And you may find yourself… at .500 in the Big East.
And you may find yourself… winning five out of six.
And you may find yourself… beating the #7 team in the country on the road.
And you may find yourself… an honest-to-God threat to make the NCAA tournament.
And you may ask yourself… how did we get here???
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I'm going to have to quick-hit this game, I'm still too fired up.
- DoJo can still get any shot he wants. And he can make quite a few shots he doesn't want. His ability to finish off-balance is something USF has never had since I can remember. Plus, how smart is he? He knows where to be at all times, when to gamble, how to attack the rim, and even the game situation. One of his best plays was getting the ball inbounded to him immediately after Georgetown scored their last basket, a three to cut the lead to 68-64. He knew the Hoyas had no timeouts and quickly received the pass before they could set up their inbounds defense. Then they had to foul him, he made both free throws, thanks for playing.
- Maybe I'm just crazy, but did Alex Rivas do the best defensive job on Greg Monroe? Fitzpatrick didn't have a chance, he's not big enough or experienced enough. Famous was a bit better but he got bullied around too - Monroe got position down low on him repeatedly. Rivas wasn't out there much, but he forced Monroe to hit a couple tougher shots and bothered him a little bit, especially when USF changed it up and doubled him. I think Rivas was free to play more aggressively than the others because it wouldn't have been the end of the world if he had to use his fouls. If Fitz or Famous had fouled out, big problems.
- And Monroe took himself out of the game once he picked up his third foul. I can't understand it.
- The first 12 minutes of the second half were a thing of beauty. But let's give John Thompson III a little bit of credit for waiting way too long to slow down USF's momentum on their huge run. He probably should have burned a timeout after the Howard/Mercer alley-oop to regroup. Instead he let the game go on for two more minutes and gave USF four more points before finally deciding he couldn't wait until the under-eight timeout and burned one at the 7:56 mark. The Hoyas played better right out of the timeout - lucky for the Bulls that he didn't do it earlier.
- Casual Hoya has pretty much lost it.
- Finally, my two favorite tidbits from the broadcast:
2. Chris Howard's mom cooked for the team when they arrived in Washington. Maybe USF can put her on the payroll. You don't change your routine when you're winning, you know.
1. DoJo told the broadcasters something to the effect of, "If we make the NCAA tournament, I'll be remembered as one of the best players in USF history. If we don't, I'll be forgotten."
DoJo, you're already one of the best players in USF history - probably the best - and you're not going to be forgotten any time soon.