Quick (Delayed) Reaction: North Texas 67 UC Irvine 69
It was a good run
If you scripted a start, this was the start. If you scripted a middle and an end? Less so.
But that’s the thing about this game. You don’t want a script. Part of the fun is in doing what is unexpected. What is hard, difficult, or outside of the norm. North Texas is a big university but with tiny resources. There is little big time basketball history here. All that combines for creating difficult basketball circumstances for those who have led things. We already said goodbye to Ross Hodge, in what is a closing chapter to just short of a decade of transcendent basketball.
They proved you could have a style, turn over the roster, and keep the style. They built a program and a reputation and brought home trophies. The twitteratti/X-ers had some hot sports opinions about what should have happened and could have happened and all that. That is part of the deal with building a program — you increase the number of fans.
It is good that some fans had expectations of the program, and do some grumbling that the team didn’t do the job in the NIT semifinal — the program’s second ever. The challenge for the next leader is to turn those expectations into resources for recruiting more talent that will be instrumental in producing more wins and adding more trophies, and so on and so forth.
The Game
It feels weird to analyze this game at any level given the fact that so much turnover will take place. Brenan Lorient will be recruited by everyone with a basketball brain. Floyd, Wright, Sissoko, Walker, Jossell, Massie, and Stone are all gone.
They came out and hit UCI in the mouth, getting a nice large lead before UCI crawled back with their own upper-classmen and talented dudes.
Ultimately it was about making shots. Justin Hohn hit three ridiculous three-pointers, including one that was just a heave and a fadeaway while guarded by Atin Wright. Dello Walker had a clutch three on a kickout from Wright right before it.
It was 60-62 UC Irvine and North Texas got a drive from Jasper Floyd. He turned the corner and the ball came up short. I didn’t see exactly what happened, but it was the kind of shot he has made all season. I mean its probably the first shot he practiced once he had a dribble in his bag.
That was it though. NT had another couple of attempts near the rim but couldn’t finish. Meanwhile UC Irvine got tip ins and free throws from their big man.
The stats said NT didn’t finish well around the rim. We figured that would be the challenge. UCI is big, and can block shots around the rim or at least make it tough to finish. NT didn’t have super athletic or super skilled big to negate that so the game was always about finishing elsewhere. In the end UCI made a couple of more tough shots (Justin Hohn) than did North Texas.
The people who call sports “sportsball” also like to call these games “random number generators” and while that’s partly true, it also belies the fact that there are scores of people competing for just a point or two here and there fully aware of the likelihood in competing for this or that point.
North Texas has built a program around the ideas of competing, not giving up, fighting for each and every possession. That was evident all season again, even if some of the trademark defensive toughness wasn’t there. They swapped that for a little more offensive balance and it got them all the way to the precipice of another nationally broadcast final. There is no shame in any of that. There were only eight teams left in the big tourneys 1 and North Texas dropped a game to a 30-win team with good players.
I got texts about the game, the tournament, the team. “Hey I saw North Texas playing the other day”.
Yes, it is all about trophies, but ultimately these guys are competing for us, and school pride, and the region. They represented us well.
Next season is a whole summer away. So right now we will enjoy the bittersweet ending to another fun basketball season.
GMG
yes, I know the Crown is on