A few thoughts about the USC game

Well, that was predictable.  Once again long scoring droughts doom the Cougs.  They made a nice run to get back into it led by DeAngelo (props to DreamWeaver25 with his seemingly prophetic post).  Of course with a chance to take the lead, Mr. Rochestie decides that he will be the one to take his team to victory and hoists a step back three.  Cougs went on to score 7 more points in the last 7 minutes and we have an all too familiar result.

Some things:

• Caleb was 5-10, as USC clearly was sticking with the same game plan they had up in Pullman.  If Caleb shot that well in Pullman then things might be a little different right now.
• Casto looked great in the post.  Gibson could not prevent him from getting to the rim.  Casto looked to be setting up on the block again when Taylor took that fateful three.  What is most exciting about Casto's performance is that he was drawing fouls, something that this team is completely incapable of doing on a regular basis.
• To be fair to Taylor, he had a pretty good game.  He would have had several more assists if our "three point shooters" could do anything.  In the first half he made a terrific pass out of a trap to find Lodwick wide open, then Grady cringed as the shot clanged off back iron.
• It's been written before, and I'll write it again, bury Daven on the bench.
• Nik had a +22 night (thanks to Big Wood for being awesome).  He played within himself, didn't look for his shot, and set others up nicely for theirs.  We've all bashed him relentlessly this year, for good reason at times, but it seems lately he has been letting the game come to him instead of forcing things.  That is the type of player he should be. 

Actually, I'm pretty sure we have an entire team of guys who should just let the game come to them.  It's pretty hard to win ball games that way, as they've clearly shown.

As a side note, all of the sudden the Pac 10 has 5 teams who are almost assured of making the tournament with USC a chance to be the sixth.  Awesome considering the constant bashing that the Pac 10 has taken since before the season started.  I'm excited to see how these teams perform in the Dance.  Except the Huskies of course, I hope they flame out in the first round.

It was nice to finally get channelsurfing.net to work, too bad I didn't figure out in time for the ASU game, which looks to be the high point of the season.