I can’t say I’m surprised that we lost in the opening round. Nor can I say that I’m surprised that ‘Nova was able to easily come back from being down early by a lot.

I didn’t watch most of the game, only about the last 10 minutes or so. I observed that we had no interior game, that we couldn’t hit any shots, and that the refs were calling everything and then some (which may explain why Booker fouled out early and why we had no interior game). I was particularly frustrated when, toward the end of the game, Sykes was whistled for, what I could tell, was standing too close to a ‘Nova player who was in the process of falling down. Unfortunately, that doesn’t excuse the fact that the best shooters on the team had arguably their worst night of the season from 3-point range.

The ref’s were horrible. If Nova got called foul on us, we came up bloody. If we moved the air around Nova-foul, shoot two. I was sick to my stomach after the game. The look on our guys faces was one of being completely screwed. We let one-sided refs get to us, and it ruined our playing. Nova knew they could get away with anthing, so they had a field day.

I know everyone is a big fan of OP…but that is where the problem lies. He chokes is the big games if they are close. His brain freezes and he forgets to coach. At the 10 min. mark against Villa when they got up by 6 he sat on the bench. It was like “oh well we are going to lose now”. Look at how many time outs he had and didn’t use. How many plays did he set up? He had guys throwing up 3s with 30 seconds still on the shot clock at the 5 minute mark down by 2. Those poor guys were lost out there. OP is a great guy, a good coach, a good recruiter, but NOT ready for the big dance yet. He has got to coach for the full 40 minutes and he certainly has got to learn how to play the refs…he lets them AGAIN play the game for him!

One question and one question only…where’d the press go after halftime?