hi guys ~ hope you're all healthy n happy! Unlike whichever team loses tonight, not so happy lol
but that's the way it is in a tournament... Everybody's season ends with a Loss! except the Champion!
I was fortunate on Saturday to pick both games right and enjoyed witnessing a truly spectacular effort by Houston!
They were down 9pts w/1 min.. down 6pts w/30 secs, but scrappy all-out never-say-die defense and rebounding got em a trip to da Finals!
Great for them! Great for Coach Sampson! Tough loss for Duke, but I heard they only had 1 FG in the last 6 mins? 9 mins??
and it's hard to win any game when you can't put the ball in the basket.
With a minute left, I was just rooting for Houston to cover the 6, an outright win was not even in my mind!
Clean steals were key, along w/a few BIG 3ptrs, and that FT thing...
OK, can't resist... Houston's comeback reminded me of...my old HS team! ALERT: Story Time!! I'll understand if you skip this part
I played HS hoops (and fb), our team used what was then called the UCLA press (2-2-1) named after those boys up the road in Westwood!
They were in the middle of a run of National Championships that'll never be duplicated... Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Dave Meyers, Marques Johnson, Wilks, Larry Hollifield, Richard Washington, Alcindor/Sven/Walton back deep and guards like Bibby, Greg Lee, Lucius Allen et al
So many stars I can't name them all... they only used it sparingly, but man was it effective!
So... My HS team could struggle on offense at times, esp vs tall zone defenders, but our backcourt press was as good as or better than any HS team I ever saw or played against bk in the day, I kid you not.
You wouldn't believe how many turnovers we forced, and quick cheap baskets we got!
We'd force the dribbler into traps, OR to get them dribbling so hard to get around our pressure the 2nd level could come up and quite often draw a charge in the backcourt! Or force them to panic and pass bk across court and we tried for steals, always! Not a "passive" trap.
It almost always changed the flow of the game in my team's favor.
Our tallest player was a springy 6'2 skinny forward, then a few of us @ 6ft and a few a lil less, a few taller bench guys that didn't play much.
there was usually at least 2 or 3 guys on the opposing teams that were taller than us, and that was okay...
But man, I can't tell you how many times we came back (or turned a tight game into a rout) because of our press!
Here's 1 of my favorite comebacks ~
Playing in Holiday tournament during Christmas vacation against defending CIF champs w/3 future Div 1 College players on their roster...
we'd both lost gm 1 the previous night (breaking their 44 game winning streak), they came out pissed I guess and we were down 24 @ half...
At halftime, our Coach "don't worry about the score, just try your best" and doesn't really even go into any details or changes to what we'd been trying and failing at.
So we decide to throw our press on em, cuz we generally played better when we got to play in a 'transition" game.
We ran on every defensive rebound and we were VERY good at 2 on 1s, 3 on 2s, and if we had to set up we took our first decent shot that came up, knowing the mountain we had to climb.. and actually made a few (no 3pt shots bk then).
And we pressed the entire time, forcing some turnovers, drawing some charges, and this poised, and actually "Better" opponent started to crumble and miss and we just blitzed em!
Of course, the happy ending was we came all the way back and beat them by 11 as they got so flustered, and we got a zillion layups and steals! sooo much fun! a mere 50 yrs and a few months ago!
OKAY... tonight's game is hard for me to root against either team. Congrats to both for being here!
Special respect for Calvin Sampson! His team's heart and relentless effort brings back fond memories! (despite the obvious differences in talent lol)
I only have a text message from the opening day of the tournament to prove I had these 2 teams in the Finals... with Florida winning!
I shredded my bracket during the Sweet 16 lol
So I'll go w/my bracket pick of Gators to Win!
PARLAY:
Hou ml/Fla ml/FLA ml <<< 55/51
**gonna look for a "live" play on Houston +6 or more if possible, for at least a few units!
Fun parlay:
1h Fla ml/_____(open) <<< 85/
**Leaning 2h over to fill this one! would love to see a low scoring 1half w/Houston having to chase in 2nd half!!
TV guys will talk about it I'm sure if this is true, but I heard if Fla wins, their coach will be the youngest ever to win it.
And if Houston wins, Sampson will be the oldest ever to win it.
Btw, my memories of John Wooden was that he looked a lot older to me then than Calvin Sampson does today lol
GL guys!
