Post-Game Open Thread: Arizona 86 USC 84
by Joey Kaufman on Mar 6, 2010 2:51 PM PST
in USC Basketball
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PrintPlain and simply, USC didn't end the season the way it intended to. Postseason tournament ban aside, the Trojans started off the month of February on a 4-game winning streak topped off by a Valentine's Day win over UCLA and a February 18th road victory at Washington. But after the Trojans bested the Huskies in mid-February, the team slowly but steadily took a nose-dive straight into the ground primarily due to their inability to be the least bit efficient on the offensive end. As a result, the Trojans ended a once promising season in which they were once considered a potential NCAA tournament on a 5-game losing streak.
Saturday morning/afternoon's double overtime loss to Arizona perfectly summed up the 2009-2010 USC basketball - heart-wrenching. Yes, at times it was exciting or even frustrating, but in the end, this year was just an unfortunate episode in the history of USC hoops. At the end of December, it looked as if they guys were bound for a trip to the Big Dance, but instead, the USC administration decided to make this current group of players pay for the mistakes of previous teams. Thanks O.J. In mid-February, the Trojans appeared in position to best Cal for the Pac-10 regular season title, but a couple of mishaps later, 'SC was out of the running for that elusive 1st place finish. You just feel for these guys.
Today, the Trojans looked like they were prepared to end the year on a positive note against Arizona and earn their 17th win of the season, but the "basketball Gods" had other plans. Despite leading for most of the game, USC, which appeared poised to leave Tucson with another "W" in the wins column, watched those infamous Pac-10 referees make yet another game changing play.
With 0.2 seconds left to play, Nikola Vucevic was called for his fourth foul on a Kyle Fogg desperation three-pointer. As a result, Fogg earned a trip to the charity stripe, where he made all three free throws to send the game into overtime.
Even with Dwight Lewis fouling out toward the end of the extended period, along with Vucevic, the Trojans wound up forcing another overtime, but the Wildcats would prove to be too much to overcome. Even with a pair of Mike Gerrity free throws tying the game up at 84, Nic Wise ended up scoring a layup at the other end of floor to give UA the win.
With the completion of this game, the season is officially over and the Trojans now head into a somewhat intriguing offseason, where the higher ups on campus are going to be making some crucial decisions regarding the future of the program. For one, the school is reportedly going to announce a new president within the next month or two, which could then put the job of athletic director Mike Garrett in jeopardy, especially with an NCAA ruling expected to be handed out within the next six-to-eight weeks.
Kevin O'Neill will also potentially be making some staff changes. There will be some player turnover as well with Gerrity, Lewis, and Marcus Johnson, all graduating. The Pac-10 pecking order could be changing with the coming tournaments and offseason recruiting. A lot of stuff going down, and as always, we'll try to keep you all posted on much of it. Thank God we're closer to football season.
Fight On!
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You might want to fix that headline, quick.
Los Angeles is like Manchester. There is a red team that wins championships and a blue team that doesn't.
KO wasn't pleased about that foul call on Kid Euro
"Would you be pleased?" O’Neill said. "Everyone knows what happened out there today. It’s no secret. Everyone who was at the game saw what happened. I’m going to leave it at that."
--Conquest Chronicles, SBNation's USC Trojans blog
I am much more upset about the clearly bullshit shot clock score
Very upsetting… some quotage from KO:
“That will be a team I will always remember,” he said. “The University of Southern California should always be proud of them. When they are sitting around 10 years from now, they should remember this group really played their hearts out every single day with the worst of all odds.”
I like this man, I gotta admit.
I am most greatful for KO's hard work this season!
I’ll always remember him, thanks old pal and Fight On! Now that we got that out of the way…
FIRE KO!!!!!!!!!!
