Poetic Justice
I've got no real gripe against Memphis, specifically. They had a great season, and they played really well tonight for the most part, except in the one area that everyone (except their coach, ironically) knew could cost them.
I've never met John Calipari. I know people that worked for him when he was at UMass, and they were all rooting for Memphis tonight, which says something, I suppose. But this guy comes off as a cocky, smarmy ass in nearly every interview that he does. He makes it really hard to root for him. I saw him on a number of TV programs this year discussing his team and their two Achilles' heels:
1) Their weak conference (this didn't cost them, as their out of conference schedule was very difficult, and they played very well throughout the season and tournament)
2) Their free throw shooting (which is the reason that they lost tonight)
I don't begrudge Calipari for defending his team. But his outright refusal to force his team to take thousands upon thousands of free throws until they got better at it is mindboggling. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I'll repeat this anyway: IT COST THEM THE FREAKIN' NCAA TOURNEY CHAMPIONSHIP. I saw him on Pardon the Interruption once during the season, where he said, "My teams never shoot free throws well, but they make them when they count." Yeah, do they? Free throws cost his team their only regular season loss at home against Tennessee. Rather than go back to fundamentals at practice in preparation for the tournament, Calipari ignored the only real flaw in his team. Hubris at its finest. So what happened?
Missing free throws that "matter" handed them their second loss, in their most important game of the year.
And what's worse, this whole team won't be there to try it again. Freshman Derrick Rose will almost definitely declare for the NBA Draft in the next week or so. Joey Dorsey is going to graduate (or at least, his eligibility is expired). Chris Douglas-Roberts and Robert Dozier are both juniors. They'll both probably stay, but maybe not. Without having access to their recruiting class at my fingertips and being too lazy to look it up, I'll go out on a limb and say this was their best shot at it.
Memphis had a great team and they were 9 points up with a little less than two minutes left in the game. They should have won. But they didn't. And that's no one but John Calipari's fault for being a pompous ass. I'm not glad they lost. I'm glad that he did.
I've never met John Calipari. I know people that worked for him when he was at UMass, and they were all rooting for Memphis tonight, which says something, I suppose. But this guy comes off as a cocky, smarmy ass in nearly every interview that he does. He makes it really hard to root for him. I saw him on a number of TV programs this year discussing his team and their two Achilles' heels:
1) Their weak conference (this didn't cost them, as their out of conference schedule was very difficult, and they played very well throughout the season and tournament)
2) Their free throw shooting (which is the reason that they lost tonight)
I don't begrudge Calipari for defending his team. But his outright refusal to force his team to take thousands upon thousands of free throws until they got better at it is mindboggling. I know hindsight is 20/20, but I'll repeat this anyway: IT COST THEM THE FREAKIN' NCAA TOURNEY CHAMPIONSHIP. I saw him on Pardon the Interruption once during the season, where he said, "My teams never shoot free throws well, but they make them when they count." Yeah, do they? Free throws cost his team their only regular season loss at home against Tennessee. Rather than go back to fundamentals at practice in preparation for the tournament, Calipari ignored the only real flaw in his team. Hubris at its finest. So what happened?
Missing free throws that "matter" handed them their second loss, in their most important game of the year.
And what's worse, this whole team won't be there to try it again. Freshman Derrick Rose will almost definitely declare for the NBA Draft in the next week or so. Joey Dorsey is going to graduate (or at least, his eligibility is expired). Chris Douglas-Roberts and Robert Dozier are both juniors. They'll both probably stay, but maybe not. Without having access to their recruiting class at my fingertips and being too lazy to look it up, I'll go out on a limb and say this was their best shot at it.
Memphis had a great team and they were 9 points up with a little less than two minutes left in the game. They should have won. But they didn't. And that's no one but John Calipari's fault for being a pompous ass. I'm not glad they lost. I'm glad that he did.
Labels: John Calipari, NCAA basketball
posted by G.Wo @ 9:02 PM
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