I was one of those who thought this team might run out of gas at the end of the season. Obviously, that didn't happen. I think that speaks highly of our conditioning program. I also think Brady did a good job a settling on a substitution rotation at the end of the year. Neltner and Whipple would enter the game for Davis and Minor around the 13-14 minute mark, right before the 2nd TV timeout. Then right before the 3rd TV timeout, Davis and Minor would replace Bass and Mitchell. Brady made good use of the TV timeouts to give the players a few extra minutes of rest. Hudson is the only player that got very little rest. It's not always easy to see the effects of playing a lot of minutes. For example, did Hudson's shot go away in the 2nd half of the UK game because he was tired or was he just due to start missing shots? Did Davis miss those 2 FTs at the end of the game because he was tired or was it a true freshman feeling the pressure? I don't think anyone will ever know for sure. If anyone saw Knight's interview on ESPN last night, he talked about the importance of resting the players during the week of the NCAA tourney. The two games over the weekend are a drain on the players. Time to suck it up...
this was my biggest concern with them playing Kentucky in the tourney. I knew Kentucky would play 12 guys to our 7. From what I saw of the regular season game I figured us to get blown away, especially with having played a game the previous day. After watching LSU run with Kentucky on the second day of the tourney I am not concerned at all about LSU's stamina. If LSU continues to hit the outside shot they will go deep in the tourney. If the guards start throwing bricks then we will get an early exit. I am praying that Hudson and Mitchell show up to play in the tourney.
i think his shot went away because it just went away. He started missing long before he could have been tired. they began guarding a lot closer and keeping him off his spot on the floor where he made the majority of his shots. tubby smith makes great adjustments. Although it could be said he was outcoached by Brady given the fact tubby allowed his team to twice throw in a pass late to their worst free throw shooter which brought him to the line giving LSU life. that was very nice of him. Not to mention calling timeouts in critical times when LSU needed a breather. that was nice too. so the loss wasn't so bad afterall according to mr. basketball himself. I thought this may be a good thing for this time in the long run and maybe there was some validity to that point. For my own greed, Id prefer to have beaten kentucky either way. who knows, maybe the extra day will pay off. also, I feel much more comfortable witt mitchell firing up 3's. hes so small I think theres less movement and his shot seems much more natural. i have no idea what their percentages are.
You right, no one will ever know for sure why a shot gets missed. As Tirk pointed out maybe they just missed. I laugh all the time when announcers blame a guy missing on him being tired. Then you watch a guy like Reddick go 2 for his first 16 shots and then hit 5 of his last 6. Was he more tired at the beginning of the game? :yelwink2:
