00:00All right, let's start with Duke St. John's
00:02because I think this was the most anticipated game of the Sweet 16.
00:08I think you could argue it was the best game.
00:11It certainly lived up to the hype.
00:13I still am trying to figure out what the Reuben Prey performance was.
00:18Four made threes and then also didn't play in the second half.
00:23It was odd.
00:25No other way to slice it there.
00:28Coach, Duke wins.
00:29Game flew over the total.
00:31They didn't cover.
00:32What was your biggest takeaway from the Sweet 16 matchup
00:37with Rick Pitino and his St. John's Red Storm coming up just a little bit short?
00:42You know, I think when you look at the game,
00:45and Reuben Prey was absolutely fantastic,
00:47and a lot of people are sitting there saying,
00:50Rick should have played him, Rick should have played him.
00:52You also got to realize that Dylan Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins
00:56both had foul trouble in the first half,
00:58and they played better in the second half.
01:00Now, where St. John's lost this game is offensively and defensively.
01:05I'll give one point each.
01:07Offensively, Ian Jackson was out of his mind with some of the shot selection
01:12he was taking particularly in the second half.
01:16I just didn't like the rhythm he was in.
01:18Now, could you have gone with Prey in a lineup with that zone?
01:21Then you're going Prey, Hopkins, or you're sitting Mitchell who's playing better
01:26and is one of your defenders with Zuby.
01:28Now you're going with three or four bigs.
01:30I don't know if that would have worked.
01:31So Rick went with his guys that got him there,
01:34which are basically Zuby Echbor and Bryce Hopkins.
01:38When you get to the other side of the ball, 55-47,
01:43John Shire did something that no one is –
01:46I don't understand why no one is talking about.
01:48He went very simple, high ball screen, Boozer setting it,
01:55either Foster or Evans coming off of it, and it created downhill action
02:01because they couldn't leave Boozer.
02:03And he was setting such solid screens as he was turning the corner,
02:07they were getting to the basket.
02:08So what does Rick Pitino do?
02:10He's try switching it.
02:11That's a couple of times they even used Boozer as the trigger to throw it back.
02:15So I thought John Shire, honestly, simplifying the game,
02:20getting it to a high ball screen was paramount.
02:23I think the other thing is this, because St. John's wanted to speed the game up.
02:28You saw it, which is kind of like you kind of close your eyes, Kev,
02:31and you think of like the St. John's, the way they were playing,
02:35particularly with the press, reminded you of the old Kentucky days
02:38where he would just kind of speed you up, speed you up, speed you up.
02:42Once you do kind of figured it out mid-second half,
02:45like, okay, if we just get it over half court, we get set,
02:4920 seconds on the shot clock, we go high ball screen,
02:52we have guys who are going to make plays.
02:54That's what John Shire did.
02:56Rick Pitino wasn't able to adjust.
02:58So credit to John Shire for kind of throwing out his game plan,
03:02including with the zone, and going with something different to win a game.
03:05That's what great coaches do.
03:07They take their scouting report, they throw it out,
03:10and say, I need to win now.
03:12Now, what can I do to change that?
03:14Maybe it's something they haven't seen, or they can't stop.
03:17It's great insight.
03:20For me, I, as someone who likes, you know,
03:25who picked UConn to come out of this region,
03:28I absolutely love how well Isaiah Evans played.
03:34Not being disrespectful.
03:36The reason Isaiah Evans is a first-round pick,
03:40but not a top-10 pick,
03:42is consistency is hardly guaranteed.
03:46And Isaiah Evans was phenomenal in this game.
03:51Not just 4 of 8 from 3, but 6 of 7 from 2.
03:56You saw the athleticism within the game.
04:00I question if that Isaiah Evans shows up against UConn.
04:08And they might not need it,
04:10because I don't know if UConn scores 75 in the game, right?
04:15That game, you know, projects to be an ugly one.
04:19But this is where it's...
04:23Man, I'll tell you what.
04:24If Duke does lift the national championship,
04:26I'm going to have to do some reevaluating,
04:29because my perception of this Duke team
04:33has not changed at any moment, Coach.
04:36Good basketball team,
04:39I think everyone's doing their part.
04:41I just think Boozer's bringing everything up
04:44such a different level,
04:45and I think eventually there's not enough behind him
04:49for this team to win a national championship.
04:52We'll see how it finishes here.
Comments