[81alum]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=14047.msg148078#msg148078 date=1450098641]
I also thought we played extraordinarily poorly during the last two minutes, when the game was still on the line, including some abysmally stupid turnovers and rebounding that was jaw-droppingly poor even by the standards of this game. When you deliberately foul and Texas rewards you by missing both free throws, how on earth do you give up the rebound on the second one? And trailing by six with 10 seconds to go, why dribble in for a layup as Lili Thompson did? (Which she missed anyway.) Your only prayer in that situation is making a three, fouling quickly, and hoping Texas misses both free throws and gives you one last shot.

What I really notice watching these games the last couple of seasons as from the Appel-Ogwumike era is not just the dropoff in talent, but the multiple little mistakes the team makes that doesn't necessarily show up in the box score, like a Kailee Johnson handoff to Lili that gets intercepted by a Texas player, Bri getting pickpocketed just going up the floor late in the game or Alanna grabbing a rebound after a missed Texas free throw attempt, but then throwing it to somebody in the stands.

As a fan and for Tara too I imagine, these mistakes are highly infuriating.  We had chances in the game.  Texas is a good team and we hung close, but these little things just started adding up and we sabotaged ourselves at any chance to get back in the game.
[/quote]
Yes, what you and Garvin pointed out about the end of the game, and the several really terrible mistakes, caught my attention.  It looked like mental or physical fatigue, and if you watched their faces after they made the mistakes they did seem discouraged and drained.  It is almost as if our running style drained us as much as it drained the opposition--we needed more rotation of players or something to sustain us.  Worse, we had only a few baskets in transition, so Texas was able to get back into the half court on defense nearly all the time.

However, the good old days were not always so good.  We had a terrible time just getting the ball up the court sometimes in the Appel days--the press was our undoing--and there were plenty of terrible turnovers that costs us important games, such as the national championship against Tennessee, or our inability to cope with a really close defense by A&M.  There were times when we made mistakes in those games that looked pretty bad.  But yesterday, some of our mistakes looked careless, and that is the difference.

I wonder if Texas is as good as Oregon State.  We could have another tough Pac-12 season ahead.  We could get a benchmark after Tennessee plays us and Oregon State.

[81alum]

[quote author=garvin link=topic=14047.msg148078#msg148078 date=1450098641]
I also thought we played extraordinarily poorly during the last two minutes, when the game was still on the line, including some abysmally stupid turnovers and rebounding that was jaw-droppingly poor even by the standards of this game. When you deliberately foul and Texas rewards you by missing both free throws, how on earth do you give up the rebound on the second one? And trailing by six with 10 seconds to go, why dribble in for a layup as Lili Thompson did? (Which she missed anyway.) Your only prayer in that situation is making a three, fouling quickly, and hoping Texas misses both free throws and gives you one last shot.

What I really notice watching these games the last couple of seasons as from the Appel-Ogwumike era is not just the dropoff in talent, but the multiple little mistakes the team makes that doesn't necessarily show up in the box score, like a Kailee Johnson handoff to Lili that gets intercepted by a Texas player, Bri getting pickpocketed just going up the floor late in the game or Alanna grabbing a rebound after a missed Texas free throw attempt, but then throwing it to somebody in the stands.

As a fan and for Tara too I imagine, these mistakes are highly infuriating.  We had chances in the game.  Texas is a good team and we hung close, but these little things just started adding up and we sabotaged ourselves at any chance to get back in the game.
[/quote]
Yes, what you and Garvin pointed out about the end of the game, and the several really terrible mistakes, caught my attention.  It looked like mental or physical fatigue, and if you watched their faces after they made the mistakes they did seem discouraged and drained.  It is almost as if our running style drained us as much as it drained the opposition--we needed more rotation of players or something to sustain us.  Worse, we had only a few baskets in transition, so Texas was able to get back into the half court on defense nearly all the time.

However, the good old days were not always so good.  We had a terrible time just getting the ball up the court sometimes in the Appel days--the press was our undoing--and there were plenty of terrible turnovers that costs us important games, such as the national championship against Tennessee, or our inability to cope with a really close defense by A&M.  There were times when we made mistakes in those games that looked pretty bad.  But yesterday, some of our mistakes looked careless, and that is the difference.

I wonder if Texas is as good as Oregon State.  We could have another tough Pac-12 season ahead.  We could get a benchmark after Tennessee plays us and Oregon State.