LoB
but that's the way it is in a tournament... Everybody's season ends with a Loss! except the Champion!
I was fortunate on Saturday to pick both games right and enjoyed witnessing a truly spectacular effort by Houston!
They were down 9pts w/1 min.. down 6pts w/30 secs, but scrappy all-out never-say-die defense and rebounding got em a trip to da Finals!
Great for them! Great for Coach Sampson! Tough loss for Duke, but I heard they only had 1 FG in the last 6 mins? 9 mins??
and it's hard to win any game when you can't put the ball in the basket.
With a minute left, I was just rooting for Houston to cover the 6, an outright win was not even in my mind!
Clean steals were key, along w/a few BIG 3ptrs, and that FT thing...
OK, can't resist... Houston's comeback reminded me of...my old HS team! ALERT: Story Time!! I'll understand if you skip this part
I played HS hoops (and fb), our team used what was then called the UCLA press (2-2-1) named after those boys up the road in Westwood!
They were in the middle of a run of National Championships that'll never be duplicated... Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Dave Meyers, Marques Johnson, Wilks, Larry Hollifield, Richard Washington, Alcindor/Sven/Walton back deep and guards like Bibby, Greg Lee, Lucius Allen et al
So many stars I can't name them all... they only used it sparingly, but man was it effective!
So... My HS team could struggle on offense at times, esp vs tall zone defenders, but our backcourt press was as good as or better than any HS team I ever saw or played against bk in the day, I kid you not.
You wouldn't believe how many turnovers we forced, and quick cheap baskets we got!
We'd force the dribbler into traps, OR to get them dribbling so hard to get around our pressure the 2nd level could come up and quite often draw a charge in the backcourt! Or force them to panic and pass bk across court and we tried for steals, always! Not a "passive" trap.
It almost always changed the flow of the game in my team's favor.
Our tallest player was a springy 6'2 skinny forward, then a few of us @ 6ft and a few a lil less, a few taller bench guys that didn't play much.
there was usually at least 2 or 3 guys on the opposing teams that were taller than us, and that was okay...
But man, I can't tell you how many times we came back (or turned a tight game into a rout) because of our press!
Here's 1 of my favorite comebacks ~
Playing in Holiday tournament during Christmas vacation against defending CIF champs w/3 future Div 1 College players on their roster...
we'd both lost gm 1 the previous night (breaking their 44 game winning streak), they came out pissed I guess and we were down 24 @ half...
At halftime, our Coach "don't worry about the score, just try your best" and doesn't really even go into any details or changes to what we'd been trying and failing at.
So we decide to throw our press on em, cuz we generally played better when we got to play in a 'transition" game.
We ran on every defensive rebound and we were VERY good at 2 on 1s, 3 on 2s, and if we had to set up we took our first decent shot that came up, knowing the mountain we had to climb.. and actually made a few (no 3pt shots bk then).
And we pressed the entire time, forcing some turnovers, drawing some charges, and this poised, and actually "Better" opponent started to crumble and miss and we just blitzed em!
Of course, the happy ending was we came all the way back and beat them by 11 as they got so flustered, and we got a zillion layups and steals! sooo much fun! a mere 50 yrs and a few months ago!
OKAY... tonight's game is hard for me to root against either team. Congrats to both for being here!
Special respect for Calvin Sampson! His team's heart and relentless effort brings back fond memories! (despite the obvious differences in talent lol)
I only have a text message from the opening day of the tournament to prove I had these 2 teams in the Finals... with Florida winning!
I shredded my bracket during the Sweet 16 lol
So I'll go w/my bracket pick of Gators to Win!
PARLAY:
Hou ml/Fla ml/FLA ml <<< 55/51
**gonna look for a "live" play on Houston +6 or more if possible, for at least a few units!
Fun parlay:
1h Fla ml/_____(open) <<< 85/
**Leaning 2h over to fill this one! would love to see a low scoring 1half w/Houston having to chase in 2nd half!!
TV guys will talk about it I'm sure if this is true, but I heard if Fla wins, their coach will be the youngest ever to win it.
And if Houston wins, Sampson will be the oldest ever to win it.
Btw, my memories of John Wooden was that he looked a lot older to me then than Calvin Sampson does today lol
GL guys!
LoB
