1. Yesterday's game reminded me of two things. First, when they fought the first time in 1971, Muhammad Ali told Joe Frazier he was God, and Frazier responded, "God, you in the wrong place tonight." Second, when we played Kansas in 2005, I felt like they paid the price that day for all the losing, all the NIT appearances, all the injuries, the phone card suspensions, and even the near-death flight out of Providence. You could feel it that day all the way up in the stands. Well, yesterday afternoon, Iowa was in the wrong place, and they paid the price. Everyone in our locker room, and really even all the terrific VU fans in the stands, clearly were just ready to let out the frustrations of the last three Tournaments on Iowa. It was great to see it happen that way.
2. In retrospect, Jay played the psychology of 3/21/15 to 3/20/16 perfectly. He did five important things from what I could tell: 1) He talked about it as often as anyone wanted to ask him. 2) He didn't run away from the disappointment but also wouldn't let it define our program (at least within the program). 3) He kept the team's focus on each game even as he continued not to run away from last March, so that we didn't trip up along the way. 4) Once we got past Asheville, he talked to the team about how it wasn't the end of the world when we lost to N.C. State and wouldn't be the end of the world if we lost in the second round this year. 5) He made absolutely sure we were 100% primed and ready to go yesterday. Balancing the fourth and fifth points was a tricky deal. On the one hand, he wanted the team to play loose and aggressive, but on the other hand, he wanted total focus. I wasn't sure how tight the team might be yesterday, given how tense he was on Friday, but I'd say he got the result he wanted.
3. Now the trick, obviously, is not to be satisfied. The psychology of 3/20/16-3/24/16 is going to be almost as tricky as the last year was. I remember Jay coming into the hotel in Boston in 2009, at a moment when quite frankly I was totally satisfied, and telling everyone they weren't done yet. I thought, jeez, we're not even going to wait until after the party to talk about the next game? In any event, I have little doubt they were talking about Miami even before they left that locker room celebration yesterday. It may not be easy to get back to that peak focus/energy combination they had yesterday, but they gotta do it.
4. Speaking of which, I am a superstitious fellow who didn't want to say much last week about how perfect I thought that draw was for us, but my goodness, I love when we play skilled but not terribly athletic teams. Miami is a different beast.
5. On the topic of luck, all the upsets (and particularly all the luck the ACC got) reminded me that we really haven't gotten a lot of breaks ahead of us when we've advanced in the Tournaments since 2005. We got a nice break when Siena beat Vanderbilt in 2008, although I think we would have had a great shot against Vanderbilt given how well we were playing. But other than that, not so much. 2005: 4 (Florida) and 1 (UNC) seeds were there when we advanced, and UNC won the NC. 2006: 8 (Arizona), 4 (BC), and 3 (Florida) seeds were there, and Florida won the NC. 2007: lost first round. 2009: 6 (UCLA), 2 (Duke), and 1 (Pitt) seeds were there in the region, and another 1 seed and eventual NC was waiting for us in the Final 4. 2010: got a 10 instead of a 7 in the second round, but I don't think that qualifies as much of a break. 2011: lost first round. 2013: lost first round. 2014: 7 (UConn) seed won ahead of us, and they won the NC. 2015: 8 (NCSU) seed won ahead of us (pretty much a wash seeding-wise, but they were a terrible matchup). Anyway, not complaining. You have to make your own breaks. I'm just saying, we've been in the Tournament 11 of the last 12 years, including a few as a top seed, and only once have we gotten the kind of break Maryland, Miami, Duke, Texas A&M, Syracuse, Iowa State, and Notre Dame all got this past weekend.
6. I thought the officials did a pretty good job in our two games this weekend - better than the guys we typically get in Big East games. Nobody got in undeserved foul trouble. No team was in the bonus after 5 minutes. There wasn't any rush of make-up calls after one team did make it to the bonus. Makes me wonder about our usuals.
