For those on here regularly, you know I never feel we need a loss to learn from, break the pressure or so we are no longer "due" a loss. However, we almost won tonight in spte of not playing, IMO, completely to win. There was a choice tonight and last night for that matter. We had started to play pretty well without Justin, and I believe we would have been better both games without him. I am certain of it. Justin also will not allow those starts that we have had to endure and battle back from some lately. But lets face it, JA contributed nearly nothing last nigh and very little tonight outside of that one incredible block. There is no question we would have been better in both games had Devon Hall gotten those minutes. In 26 minutes in the tourney he was 0-6, didn't score and only for a little bit and very late did he really bring his usual energy. That being said, we didn't have to be much better tonight to win and like I said, i believe we would have been enough better had Hall gotten JA's minutes. Now, would you trade JA playing and hopefully geting back into ithe flow for winning tonight? I say Absolutely no!!! Tony played him enough to strt to get back to himself and he still has 1 or 2 games to work his way back, so the weekend of the Sweet 16 I expect him nearly 100%. Had he played less, or not at all, I am not as sure that would have been the case. I think TB walked a fine line tonight of getting him as many minutes as possible AND giving us a chance to win. We slipped and lost, but still had a chance to win, getting zero from our 1A player. This loss was frustrating sure, but JA getting minutes contributed to that, and IMO, it was well worth it. Let's just focus on the bigger prize, I feel like Tony did just that tonight, and still didn't ignore the small one. I said last year after the Tenn game, Tony had a plan and was learning, so did he for this tourney, just trust and wait. IPWT, when we hit the Fina Four, they should allow you to change to ITWT with no issue!! ( You have given up on Pete, right?)
