Archive for the ‘Elite 8’ Category
Post-mortem: Syracuse
Eight teams are still alive and by the beard of Zeus (and aliens taking over Tony Crocker’s jump shot), OU is one of them.
This is where a lot of us thought this team would be. Not because we have some sense of entitlement (we don’t). Not because we thought this was a team of destiny. Certainly not because we thought we had elite guards that could get us to the Elite round.
We thought OU should and would get this far because …
Blake had to injure himself this time.
Blake once again made OU’s opponent look like one of the Sarah Connors that wasn’t John’s mom. This time it was the fearsome Big Orange from the Big bad East. Instead of the Sooners succumbing to Boeheim’s defensive genius and prose, the Sooners unveiled their own harassing, switching defense and unleashed the three-point hounds to win by 13, and it really felt like 30.
How did it happen?
Blake. Let me just say that when Blake’s not around, I’ll be a mess without him. I’ll miss his laugh. I’ll miss his scent. I’ll miss those times we sat around with a bottle of muscatel, some Dan Fogelberg on the hi-fi and talking about our feelings – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Blake made Jonny Flynn know the meaning of pain and degradation, first with a Thunder (see what I did there?) dunk over the helpless little child of a guard, then by following up Flynn’s weak attempt to throw one down over Taylor with another poster-sized, majestic and powerful dunk on the other end (suitable for framing). The rest you know.
Blake, dahling ... champagnya?
Tony Crocker. As you well know, we at TaW have been singing Crocker’s praises all season. We were the ones who said don’t worry, that he’s just in a slump and will return to his regular, three-point bombing form just in time to help us win a crucial game. Crocker proved us right yesterday. We feel vindicated.
The supporting cast. Every starter had a solid game, which is something we haven’t been able to say since … well, ever? Taylor was solid, as usual, with 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Willie and AJ combined for 15 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals. As they showed yesterday, the Sooners are literally unstoppable when they get production like that to take some of the load off of Blake.
Coaching. Just as he should have after the Michigan game, Joe Cash needs to open his checkbook again and pay Jeff Capel. That might not be enough. We might be naming a building after him by the time he’s done. Capel read all the clippings and heard all of the hype about Boeheim being the Mahavishnu of the zone defense. Capel one-upped him by switching defenses almost every Syracuse trip down the floor. One time they’d be in a straight-up man-to-man. The next time they might be in a tight 2-3 zone, daring the Cuse’s cold shooters to hit from outside. The next time they might drop into a 1-3-1 with Crocker prowling underneath the basket, waiting to take a charge from a Cuse slasher.
On the offensive end, instead of pulling Taylor or Blake out to the top of the key and running a high post game from there, he kept The Beast on the blocks and had Taylor flash to the free throw line, right in the middle of Boeheim’s zone. Taylor was like an option quarterback with choices of kicking out to a red hot Crocker, finding Blake over the top of a fronted post-up or taking it himself. His move in the first half where he deked a pass to the wing to make the defender lean that way, then putting it on the floor himself and scoring was straight out of Jamelle Holieway’s playbook.
They brought in Capel to run the wishbone.
Let’s bask in yesterday’s win and this great tournament run because they’ll never take it away from us. We’ll be telling our grandkids about Blake’s run in the 2009 tournament. This is just OU’s fifth Elite 8 since the tournament expanded to 64 in 1985 (H/T Wayman Tisdale and Keith Lee’s checking account). The Sooners are now 5-3 all-time in the Sweet 16 and have won 30 games for just the fifth time in school history.
OU is now in its third Elite 8 in the past 8 years. With a win over Sobbin’ Roy tomorrow, the Sooners will be in their second Final Four this decade.
Are the Sooners becoming an elite program? Maybe. Elite 8? Definitely.
