Trea$uring the Moment ~ Aztecs in the Finals!

[LordofBalls]

0.04% of ppl (7,201 to be exact) that played ESPN tournament challenge have Conn facing SD St in the finals... pretty amazing how it's all worked out eh?

and while there will hopefully be more moments like this to come for Aztecs Basketball program, as an alumnus and follower of the program for decades since attending, it's been a LOT of fun to watch! and tonight we get the biggest!!

San Diego St plays great team (helping, rotating, rebounding) defense and will give their effort the entire game, I have no doubt about that, it's what they do....
Example, the block at the end of the game by Arop, rebound and quick outlet by Mensah, and game-winning buzzer beater by Butler will stay in my memories the rest of my life (I hope lol)!
Credit belongs to a team that battled bk from down 14 pts to a great, athletic FAU team, and SD kept chasing down offensive rebounds til they could finally get fouled or make a basket to try and catch up to FAU.. that's effort and heart on display... and it paid off w/an exciting finish!

UConn has played great offensively and defensively in all of their matchups, and deserve to be favored as they've been blowing teams away...
Sanogo is a beast, and Aztecs will obviously need to work their asses off to keep this game from turning into a runaway rout as all other Conn gms have been..
Conn should be confident going into tonight's game, as they've played consistently well and the results have been there in cruising to easy 2h wins..
I do believe SD's perimeter defense will do better than most teams have managed vs Conn sharpshooter Hawkins... we'll see

Both teams are well coached obviously, and they even come from Coaching Legacies as their fathers engrained it into their son's brains at an early age...

maybe the biggest difference is you're never really sure which of these Aztecs will be the one's to score... Conn (and most tms) have their big guns, but SD State's best scorer (Bradley) had hardly been scoring until finally waking up his shooting eye in the semi's, but he wasn't even on the floor those last few seconds... and it worked out!
SD has 3-4 diff guys that might get the hot hand... Seiko, Parrish, Trammel, Bradley... and they rotate in their 5 big men to try and limit tms to 1 shot...

I'm hoping Aztecs will avoid the "scoring droughts" they usually seem to go thru... IF they can, then I expect the total to go over...
and, I even give em a chance to win the game at the end.. which I like better than total...
Aztecs have played MANY close games in conf, and of course their last 2 wins vs Creighton and FAU just the other day, there is experience in tight games as far as that goes...
But, nationally televised gms are a weekly thing for a program like UConn, and a few times/yr for SD St... of course they're ALL on TV (smaller networks) every gm these days..
and National Championship games are completely new right?

last factor... line went from 6 up to -7.5 and has stuck there... total from 131 to 132.5...
**Line DROP... down to -7... total down to 131.5....
I have to wonder though if oddsmakers/Vegas want to start the week with a blowout by the favorite..??

Those of us old enough have all seen a Cinderella team get there and have their bubble burst, not play up to their capabilities and wind up on the short end of a blowout...
it's kinda heartbreaking and ugly... and I hope that's not the case tonight!

My heart lies with my school, and a coach and team that has filled a university and community with pride like they've never experienced before...

GO Cinderella! GO Aztecs!!!

I'll be playing w profit from last wk, and I'll take:

Aztecs +9 <<< 300/200 (buy 2)

Par) Aztecs ML / _______(open) <<< 73/477

GL to US!!!

LoB

 

[boomer1]

I feel it’s very important for SDSt to get off to a big start. I was pulling for Miami Saturday and I literally turned the game off at 19:41 of the first half when Con made that 3 pointer. I just knew. They have to stay close early.

 

[Box and one]

Nice write Lord of balls You almost had me convinced because your reasoning sounds so good/ I am going opposite and think the two biggest strengths has is also the Huskies biggest strengths. Don't think Aztecs get the offensive bds they got in last game I hate a lot of people are taking Uconn tonight but I think they can win by +8 or more .. Good luck tonite I understand your closeness to your alma mater Mine just won the NIT but lost there coach.. take care

 

[LordofBalls]

thanks Box for the kind words..
in the end it came down to common sense... what was more likely to happen.. Cinderella never found her slipper again..

all the talking heads on all the sports shows said UConn had shown w/their 20 pt/gm win avg that they were the surer bet, and that was on display last night in the championship game.... the blue-blood team that rolled thru their prev gms played more consistently on offense, and did it again!

The 11 min scoring drought in 1st half (that I said they needed to avoid lol) Happened!
and then the last 5 mins of the gm drought...

I knew it was a longshot, but had to stick w/my team and hope somehow they'd find someone to rise up offensively, or get Sanogo in foul trouble, and Neither happened.. not even close really.

Their 2 big men stifled the Aztecs around the glass all game long... altering shots, blocking shots, forcing the ball back onto the perimeter where there were no consistent shooters to be found in the Aztec squad.. and there were no easy 2nd shots to be found either.. Sanogo was truly like a MAN playing against Boys... his strength was on display late in the 2h when a large Aztec (Ledee?) had the ball in the key and made a spin move into Sanogo and bounced backward off him like bouncing off a brick wall

In order for SD St to have a chance to win the game, someone had to step up and become their go-to scorer.... never happened.
Butler 2/2 from deep in 1h ended 3/7... Bradley 0/4.. Parrish 0/4.. Seiko 1/3... we all saw the bricks being put up around the basket too, and it never really got better.

While there were some defensive gems by Aztecs forcing 13 TOs w/pressure defense, anticipating n cutting into passing lanes or outright stealing the ball from the dribbler!
But.... they offset this with careless, inadvertent passes when a teammate wasn't even looking or expecting the pass... nerves I guess?

And yet somehow, w 5 mins left, they'd cut the lead to 5 creating hope where it had nearly vanished and then.... *pop! the bubble burst and their offensive struggles were on full display managing 4 pts the final 5 mins... turns into blowout loss

UConn's outstanding FT shooting was also key as they outscored the Aztecs by 9 from the line...

Congrats to Conn backers, I had 1u on Conn ML but lost about 4 on SD... hopefully the exposure will help their program attract a few more high-level recruits and continue the rise of their program

and many thanks to all that contribute to this site w/selections, observations, questions without the negative troll chit that other sites so often have.

I had a great sweet 16 wkd that padded my acct, and will slide bk into an occasional player for the next 6-9 months

GL Guys!

seeya in the baseball or nba thread!

LoB

 

[Box and one]

Lordofballs I had FAU in the finals on a huge long shot and then would of hedged FAU to the winner of the SD ST - My wife asked me to go to Home Depot last night to pick up flowers and a few pots I am in at home depot and get a text from my roommate at North Tx and he now works in Conn. He has become a huge Huskie fan and I have under valued UConn all year. I don't follow the Big East like I used too His text is about the game. I then look at my phone and the 1st half is almost over. I'm looking at pots outside in the nursery. I tell my wife the game started and we check out. I heard the advertisement on CBS . I am in central time not eastern and as long as I live here if they announce a time and just show caps of central and pacific on the tv I'm late . I thought I read an article in our local paper saying the game is starting at 9.30 eastern and people from the east coast are upset . I guess I read it wrong anyway have a nice summer and fall. stay healthy and see you again next year. I play fantasy baseball and the two years I won i missed the draft live draft and did auto draft. and won