[chimera]

that foul call on lacie might be the worst of the night.  (it has a lot of competition though!)

Happy with the win but the inability to score and all the missed free throws in the 4th quarter was so ugly.

Yeah, a win is a win, but the way we managed to turn a romp into a close game was really something.

I can think of many other less flattering characterizations than "really something." It is unacceptable for a team with championship aspirations. I have the sense that Stanford is not a particularly good foul shooting team. That could come back to bite us in any of the three-max remaining matchups where we will need every point we can get.

Is it unacceptable though? Consider: we won the championship last year by defeating each of our Final Four opponents by a single point after blowing decent 2nd half leads in both games. Would you give those games back?

We won. We held an exceptional offense to one of its lowest point totals of the season. Did we have a dismal 4th quarter? Yes. But we still won, and in fact never trailed the entire game.

I agree with this 100%.  I hated the way the 4th quarter went but it doesn't mean much for the next game.  We got way ahead and started letting up while MD, an excellent offensive team, was desperate and cranking things up.  We also had key players in foul trouble, which hampered the defense.  If you have watched the tournament closely you will find so many games were teams were down pretty big and came back.  It is not at all uncommon. I don't care how ugly the end was, it was a win.  I think we could play better, could have shot better, could have protected the ball better, sure.  Maybe ball handling will be an issue against Texas, maybe it won't, and maybe if it is we still win.  We also shot horribly against them at Maples.  I am happy.  We won.  Nothing is easy at this stage.

[chimera]

that foul call on lacie might be the worst of the night.  (it has a lot of competition though!)

Happy with the win but the inability to score and all the missed free throws in the 4th quarter was so ugly.

Yeah, a win is a win, but the way we managed to turn a romp into a close game was really something.

I can think of many other less flattering characterizations than "really something." It is unacceptable for a team with championship aspirations. I have the sense that Stanford is not a particularly good foul shooting team. That could come back to bite us in any of the three-max remaining matchups where we will need every point we can get.

Is it unacceptable though? Consider: we won the championship last year by defeating each of our Final Four opponents by a single point after blowing decent 2nd half leads in both games. Would you give those games back?

We won. We held an exceptional offense to one of its lowest point totals of the season. Did we have a dismal 4th quarter? Yes. But we still won, and in fact never trailed the entire game.

I agree with this 100%.  I hated the way the 4th quarter went but it doesn't mean much for the next game.  We got way ahead and started letting up while MD, an excellent offensive team, was desperate and cranking things up.  We also had key players in foul trouble, which hampered the defense.  If you have watched the tournament closely you will find so many games were teams were down pretty big and came back.  It is not at all uncommon. I don't care how ugly the end was, it was a win.  I think we could play better, could have shot better, could have protected the ball better, sure.  Maybe ball handling will be an issue against Texas, maybe it won't, and maybe if it is we still win.  We also shot horribly against them at Maples.  I am happy.  We won.  Nothing is easy at this stage.