Gold
Well-Known Member
-The arena was more than half empty, but up in the far corner were a few hundred Buff fans and they were loud all game. We make our presence known on the road. Would have been pandaemonium if that Buff contingent could move closer to the court. Our seats were a few rows back of the Stanford bench, and definitely pissed off everyone in the section by screaming our heads off. But give credit to Stanford, they're a classy group of wine connoisseurs. No one gave us ****, no one told us off. Granted, we didn't get nasty, just rooting, but it had to be startling to see a visiting group come in and take over the crowd noise at times.
-I've been touting Dre's offensive skills all year, and last night showed there's more potential than we've seen thus far. His game has Hubie Brown upside potential. With Scott out, he became the go-to-guy in a bunch of situations. Looked great creating his own shot off the dribble, he was very aggressive. He put the ball in numerous headlocks in rebound situations. The clutch shooting touch was awesome. The defense is worth the price of admission. He's relentless.
-There was a Jaws moment last night, and that's when you think everything is peaceful, then a shark jumps out of the water and rips **** apart. That was the Spencer Dinwiddie dunk. The arena basically went into a worm hole and everything went upside down. Luckily for Stanford, they answered with a put back dunk (way too many of those) or else the Buffs would have rolled them through the end of the game. The NCAA needs to make a poster of that dunk! His technical foul at the end looked like a home court cooking call for sure.
-Booker was the most frustrating player to watch, but you still root for him. He was pulled out a few times after making some poor shooting decisions, and his body language wasn't great. But at the end, he hit a tough runner and was able to create a shot. He gets his confidence back quickly.
-XJ is a force, but he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on calls and it takes him out of his game. It's more of a mental hurdle, but he draws a lot of contact but doesn't do as good of a job as selling as Dinwiddie. He is the definition of beast mode with extra tapping of the B button. Love his rebounding. He can go up and get it. Plays awesome defense. Josh Huestis is not a fan of seeing #2.
-Sab had an insane drive to the rack, but that was about it. He was getting burned by #11 Andy Brown all night on a terrible mismatch and it cost us. No dandruff though.
-Jeremy Adams was terrific. Hustles on defense, has learned to cut down on ill-advised fouls, and has a nice touch from outside. He knitted a sweater during a TV time out, he's impressive. Learning how to drive in traffic with his spin move. Easy guy to root for. Doesn't play like a guy with injuries and ailments.
-The bench, outside of Adams, it was non-existent. SHT gave the crowd a classic "5 Minutes of SHT". Basically, he ran up and down the court a few times, tried to get a few rebounds, and then sat the rest of the way. Talton played a few min down the stretch, but didn't do many noteworthy things. Stalzer is an enigma. I'm not sure he can handle the ball at the PG level in the P12 or create his shot. He has potential, perhaps as a Knutson type that can catch and shoot, and you can't write off a freshman. So far it's been non-descript.
-The last play of the game my heart definitely stopped. I wasn't sure it counted. The ref waived it off quickly. Tad went nuts, tried to handshake Dawkins. The ref told him they needed to review. Quick review! Game over. People were leaving. High fived Buff fans. Stayed to watch the home team fans exit while taking it all it. IT DOES NOT GET BETTER THAN THIS! Enjoy it for what it is, a great road win.
-After the game we went down to courtside and saw the Roberson interview on ESPN 2, and talked to Walton. Very cool dude. I asked him how does he like the Buffs in the tournament, and he said "which tournament?" with a smile. He was complimentary of the Buffs and said we need to get back Scott for the stretch to make a run. I mentioned how we cleared a big hurdle about winning on the road and that's a sign we're turning the corner as a program. He agreed and said that Arizona's loss on the road to USC was surprising and elite teams win on the road.
There you have it. Amazing night for CU, witnessed by Larry Scott. Best moment was watching Tad congratulate the players after the win on the court. He is an energetic and positive coach.
On to Cal!
-I've been touting Dre's offensive skills all year, and last night showed there's more potential than we've seen thus far. His game has Hubie Brown upside potential. With Scott out, he became the go-to-guy in a bunch of situations. Looked great creating his own shot off the dribble, he was very aggressive. He put the ball in numerous headlocks in rebound situations. The clutch shooting touch was awesome. The defense is worth the price of admission. He's relentless.
-There was a Jaws moment last night, and that's when you think everything is peaceful, then a shark jumps out of the water and rips **** apart. That was the Spencer Dinwiddie dunk. The arena basically went into a worm hole and everything went upside down. Luckily for Stanford, they answered with a put back dunk (way too many of those) or else the Buffs would have rolled them through the end of the game. The NCAA needs to make a poster of that dunk! His technical foul at the end looked like a home court cooking call for sure.
-Booker was the most frustrating player to watch, but you still root for him. He was pulled out a few times after making some poor shooting decisions, and his body language wasn't great. But at the end, he hit a tough runner and was able to create a shot. He gets his confidence back quickly.
-XJ is a force, but he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on calls and it takes him out of his game. It's more of a mental hurdle, but he draws a lot of contact but doesn't do as good of a job as selling as Dinwiddie. He is the definition of beast mode with extra tapping of the B button. Love his rebounding. He can go up and get it. Plays awesome defense. Josh Huestis is not a fan of seeing #2.
-Sab had an insane drive to the rack, but that was about it. He was getting burned by #11 Andy Brown all night on a terrible mismatch and it cost us. No dandruff though.
-Jeremy Adams was terrific. Hustles on defense, has learned to cut down on ill-advised fouls, and has a nice touch from outside. He knitted a sweater during a TV time out, he's impressive. Learning how to drive in traffic with his spin move. Easy guy to root for. Doesn't play like a guy with injuries and ailments.
-The bench, outside of Adams, it was non-existent. SHT gave the crowd a classic "5 Minutes of SHT". Basically, he ran up and down the court a few times, tried to get a few rebounds, and then sat the rest of the way. Talton played a few min down the stretch, but didn't do many noteworthy things. Stalzer is an enigma. I'm not sure he can handle the ball at the PG level in the P12 or create his shot. He has potential, perhaps as a Knutson type that can catch and shoot, and you can't write off a freshman. So far it's been non-descript.
-The last play of the game my heart definitely stopped. I wasn't sure it counted. The ref waived it off quickly. Tad went nuts, tried to handshake Dawkins. The ref told him they needed to review. Quick review! Game over. People were leaving. High fived Buff fans. Stayed to watch the home team fans exit while taking it all it. IT DOES NOT GET BETTER THAN THIS! Enjoy it for what it is, a great road win.
-After the game we went down to courtside and saw the Roberson interview on ESPN 2, and talked to Walton. Very cool dude. I asked him how does he like the Buffs in the tournament, and he said "which tournament?" with a smile. He was complimentary of the Buffs and said we need to get back Scott for the stretch to make a run. I mentioned how we cleared a big hurdle about winning on the road and that's a sign we're turning the corner as a program. He agreed and said that Arizona's loss on the road to USC was surprising and elite teams win on the road.
There you have it. Amazing night for CU, witnessed by Larry Scott. Best moment was watching Tad congratulate the players after the win on the court. He is an energetic and positive coach.
On to Cal!
