The game confirmed all of the weaknesses of Stanford. The
Cardinal could do nothing inside, offensively or defensively,
after Curtis Borchardt picked up his 3rd and 4th fouls
midway through the second half. Casey Jacobsen, despite
scoring 28 points, once again failed to come through during
crunch time (two in the final ten minutes). Offensive
production from the point guard spot once again was abysmal.
Couple that with Josh Childress' game disappearing along
with Omar and bin Laden. Of course, Childress just a
true freshman so you have to cut him some slack, but you get my
point.
With the spectators (many were neutral UNLV fans) who adopted the
underdog cougars chanting "O-ver Ra-ted!" as Stanford
lost 81-76, it's a good thing the game ended somewhere around
2:00 eastern time.
The worst part: Video footage of Casey Jacobsen interviewing
himself during one of the timeouts, then failing to come through
late. What he needs is a free throw shooting ability as
great as that ego of his (7-13 on the night). Maybe the
team needs someone with a "give me da rock" attitude,
but that was too complacent. Less pomp, more made foul
shots!
Should I be so harsh? Well, according to Voltaire on the
HoopsBoard, BYU was picked to finish 6th in the Mountain West.
BBKIA was right on the money last year when he said we'd
miss last year's senior class.
In case if you missed the debacle, here's a pithy run down of the
game. The contest started slowly, with defenses dominating
early. Then, Stanford appeared to be getting a game inside
as Curtis Borchardt and Justin Davis (with a career high 19
points) began to dominate. However, the Cougars kept the
game close with outstanding three point shooting.
Spearheading the attack from beyond the stripe was Eric
Nielsen, who would go 2-2 during the game and would score 29
points. The score remained tight at the break with Stanford
ahead 41-40.
The Cougars jumped ahead early in the second half, catching the
listless Cardinal by surprise. Curtis Borchardt picked up
his second and third fouls right off the bat, leaving a huge void
in the middle. After that, the BYU lead would hover between
two and five until about ten minutes to go. After Stanford
retook a 63-61 lead, the Cougars went on a 11-0 run. During
that stretch, Stanford only made one field goal for nearly eight
minutes. The Cardinal, trailing by as much as nine with
nearly two minutes to go, eventually fought back to get within
four points before BYU closed the game to win 81-76.
Usually after I write an article like this, there seems to be
plenty of fallout. Please do not question my loyalty to the
team. Nobody would be happier to see the players bounce
right back. I know this team can play much, much better.
The team is young and there are going to be some potholes
in the road ahead. However, this game was simply
disastrous. This is not to be taken as a personal knock on any of
the players (Well, I do hope that CJ will find a little bit of
humility). Instead, I want it to be seen as a challenge for
this team to rebound, get back on track, and make a run at the
Pac-10 championship. Let's all hope the team is willing to
do so.
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