The time is ripe to bring in a coach that is worthy of the potential greatness of USC basketball, a coach that recruits will flock to, a man of unimpeachable character, temper and integrity. It’s time for our “AD” to make one final call, the right call for once. Do it Mike Garrett, call Jamie Dixon or we’ll end up facing him across town once the KO-esque Ben Howland finishes imploding at fucla in the next year or two. It’s time for the center of LA college hoops to move to a resurgent Downtown. Do it now Mike, as a parting gift to show everyone that perhaps you’re not the doofus everyone thinks you are.
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
Unless we have a deal lined up with someone beforehand
That isn’t going to happen. KO exceeded expectations by leaps and bounds in his first year. How the heck would USC honestly look to prospective coaches who want a little job security?
--Conquest Chronicles, SBNation's USC Trojans blog
by Joey Kaufman on Mar 6, 2010 10:12 PM PST up reply actions
I agree with you on all counts.
But you have to temper your enthusiasm for KO’s achievements due to the overall suckage of the Pac-10 this year. No one knew what we were all about early in the season, but once they figured out it was lights out. Under normal circumstances we would have won maybe 3 or 4 conference games. Do we want to be blaming the refs for our misery next year too?
Look, guys like KO never have job security, they come in to put out the fire and quickly wear out their welcome. It happened at Arizona and it will happen here too so we best get it over with. Thank him, pat him on the back, give him a bonus and say bye-bye; but, before we do, we have the next guy lined up.
Does anyone honestly think that KO is the best we can do? Do we owe him some loyalty? He’s about to blow up the staff, will that be a good thing? I think the answer each of those questions is a resounding NO! Our long suffering team deserves the best, and KO just ain’t.
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
*temperament
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
Reporting a Robbery in Tucson tonight
This game was not won, it was STOLEN! The call on Vucevic appeared horrible, as there was no visible evidence of a touch. However, kids are NOT supposed to even come close to blocking a desperation three like that for fear of getting a bad call. Like Rabbit, I am MOST upset about Fogg’s (??) shot clock violation layup late in the game. I had to rewind on Tivo to check my incredulous first instinct, and I was right. The ball left his hand almost a FULL second after the clock hit 0.00. Horrible calls down the stretch. We got homered! I called the Pima County sheriffs office to report a …….
Robbery in Tucson!!!
C'mon Tex!
Not you too amigo! We need a real coach, not a whack job like KO. Look, I supported him through the season but the dance is over. Metaphorically, it’s time to drive the ugly girl back to her house. Give her a little hug and a peck on the forehead, tell her she’s really nice, then say good night and good-bye. Forever!
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
So I just watched....and rewatched....and rewatched in slo-mo
the SportsCenter highlight from the game. It was not in HD, and there is only one camera angle, but this is what I can tell happened on that 3 pointer.
Starting with Fogg making a move to the left around a screen, Marcus Simmons runs past Fogg trying to deny a shot. Fogg waits for him to pass, and as he’s pulling up, Vucevic leaps to contest the shot, but he leaps across his body, not towards him. As he goes up, Vucevic gets just a piece of the ball as he lets go, creating some side spin on the ball (clearly an indication of a block coming from the side). At the same time, Marcus Simmons is trying to block him from behind, reaching toward him, but not touching anything. As Fogg’s arms are falling from the follow through, Simmons appears to bring his arm down to try to swat the ball and maybe (can’t tell from grainy footage), MAYBE hit Fogg’s arm as it’s falling, AFTER the ball has been released. Now, the ref is standing about 8-10 feet directly behind Simmons and is shielded by him from the play. However, after (possibly) getting glanced on the arm, Fogg sells it hard by falling on his ass (after all, it was a desperation shot). The ref seems him go down, sees the ball fall 10 feet short of the basket, and sees Vucevic’s arm coming down from what he believes would have been the point of contact. Foul called on Vucevic.
So for one, Vucevic should not have fouled out because the only thing he touched on that play was all ball, and no ref on the court could have actually seen anything otherwise. Additionally, the ref who actually made the foul call was being screened by a player when the “foul” occurred, and thus it was not his judgment call to make. Perhaps even more importantly, it was a judgment call, and a very close one at that, for very minor (if any) contact after the release. The fact of the matter is at that stage of the game, that close of a judgment call is only ever going to be made in the favor of the home team. The problem of making the incorrect call was only compounded by the fact that it was made on the incorrect player.
