Vegas odds has moved the spread up to -4.5 pts UH. I likeeeeeeeee Duke relies heavily on their starters by choice not injuries, which consists of freshman/2nd year players, outside of their lone senior Roach.
Not much to say about this game that hasn't already been said. I just remember them showing a foul trouble graphic right before the 2nd half started and thinking to myself "damn, our whole team is going to foul out." Can't believe I was almost right. And of course, as a T-shirt fan for the last 43 years....how surreal would it be if UH beat Duke and NCState beat Marquette.....
I'm all booked and ready to go for the final four in Phoenix. I hope for the UH squad to meet me there. Going no matter what since Phoenix is just down the highway but would really love to see my school there. Go Coogs
I would have chosen Phoenix but it just felt like a bridge too far for this squad. I hope you get to prove me very wrong.
Sometimes the decision is from well above the referee’s pay grade. Like any good employee, they are there because they know how to follow directions. It doesn’t even have to be blatant. It could be as simple as, the head officiating giving a directive to call it to a “T”. And since Houston is more physically and athletically imposing, the style is going to lend itself to being called a could on every play. But obviously the one giving the directive wants an intended result. You have to hand it to Kelvin Sampson, he never deviated from how they were going to play, regardless if every Cougar fouled out!
I had a really busy rough day…zero chance I can watch this again today…maybe in June on an Astros off-night. I really want to, but it was so exhausting. Like Astros/Mets 16 innings…Astros/Braves 18 innings kind of exhausting. The difference is that we got the Chris Burke version of this game, because we won. Just wanna say again…and I thought about this a lot today…these Coogs are among my favorite sports teams at any level all time ever. Even if they lose against Duke. I’m insanely in love with these kids, man. The way they play is completely up my alley…and bigger than that, in our little tournament team program that I coach with my son, we lean into “we’re all we got when we show up Saturday morning at that gym. The mom of the kid you’re matched up against is gonna boo you and talk noise to you…we’re all we got.” We say that to kids who are about 12 years old and have never really experienced that before. So Kelvin saying last night, “we’re built for this” was just so insanely relatable…and also, your best guess at our weakness is actually our strength. You can talk that noise all you want….you may be better than us..you may have better shooters…you may have better athletes…but you damn sure won’t outwork us. That’s the **** that makes me love CKS and the Coogs so much. I love Baylor (and I sincerely loved that a bunch of those kids came back just to prove a point in 2021..that’s ****ing awesome, and that’s Scott Drew’s opus)…but damn, this team is dirty as ****. Next man up let’s go. Go Coogs!
It’s sad that you have to tell your kids to deal with booing from other parents. I deal with this a lot as referee and coach in Judo. Unfortunately this is the type of culture we have.
Nah, bring it. **** them. It’s always about us. I get why you say that, but we want our kids to lean into it. Our goal is to make sure they ALL make their team at school…and see where that takes them with us or otherwise. And we’re connected to a nonprofit that’s all about community. Yeah they might boo you…but your coaches and teammates are family. And when your teammate is booed, you’re there for him too. Life isn’t easy. Get ‘em ready for it.
I agree life isn’t easy and we shouldn’t protect our kids from the rough things in life. At the same time we should set the right example for kids and being a good sport is a very important example. I’ve had to deal with parents, coaches and other adults booing, insulting, and even harassing. It’s bad enough when parents are going after referees and coaches but I’ve had to deal with them doing the same to other youth players. I’ve even had to restrain parents and coaches who were publicly verbally abusing their own children. From what I’ve seen Judo is one of the better sports with more behaved parents. Hockey parents appear to be the worst.
If any of our kids starts to make noise when the opponents are shooting a free throw we shut that down. It’s not about them…we can’t control them..we can control us.
