[NU Sports] Not the refs

[Weinbaum, Willie]

That was Marcotulio and I was thinking at the time that those misses hurt a lot, too.  But the FT shooting was mostly very good, including in the clutch, and Thompson ended his career on an incredible FT shooting roll.  And Marcotulio had a helluva late-season run, playing with more confidence than ever.  A shame that NU's outside shooting (especially Shurna's) was way off - - I thought that was the crusher in this game, along with uncharacteristic turnovers, including by Juice T.  There were good adjustments to the WSU pressure, but too many good shots were missed.

It was encouraging to see the Cats crash the boards and battle all the way.  And there are many hopeful signs from the returning players, although Juice will be missed terribly.  I consider him the most compelling player and leader I've seen in 30+ years of following and supporting the Wildcats.

Exciting, excruciating, exhausting.  Life of a long-suffering Cats fan.

A big thanks to this team for its heart and dedication.  The loss just short of the NIT Final Four really hurts for the fans but moreso for the ones who deserved the rewards and enjoyment of the opportunity - - this hardworking team that is NU's most successful ever.

>From Blackberry - please excuse typos

W. Weinbaum
Producer
212-916-9864 (24-hour voicemail)
willie.weinbaum at espn.com

----- Original Message -----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com <nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com>
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Thu Mar 24 09:18:08 2011
Subject: [NU Sports] Not the refs

The guys in the purple shirts, not the zebra shirts, lost this game.  The
WSU defense had some success making Juice a marked man.  Although he
responded well, there were turnovers and bad shots as a result, and Shurna
arriving with icicles on his finger tips was a mortal blow.  Then there was
a play near the end of the first half that, at the time it happened, I said
to myself (fortunately my wife was in bed and could not hear me talking to
myself - as if that should matter after 41 years), "That play is going to
cost us the game."  (Been there before, don't you know.)  Capocci, I think
it was, was fouled on a three-point attempt that rattled around the rim
before bouncing out.  Bad luck, but he still has three free throws coming.
He made one.  He makes two, we win, and the rest of the team didn't shoot
100% at the stripe either.  And while we did get an unusually high
percentage of rebounds for us, the inside defense was porous as always.  It
put us in an early 14-point hole, and we only outscored them by 14 from
there through the end of regulation.

Perhaps those returnering next season got a lot out of this experience.
It's a shame that Cobb couldn't have had more playing time.

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