The Morning After

I’ve found it’s always better to sleep on it after an emotional game before posting.

First, congratulations to CKS and OUR Coogs on a season that exceeded expectations. They got off to a slow start, found themselves in a deep hole, dug themselves out of it and had a shot to win at the end. Short of the shot going in, what more could we expect?

In watching the game, the first thing I though of was the old adage, you can’t teach height. While we have been undersized all year, we never ran into a team that had this height advantage at all five positions. It showed in the rebounding statistics.

UK made it point to ensure that if we beat them, it wasn’t going to be with Corey Davis going off on a big night from the 3 point arc as he rarely ever got a good look at the basket. When Armoni Brooks hit his first shot, I had a good feeling.

Poise. Even when they were down big, the team never panicked. CKS kept them focused and kept their heads in the game.

Officiating. I hate to complain about officiating, but it was a factor. We had 10 more fouls called against us than Kentucky did. UK would get to five fouls in each half and that was pretty much it, you weren’t going to get any more calls unless it was really egregious. We were not going to get any calls in the paint, but they fouled out two of our big men. Kentucky is a very good team, but we were playing against more than UK.

Next year. We really didn’t know what to expect when Rob Gray left, but the team stepped up. I feel that if the team, with our graduations, plays like this next year, we are moving to another level: a team that doesn’t rebuild, it reloads.

Thanks CKS and team for a great year.

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Excellent post. Couldn’t agree more. I don’t blame officials either, but it was called tight and that really affected our bigs. However, Kentucky was getting every 50/50 and loose ball were given way too many second chances in the first half. That was the difference for me. They played an incredible game in the post and we were no match.

Congrats to them, but I was very satisfied with the way we took it to them in the second half. That showed me that our guys can play with anyone in the nation. What an incredible season. I’m so happy I pulled the trigger on adding basketball to my season tickets on top of football.

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Why didn’t we wear red?

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The tournament rules are that the higher seeded team, which was Kentucky in this case, wears white uniforms, which means the lower seeded opponent wears a dark colored uniform. Until this game the Coogs had been dressed in white. - And, yes, this really is a rule. But, no, it doesn’t explain why we were not wearing red.

I know the rule… that was tounge-in-cheek… just not a fan of the black unis.

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I think the problem with our bigs getting into foul trouble has to do with UK’s size. On a scale of 1 - 5 with 1 being the least amount of physicality and 5 being the most, UK could get and maintain their post positions with about a level 2 or 3. We were trying to counter that with a level 4 or 5. So we were called for fouls. I think that is the benefit of having bigger players is that they don’t have to use maximum physicality to get the job done. And, when the other team uses max physicality, the whistle blows. Just my thoughts. Go Coogs.

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^^^^ This, and it is ashame that refs cant see that and swallow the whistle. It is irritating that the officiating style changed from the first two games. UH was almost punished by the refs for being undersized.

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The morning after…I have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and some abdominal pain

Make sure you are not pregnant…lol.

I feel good for the kids, even though i wish we were still playing.

My kids had a great time at the KHOU event so I am good. Hope we make it to Final Four next year.

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Boy it’s hard to know that seasons over. So much winning, so much climbing, feels like an elite 8 team… man I feel for those guys

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Still feel bad, but proud of our team. However, reflecting on the moment when my 8 years old boy cried when the game ended, good consolidation. I got myself a Coogfan.

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Officiating was definitely a factor. In our losses, we usually got a tight whistle which didn’t allow us to play our normally physical style. This game, the refs decided to clamp down which put us behind the 8 ball against a team with the overwhelming talent advantage. We still had a chance in the end, but it could have been a different game if the refs had let some of the touch fouls go earlier.

But, I tip my hat to Kentucky. They have a very good defense and the talent to win it all. I could easily seeing them win the title this year; which will send all of us Coogs into an offseason of what-ifs worse than last year.

Still, I’m not as upset as we reached our goals this year and then some. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and we just didn’t get enough of it this season.

Still love this team, the coaches, the players, and everyone associated with the program.

Go Coogs!

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I’m very happy about our season, our team and where we are as a program.

With that said, I’m going to need some more time to recover from this one. We had so many chances to have been able to win this game. Kentucky is a fantastic team and i genuinely feel as if we were out matched, but we still had chances to win.

We had so many self inflicted turn overs. Multiple miss rebounds that we bumbled under the basket that Kentucky ended up getting control of the ball seemingly right out of our hands. Going cold several times during the game and just looking confused during much of the first half.

During the last half of the second half our team finally hit its stride and showed what were really made of, and it was absolutely amazing.

I’m very much looking forward to next year, I have high hopes for this program and can’t wait to see what we can accomplish.

But it’s just too soon… I’m going to sit and sulk most of the day (and hopefully fight off this whisky hangover)

Go Coogs!

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Honestly Armoni got really hot and we started driving which kept us in the game but we would have had a hard time with Auburn that team has come together. I don’t think we were going too much farther if we won. Maybe final four and that’s it. Just being honest. 67 teams lose.

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It’s survive and advance. The season was always likely to end this way. I just think we all kept hoping for one more game. I just wasn’t ready to let it end.

Very well might have lost to auburn, but then again maybe they don’t hit 17 three pointers against us. Who knows what happens when you get there.

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That is exactly where I’m at. I just don’t want this season to end. But just have to accept that it has. CKS had a similar sentiment in the post game presser.

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I think last year somebody said the players got to choose black vs red. I wish we would go red for these big games. #BlackJerseyCurse

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Didnt we win the AAC crown wearing black at Cincy?

Facts have no part in a jersey color argument.

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In 65 minutes of play, White, Brady, Gresham and Harris had a total of exactly 1 field goal. Kentucky’s bigs, especially #22 and #25 threw us off our game. We were dominated on the boards and coming up with loose balls

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