But as I’ve said before, it should never have been an issue if KO had told the kids to foul on the floor before the shot. It just doesn’t make any sense not to do it, especially when you’ve successfully employed the strategy earlier in the season! Joey, if you or anyone else at the DT gets an interview with KO in the next few days, PLEASE ask him why the hell he decided not to foul!
Forgetting all of that and assuming that somehow a correct foul call was made, it’s incredibly easy to count Nic Wise taking 3 steps going to the hoop for the game winning basket. Seriously, it’s like LeBron or Kobe-level traveling, except Wise actually needed all of the 3 steps and a big take off to get from the top of the key down near the block.
Add in the aforementioned shot clock violation and a handful of other phantom foul calls, and this was a felony larceny. Yet another game we should have won but let slip away.
Joey, if you or anyone else at the DT gets an interview with KO in the next few days, PLEASE ask him why the hell he decided not to foul!
It’s pretty simple FO09, KO is not an elite coach.
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
Totally agree: "KO is not an elite coach"
But the bigger question is…“can USC attract an elite coach right now?”
--Conquest Chronicles, SBNation's USC Trojans blog
by Joey Kaufman on Mar 7, 2010 12:16 AM PST up reply actions
Would I fire KO to get Jamie Dixon?
Yes.
Do we have a shot in hell of getting a coach of that caliber?
No.
KO isn’t the longterm solution, but I am A-OK with KO for another year.
Ahhhh, now we're talking!
You and Joey are asking the same question:
"can USC attract an elite coach right now?"Answer: It’s not impossible.
When the NCAA announces it’s findings next month, it’s likely that basketball will not be punished any further, meaning that this season was indeed “the bottom.” If all a new coach has to deal with is a couple of lost scholarships during a rebuilding year, then we really don’t have a problem. It will take a fat contract but USC can afford it.
As to keeping KO for another year, why bother? Every one of us saw him as a bridge to the future, not as THE future. Last year we were just hoping KO would shepherd our depleted roster through a murky season. He did a very good job at it, but the season is over and the job finished. Past is prologue here, and we have to realize that a defensive minded martinet like KO will never bring in the recruits that will take us to the promised land; prima fascia evidence of this can be seen across town, where the like minded (and significantly more talented) Howland is sputtering due to the lack of elite playmakers.
KO is a known quantity in the Pac-10 now, he’s easy to stop and his style of ball is both ugly and frustrating, if not downright depressing. I could conceive keeping him on as a defensive assistant, but not as the head man, ever.
The time to move is now, before he becomes entrenched and morphs into his Henry Bibby meets Bob Knight persona. We have to admit that while KO has the ability to do well, he also possesses enough toxic DNA to do a lot of damage. If you think things are bad now… Buckle-up.
Is KO worth the risk? No.
Would Jamie Dixon or some other elite coach consider USC? After next month, absolutely yes!
STILL LOCO AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
NOW CELEBRATING THE DAWN OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT
I just think USC
Needs something more than a status of “no longer damaged goods” to attract an elite coach. If the answer is a big fat check, then maybe I can see it.
Great facilities + great school + great location
I think we have something to offer an elite coach. Not as much as some schools, but definitely something.
--Conquest Chronicles, SBNation's USC Trojans blog
by Joey Kaufman on Mar 8, 2010 12:06 AM PST up reply actions
I'm still on board with KO
1) He did more with less
2) the players played hard until the bitter end. quite an accomplishment
3) the players seem to respect him and enjoy playing for him
4) he runs a clean program and prioritizes academics
5) he is an excellent Xs and Os guy
6) he appears to have a stellar recruiting class lined up
He’s pulling the best player out of Michigan, the best forward out of Kentucky, and some high scoring athletes. Sorry Loco, but I’m still on the KO train. But, will never forgive Garrett for throwing Timmy under the bus and setting our program back 3 years.
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