It was frustrating to watch. It was painful to watch. In sports the best team does not always win. And that certainly was the case in the NCAA Championship Game. The best team lost.
Gonzaga chokes in the second with abysmal shooting caused by nothing but their ineptitude. And this wasn’t missed 3 bombs, these were layups – freaking bunnies – shots from 3 feet out that did not go down. AND 14 FREAKING TURNOVERS – not due to good defense, but ineptitude – too much or too cute interior passes that were dropped, slipping on the court (at least 4 times) Totally brutal. Zags coach Mark Few did a horrible job in attacking an average UNC defense – more to come. And the officiating was disgusting. And then the injury at the end of the game. And the blown call on Meeks being out of bounds.
All of this bullshit was needed by UNC to win. UNC has never won a championship straight up. NEVER. They always need help. Like the other team self-destructing which 3 teams did for them this year – Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Gonzaga. Pure unadulterated luck for UNC which should not even have been in the final game. That is why we call bullshit.
The officiating was disgusting. That is a general observation across sports websites, but as always, all the comments and all the people are missing it. Allow PSR to enlighten you since you will not read this anywhere else. The officials did not call enough inside fouls when Gonzaga was on offense. Karnowski and Collins were mugged constantly as well as any Zag player who went to the hole. How Meeks and Hicks did not foul out of the first half is beyond belief. The officials let the stuff under the UNC basket go, but called anything at the Zags end. Johnathan Williams was the recipient of real cheap ticky-tack foul calls but those fouls were only called against the Zags. UNC’s fouls were all earned with general mugging all over the court BUT the officials missed a ton. THAT IS A FACT.
Too add to UNC’s luck, the Zags missed countless 3 foot and in shots in the second half. At one point, they were shooting 18 % – 18 FREAKING PERCENT. They went almost 8 minutes without a FG in the second half. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT. All due to their ineptitude. Karnowski was the main culprit but had assists from Collins and the other Zag players.
The turnovers were excrutiating to see. Most all were unforced errors. No credit is due to UNC. Total sad meltdown by the better team.
Mark Few made some critical tactical errors:
Did not allow Williams-Gross to control game – only in the last 3 minutes did that happen. The solution was to allow Williams-Gross to operate/attack from the wing
Gonzaga set high picks for Perkins bringing Karnowski or Collins – wrong thing to do. The solution was NOT TO BRING ANOTHER DEFENSIVE MAN TO THE BALL TO ENABLE A TRAP. Instead it required a two pronged attack – 1) use a 3 man weave with Perkins, Williams and Williams-Gross that allowed them to peel off when an opening occurred and they could drive to the hoop; and 2) put Collins and Karnowski on the bottom block and have them continuing screen across to either free one of them up or create at seal off or one of them could flash to the post to receive a pass and have the passer peel off to the hole for a give and go or work a high-low with pass to the post and dump down pass or the man at the high post can take a shot from the foul line. SIMPLE
Gonzaga had only 2 people to guard – Jackson and Berry. Jackson because he is the only player on UNC that can shoot and score and Berry because he had the ball. Berry cannot shoot at all – despite what shots he made last night. [the game could be replayed 10 more times and Berry would not get double digits in any of the game]. They needed to play Berry tough one on one and make him drive – he would shoot every time because he is a ball hog and the Zags would get the rebound when he missed the layup. Jackson needed to be guarded man to man – it was effective last night in limiting his scoring. But the Zags did not change up the defense enough – there was no box and one or diamond and two. You play those defenses so the ball ends up in the hands of the players who are not offensive threats – like Meeks and Hicks. They would have received passes outside of the key but they would be open and seeing that they are zone played, would have shot the ball. Better to try to make Meeks and Hicks score since neither can shoot. This was a big-time mistake by Few.
And there was the missed call on Meeks’ touch and the ankle injury suffered by Williams-Gross in the last minute. All this stuff combined spells BULLSHIT. The only way UNC could win.
It was tragic for Gonzaga who are the best team for 2017 and tragic for their players who underperformed – or choke as we call it since that is what it was.
There you have the complete and only correct analysis of last night’s game and how the outcome should have been altered. The reader will not get this analysis from any other source on the web.
