At the game today...Here are my observations sans replays (will watch the recorded version later)
1) Extremely proud of and encouraged by the team's effort. Contrary to the chronic whiners on this thread, team made a statement today and this is simply a case of the team "walking before it runs". This was the team's debutante ball - our 1st time on the big stage with a team that has expectations (not Wisconsin, not PSU). I told my buddy in 1st half, that they just needed to hang around until they figured out that they could play with these guys..Once the realized it, things changed...An undeniable positive
2) Jordan looked good and enjoyed himself today. Lavin, to his credit, recognized this and did not force Phil or Branch in 2nd half
3) Branch made some unbelievable passes that, with more assertive finishers, should have been buckets
4) The missed fouls shots were the turning point...it was a tug of war at that point and we let go for a moment
5) Was a bit disappointed that Sanchez was not more assertive...He had a # of opportunities to take it to the hole and looked around for someone else to give it to
6) Much improved zone offense with obvious attempts to feed the post...but need to anticipate the next move and not be as deliberate
7) Not gonna cry here because we were up 2 with ball and could have extended lead. But, just seemed that ALL contact was called on us and there were 3-5 instances where they got away with contact
Don't think 3 guard lineup was correct approach as they had 3 bigs for much of game...
9) As much as I would have liked Hooper to hit a 3 ball, the game was teetering and I think Lavin did not want to leave him in lineup for very long as he was going to struggle on defense.
10) I think the fan differential was not significant and I loved it when SJ crowd shouted down the "Let's go Orange" chant mid way thru 2nd half. Look forward to the day when we have 75% of MSG...
11) And to those who sold their "premo" center court tix -- shame on you...you don't deserve the tix
All in all, disappointed? Absolutely...Encouraged? Absolutely!!!