Bring On The Cats

Dude, Tech really sucks. I’d give our players a grade, but does it matter? As long as anyone on the team played better than ‘D-’ we were going to win that game. Also, I was chatting with you guys, so like I really paid attention to that crap game.**

I had to work up some motivation to do this post-game...so, enjoy.

Veni, vidi, vici. Sums it pretty nicely, actually.

We came, we saw, we conquered.

This just wasn't a game. There are two certainties that came from Wednesday's drubbing of the Red Raiders: 1) We're officially on a winning streak, and 2) Texas Tech sucks something fierce. They're...umm...not good. I have some confidence that Billy Clyde Gillespie will get things turned around in Lubbock. Battling for Big 12 supremacy? Probably not. But these Red Raiders aren't even floor-worthy. My rec league team could hang 60 on 'em, no foolin'.

You might look at the score and say: "If they're not that good, how did we only score 69 points?"

Fair question. Here's how:

• My goodness, we got off on the wrong foot offensively. Not the typical problems of stagnation - rather, we moved very well, actually - but we couldn't hang on to the ball to save our lives, and even if we did, we missed shots at a ridiculous pace. At the first media timeout - 15:48 left - the scorebook had us at 1-10 from the field, with 2 TOs. So we actually scored 67 in 35 minutes, which works out to 76.5 points in 40 minutes, much closer to our average of 74.5ppg.
• Paging Jamar Samuels...Jamar Samuels, please report to the bench... Jamar's stat line: 14 minutes, 0-3 FG, 0-1 3PFG, 0-0 FT, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 0 BLK, 2 TO, 5 FOULS. C'mon man. Victor Ojeleye - yes, THAT Victor Freakin' Ojeleye - was a better option for the floor than Jamar was in every way, shape and form.
• Will Spradling hit two free throws. That's it. 0-5 FG, 0-3 3PFG. And his shots weren't even close. Reminded me of the movie Space Jam when the Monstar's steal the talent from the NBA players. (By the way - if you've seen the movie, I've always wondered why, with the talent of guards and centers alike in the NBA in the mid-to-late-90s, the bad guys stole talent from Muggsy Bogues and Shawn Bradley. Seriously? Here are the All-Star F/C in 1996: Shaq, David Robinson, Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Finger-wavin' Mutombo, and Hakeem. And you take SHAWN BRADLEY? Of COURSE you were going to lose the big game! Sorry...got a little sidetracked.)

So, that's how we landed at 69. This game was legitimately over at halftime, and frankly (no pun intended), our defense was so stout and salty, we were discussing the likelihood of holding TTU to under 20 in the first half on the game thread. Save a career night - 16 points - from TTU's Kevin Wagner (a player coming into the game averaging a staggering 1.6ppg), this game could have become very ugly. Tech committed 24 TOs, and only got 40 attempts at the basket (compared to our 16 TOs and 54 FGA).

Adrian Diaz showed some flashes as to why, if he continues to put in the effort and committment throughout his tenure at K-State, I believe he could become an All-Big 12 performer by the time he graduates. Martavious Irving, while he didn't start, did manage to be as steady as a rock, with 16 PTS, 4 AST. Rodney didn't score the ball well, but did finish with 13 PTS, 6 REB. VO was one of the better contributors on the night, with 8 PTS, 4 REB with no TOs. And hell, we even managed to get walk-ons Brian Rohleder and Shawn Meyer some court time.

**This is what TB figured my post-game would amount to. He's not far off - that's why I had to wait until tonight to write it up. You're not getting any "Three Goods, Three Bad" or player grades from me tonight - that would force me to go re-watch the game. We were talking about anything under the moon - including getting Panjandrum to hit a golf ball straight - just to pass the time. That was as boring a second half as you'll find. We weren't "running the score up" (always interesting), and Tech wasn't making a game out of it (we would have been put on suicide watch - all of us - if that would've occurred). Like I said...enjoy. Let's go get Kruger's group on Saturday in the 'Gon.