trusted to run the offense and make the right decision almost every time. I don’t know that in my lifetime of being a Cats fan I’ve seen a player that we basically just iso with 4 wide for about a 6 minute stretch of the game and dare the opponent to do something about it.
2 Brooks is strong. Like real strong. For the first 30 minutes of the game we were getting killed on the O boards by them. Then magically something started to change. Brooks and Langborg and even Matty Nich (who is huge but doesn’t have the strongest hands) started to block out like their life depended on it and squeezed the ball rock solid with 2 hands. And ever since Brooks got his hand fixed, he’s been a force on offense as well.
3 Nicholson hasn’t been perfect this year. But the last 3-5 games he seems to have turned it up. He’s back to being our clear #1 center IMO. Walls up on defense. On offense sets good screens. He’s not going to create a bunch of points on his own but he darn well knows how to finish a dunk when he gets a chance.
4 Berry a mixed game on offense but his hot stretch off of the pin down curls in early second half was huge. When the kid gets on a heater, he is a force. And he played very good defense on Shannon for lengthy portions of the night. Then… that steal on Shannon at the end was absolutely effing epic. Just ate his lunch to seal the game.
5 Langborg didn’t really show out on offense, but he did the dirty work all night on defense and in securing 6 rebounds. He will have his nights on offense in the future im not worried. But please can you set your feet before rising up for those mid range 2 pointers? You are so much better when shooting them off of a stable base than when you jump off a non standard platform.
6 what a crowd. Thanks students, keep it up. 4-0 at home against Purdue, MSU, Maryland, and Illinois is awfully impressive. Would love it if the kids can maintain that rabid energy the rest of the way and we keep winning games at home. Welsh Ryan is a real home court these days.
7 my favorite play of the game was in OT. After we traded baskets with them in that excellent stretch in H2, we basically ran them out of the gym in OT. But the difference maker (aside from the Ty Berry theft of Shannon) was when we showed the pin down curl action we’d used to great success at times in H2. When they tried to jump it to the middle Brooks faded it out to the corner for an open 3 that he buried plus a foul. Just absolutely beautiful offensive play design and perfect execution by Boo Brooks and the team. They adjusted and we were one step ahead of them. When he nailed that I was pretty confident we had them. The night was ours. Brilliant by the coaches and players.
Let’s keep defending the home court like that boys. Agree that no court storm was the move, we outplayed them and deserved to win, we were simply the better team. Welsh Ryan is where dreams go to die. (Of our opponents)
Awesome win. Go Cats!
PS (edit) there was also a 12-4 foul differential at one point in H2 and some weird reffing (including them stealing another 2 points from us on an egregious missed goaltending call, what is it with that one for refs screwing us). We didn’t pout (though im sure CC deservedly gave them some words in the ear), we just kept going and played stronger to finish the job. Love it. If we have to play 5 on 6 at times against the stripes we don’t care, we will find a way to get the Dub anyways.
1 thanks Boo for coming back. This has been a fun ride. He’s developed from a sometimes streaky scorer, to a consistent performer, to an excellent all around floor general who can be trusted to run the offense and make the right decision almost every time. I don’t know that in my lifetime of being a Cats fan I’ve seen a player that we basically just iso with 4 wide for about a 6 minute stretch of the game and dare the opponent to do something about it.
2 Brooks is strong. Like real strong. For the first 30 minutes of the game we were getting killed on the O boards by them. Then magically something started to change. Brooks and Langborg and even Matty Nich (who is huge but doesn’t have the strongest hands) started to block out like their life depended on it and squeezed the ball rock solid with 2 hands. And ever since Brooks got his hand fixed, he’s been a force on offense as well.
3 Nicholson hasn’t been perfect this year. But the last 3-5 games he seems to have turned it up. He’s back to being our clear #1 center IMO. Walls up on defense. On offense sets good screens. He’s not going to create a bunch of points on his own but he darn well knows how to finish a dunk when he gets a chance.
4 Berry a mixed game on offense but his hot stretch off of the pin down curls in early second half was huge. When the kid gets on a heater, he is a force. And he played very good defense on Shannon for lengthy portions of the night. Then… that steal on Shannon at the end was absolutely effing epic. Just ate his lunch to seal the game.
5 Langborg didn’t really show out on offense, but he did the dirty work all night on defense and in securing 6 rebounds. He will have his nights on offense in the future im not worried. But please can you set your feet before rising up for those mid range 2 pointers? You are so much better when shooting them off of a stable base than when you jump off a non standard platform.
6 what a crowd. Thanks students, keep it up. 4-0 at home against Purdue, MSU, Maryland, and Illinois is awfully impressive. Would love it if the kids can maintain that rabid energy the rest of the way and we keep winning games at home. Welsh Ryan is a real home court these days.
7 my favorite play of the game was in OT. After we traded baskets with them in that excellent stretch in H2, we basically ran them out of the gym in OT. But the difference maker (aside from the Ty Berry theft of Shannon) was when we showed the pin down curl action we’d used to great success at times in H2. When they tried to jump it to the middle Brooks faded it out to the corner for an open 3 that he buried plus a foul. Just absolutely beautiful offensive play design and perfect execution by Boo Brooks and the team. They adjusted and we were one step ahead of them. When he nailed that I was pretty confident we had them. The night was ours. Brilliant by the coaches and players.
Let’s keep defending the home court like that boys. Agree that no court storm was the move, we outplayed them and deserved to win, we were simply the better team. Welsh Ryan is where dreams go to die. (Of our opponents)
Awesome win. Go Cats!
PS (edit) there was also a 12-4 foul differential at one point in H2 and some weird reffing (including them stealing another 2 points from us on an egregious missed goaltending call, what is it with that one for refs screwing us). We didn’t pout (though im sure CC deservedly gave them some words in the ear), we just kept going and played stronger to finish the job. Love it. If we have to play 5 on 6 at times against the stripes we don’t care, we will find a way to get the Dub anyways.
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