Cal 84, Huskies 81

Watched the game with a bunch of friends in my basement, and after it was over one said, "it's like a microcosm of the whole season."

Actually, I think that just the pivotal play--the killer three by Ryan Anderson, off an inbounds play, with the shot clock at :01--was a microcosm of the season.

Pondexter was manned up on Anderson, and slipped as he came around a screen, arriving nanoseconds late to affect the shot.

And that was the Huskies' season. They're a good team, but not quite good enough to compete in this insanely talented Pac-10 conference.

Brockman's absence didn't seem to hurt the Dawgs that much on offense. Pondexter got the offensive touches that would've gone to Brockman, and was fantastic--scoring 23 points and going 4-4 from the line.

On the boards, it was a different story. The Dawgs were outrebounded 15-10 on the offensive glass. That wouldn't have happened if Brockman had played. It was partially just the lack of depth in the frontcourt that caused it. What killed the Huskies, more than anything, was Matthew Bryan-Amaning getting in foul trouble. MBA missed most of the second half, and the Huskies could really have used him on the glass, and as some sort of post presence.

Interesting note: with the game on the line, presumably because the Huskies were so lacking on the glass, Romar went with the no-point-guard lineup of Appleby, Morris, Pondexter, Wallace, and Smith.

The scene in the basement:

"Where's the point guard?"

"AAAAHHH! There's no point guard!"

Everyone's been saying it's a foregone conclusion that the Dawgs will make either the NIT or the CBI, but an NIT bid was seemingly a foregone conclusion last year, and didn't happen. For what it's worth, NIT-ology had the Dawgs as a #8-seed going into this game.