re: Does this NC-State Villanova game make you feel worse or better?

Way worse

NC State beating Nova makes me feel even worse.

LSU had better talent than either of those teams, except in the coaching department.

Same with football. A coach who can recruit, but drops off badly in the game itself.

Oh, well. What could have been.

What will make it even worse is if NCSt goes on into, let's say the Final 4 ( however unlikely).....then the mind games really start fricking with ya!

What our team did in the tourney should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who watched us much in the regular season. It was predictable and painful.....a train wreck in slow motion that you simply can't pull yourself away from watching. It wasn't 1/9 level....but it was in the neighborhood.

I think I'd rather have someone hit me in the jewels with a baseball bat than have to watch another football or basketball meltdown. Such is the life of an LSU fan.

Far, far worse

No way would LSU have beat Villanova.

It's not so much that we lost, but how. This game basically personified the entire season of inconsistent play from this team. Depending on which team/coaches decided to show up, they could play head to head against Kentucky or shrivel up against Auburn. A significant number of their losses were the result of late game meltdowns. Lord knows the raw talent is there. Next year will be crucial to Johnny Jones' era at LSU.

During the game, watching LSU play in the first half, I was optimistic about the tigers chances vs Nova. I wanted the team that had the best chance to advance to win. When LSU lost I was a little disappointed. Their first half display made me think they had a better chance to beat Nova than state.

After watching the state-nova game, my opinion has obviously been changed. Hidsight is 20/20 of course after seeing state win, but I think State was the better team to face Nova. Sure everyone says Mickey and Martin wouldve destroyed Nova inside, and I agree, I think it wouldve given the tigers a great chance. But if Nova went to the four guard set, I think LSU wouldve matched up much worse.

1) You have to have a cat barber to beat Nova. They have so many quick guards, that you have to have the quickest guy on the court to a) defend the drive and dish and b) drive to the basket. Im not optimistic about LSUs chances without someone of Cat's quickness.

2) You have to have guard depth. State played 5 different guys to match Nova 5 guards throughout the game. Besides the trio of Lacey/Turner/Barber, there was also senior Dez Lee, who got his most minutes in a long time and played a great game, and freshman Caleb Martin. I think quarterman/hornsby/patterson couldve done a really good job here, and josh gray maybe as well. But I think the tigers wouldve been short one more good guard to plug and play.

3) You have to have interior depth. State is blessed to have 4 good college post players. None of them are exactly star quality, they are just good collegiate guys. If LSU played Nova and the game was called the same way, the tigers wouldve been in a serious trouble. Part of it is the difficulty of guarding Nova that leads to fouling, but there were also a lot of phantom touch calls inside. I feel pretty confident Martin and/or Mickey wouldve had foul trouble. The drop off after these guys as we all know is pretty serious.

4) Gottfried did a good job coaching the guys to stay on their man when Nova would drive and dish. There were a few breakdowns that lead to open shots, but for the most part we played great perimeter D, and credit for that has to go to Gottfried for having the right gameplan and coaching the guys up. I think Johnny Jones is a great guy, but his coaching and gameplanning definitely hasnt been a weapon in LSU's arsenal this year.

That being said, Nova missed some of their open shots last night. And if they had shot similarly while playing LSU I think the tigers wouldve had a great chance. But I think there are distinct reasons State had some advantages against Nova that LSU didn't. I just think using the State win over Nova to guarantee an LSU win and mentally torture yourself even more is silly. No need for anyone to beat themselves up.

quote:

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they generally go poof when it counts

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Are you referring to Nova or LSU?