Let’s talk about Missed Layups in a Rout!!!

After re-watching this game this morning it is pretty clear that Aron Baynes lacks the necessary skills that an Honorable Mention all-Pac 10 player would have. Going 8-9 from the floor and thoroughly dominating Oregon's inside game, I'm sure it was the missed shot that the voters noticed.

We didn't make a single 3-pointer and won by 22 points.

I remember all 3 of Nik's missed layups last night, but while re-watching this game, I can't believe we missed so many other layups too. As Weak mentioned last night, the only guy on our team who doesn't miss layups is Casto….because he's never taken one.

Random thoughts during the game:

Barry Tompkins facepalm of the 1^st half: "I really think Oregon was a better team when Aaron Brooks was playing." I admire his ability to throw himself out there like that. I'm sure there will be more.

When was the last time Portland State was the last Oregon school standing?

I see that Tulalip Casino has decided to use the tournament to debut their new commercial, entitiled "We no longer rhyme 'fun, fun, fun' with 'fun' anymore!"

Taylor scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting and we won by 22 points.

Taylor and Klay combined for 12 points and we won by 22 points.

Capers hit his first jump shot since the Huskies won the title….in 1953.

Are steals a subjective stat now? The box score shows Nik with zero steals tonight and I just clearly watched him intercept a pass into the post. Must've been a team steal…because you know Nik can't do anything right on his own…

Capers missed his first jump shot since the Huskies won the title…in 2009. And Tompkins called him Marcel.

At the 12 minute mark into the first half, Tajuan Porter now has made more shots with a foot on the Tournament logo at mid court than his shots from realistic ranges.

Wait, wait, wait….the Pac-10 Scholar Athlete of the Year had a 3.37 GPA? Just how far is Master P's kid dragging the curve down?

Whoever the c omedian was who said "Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcom X" hasn't seen much of Michael Eaves.

Ryan Bailey is out of his warm-ups with 18 minutes left in the game….

Thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Francis Williams, who apparently was eaten by Todd MacCullough.

Plus/Minus for the Game:

Koprivica	+28
Rochestie	+22
Thompson	+22
Baynes	+18
Forrest	+18
Casto	-10
Capers	-24
Harthun	-24
Lodwick	-24
Enquist	-24
Witherill	-24

Per 40 for the Season

Capers	+7.73
Koprivica	+6.64
Forrest	+4.31
Thompson	+3.49
Rochestie	+0.98
Baynes	+0.94
Casto	-2.08
Harmeling	-8.42

"Next on Wings....aw, who cares..." UCLA/Oregon State thoughts

More messages from Cash4Gold.com, TaxSlayer.com, and ShamWow on the FCS channels, which ended up being the most entertainng thing about this game.

I really don't know what to make out of UCLA at this point from this game alone, as I'm not sure Oregon State even had a gameplan. They run a 4-man bastardized version of the Princeton offense (we run a 3 man version of it for the most part) which relies on a lot of wing movement and slipping screens to get an open look at the hoop. Well, most of the time it ends up in a 2 man game where both those 2 man are grossly overmatched by their UCLA counterparts. I think some discipline and a full year in this offense, the Beavs might be ready to score 50 (!!!) a game... yeah, it doesn't look too promsing.

But where most people who run the Princeton offense make up for it in their defensive intensity, Robinson has them for the most part in various incarnations of the 1-3-1 zone. Most Pac teams will SHRED a 1-3-1. And since the Beavs aren't going to run with teams that will beat a 1-3-1, I have a lot of concerns of what their endgame is...

I wish I had more to say about UCLA. They looked impressive for the most part, but I'd like to see them against the Ducks before I make any definitive decisions about them. In non-con, Holiday looked ready to pick up where Westbrook left off, but Drew Gordon is not exactly the substitution I'd want for Kevin Love, Mbah-a M0ute AND the sexy Lorenzo Mata.

A purge of thoughts from the Arizona/Cal game

Having the Fox College Sports pack is worth the $6/month for so more many reasons than getting to watch as many Oral Roberts games as you can stand. For starters, you get to watch the commercials only shown on deep cable (hi Mega Insurance and TaxSlayer.com !) Arizona games are a special treat in that the analyst is usually Bob Elliott, who not only in 2009 still looks like Wondermike from the SugarHill Gang, but also whose prose makes Ehlo’s analysis sound like an Obama speech. One of Elliott’s gems this evening was that a team has a better chance of winning if it makes a 3 point shot instead of a 2 point shot. I then spent the next 2 hours lighting myself on fire.

Not much to report here. Arizona is going to be a team that loses by 20 one night and wins by 30 the next. That’s the beauty of the freakshow Russ Pannell is operating in Tuscon. I thought in the first half the Wildcats would run away with this one, but after Nic Wise got into foul trouble (story of the night so far), Arizona’s circus-shots stopped falling and Cal methodically pulled ahead.

And holy shit, the Pac has some shooting guards this year. After watching Wright dominate Oregon earlier today, I didn’t think it could get any better than he and Harden, but then Patrick Christopher inserts himself into the conversation. Mike Montgomery is going to have this team ready to go, and I think they might be a bubble-tourney team.

Arizona? I don’t know a starting 5 in the conference more capable of getting to the rim than them (other than maybe USC), and I think if I were starting a team from scratch, I would entertain the thought of Jordan Hill, but I just don’t see this team having the mentally capacity to put together 10 wins in conference this year. Although they might be just the type of team to go 7-11 in league play and then blow out all three of their Pac-10 tourney games by 30 points to get their bid.

Speaking of freakshows, Cal got to play their 7’3” Chinese transfer, Max Zhang, and man is he awkward! He’s sophomore-year Caleb Forrest to the 10th power.

A purge of thoughts from the USC/Oregon game

USC kinda reminds me of what would happen if you took Wazzu’s top 7 guys in NCAA 08 on your Plyastation into player-edit mode, and made all their stats and attributes about 10 points higher. They’ve got a leader PG in Hackett, a PF/C in Gibson, a senior role player in Wilkinson, and a bunch of freshmen with expectations….oh and also Dwight Lewis, who’s having quite the breakout season. Very impressed so far.

Also somewhat impressed with Oregon so far despite the lopsided loss. This may be the first time I’ve ever seen the Ducks commit and rotate on defense. I think it was more of a matter of the Trojans just being overwhelming on offense. The Ducks on offense are quite an adventure, as it seemed like a lot of it was whichever guard has the ball with about 20 seconds left in the shot clock just puts his head down and hope he gets to the rim, or hoping Porter or Brown can get open for a 3. I’m very impressed so far with what I’ve seen out of their freshmen too (specifically Dunigan and Crittle, albeit Crittle will have a rough couple years learning to stay out of foul trouble.)

Oregon kept this one close for about 30 minutes, partially because DeRozan and Gibson spent a great deal of the game in foul trouble, partially because USC had more offensive lapses than Oregon had defensive lapses. But in the last 10 minutes, USC found another gear and left the Quacks behind.

Oregon’s still going to win some games this year. Especially once their freshmen get a few more games under them. Playing UCLA on Sunday isn’t going to help.

If USC is ever going to win the Pac-10, this is definitely the year to do it. DeRozan’s looking more and more like the NBA prospect he was projected to be, and Gibson and Hackett might both leave after this year too (Wright too if he keeps this up.) First Pac impressions: The Trojans are the team to beat.