Wes Puts on a Show

Ok G, no negative thoughts today. Instead let’s focus on what we liked about yesterday’s dominating win over Gonzaga. First off, I liked that the Cuse was not getting much respect before the game. How many pundits proclaimed that without AO, the Orange couldn’t get past the second round? These two games reminded me of last November’s coming out party at Madison Square Garden. Cuse was then unranked; no one knew Johnson; they had lost to Lemoyne; and then with most of the nation watching on ESPN, they blew away Cal and Carolina. I have been wanting them to play like they had a chip on their shoulder, and they looked that way in Buffalo all weekend.

Second, I liked that they protected the ball better. The Zags had some steals, but the Orange threw the ball away much less. From this point on they’re going to face teams with good defenses, and there will inevitably be turnovers. But it’s the unforced turnovers that were driving me crazy, and I recall very few of them yesterday.

Third, I liked that the real Wes Johnson was back. All post-season we had been hearing about AO’s injury, but no one ever bothered to talk about Johnson’s injury. After the fall in the Providence game, he didn’t have a twenty point performance in the rest of the regular season. And in retrospect, the hand injury, which I guess was a thumb injury, affected his scoring even more than the fall. But now, with the injuries behind him, Wes was back in early season form, and then some. It was especially nice that the Gonzaga game was the only early game, so the entire nation got to see this dominant performance, and to know why Johnson was a first team All-American. I’m hoping that Butler is modifying its D to shut down Wes, because as we’ve seen throughout the year, the Orange can spread the ball around, and any one of the first seven can lead the team in scoring. Of course, we’ll need others to hit shots if Butler manages to shut Wes down (no easy task, considering his size, and his ability to score from almost anywhere).

I also liked that Triche was back. He played with more confidence all weekend, putting up double figures in both games. And committed a single turnover yesterday in almost thirty minutes of play. We really need Triche if AO sits, because it’s almost impossible to play deep into the tournament with only five players. Not only that, but if teams are going to concentrate on stopping Johnson and Rautins, others will need to step up.

So yesterday, with Wes healthy, and scoring from all over, and Rautins on fire, especially early in the second half, the Orange were putting up points in a hurry. Len Elmore kept saying that Cuse had to try and get the ball inside, and not rely on the jumper. But with AO out of the lineup, they have much less of an inside presence on O. Jackson gets many of his points on put-backs; he really doesn’t create that much on his own. And the way they were hitting threes all weekend, especially the way they were getting good looks for their threes, they could live without an offensive threat down low. For the middle twenty minutes of the game, the end of the first half and the first half of the second half, they outscored Gonzaga 54-23. That’s what I liked best about the entire weekend. The story about the Orange was supposed to be the 2-3 zone, and the defense played well much of the weekend. What the pundits missed, however, was that this was one of the most efficient offensive teams in the nation, a team that often put up eighty points against Big East opponents -- a team that could put its opponents away with devastating runs. Remember the second half against Carolina?

So now it’s off to Salt Lake City. I’d sure like to see AO back on the court next weekend. I know they looked terrific in Buffalo, but in the Sweet Sixteen I think they’ll need the first team on the court. Even if it’s just for fifteen minutes. In one of these games, the shots won’t fall, and they’ll need to go down low, and get some of those dunks and baby hooks that gave AO the best shooting percentage in Orange history. Am I asking for too much? I hope not. Let’s Go Orange.