With all due respect, some of the opinions being posted in this thread are ridiculous.
“Last night was all about coaching.”
BS. In the last 5 minutes of regulation, we had 16 possessions. On those possessions, we were 1/4 from the floor, 9/20 from the free throw line (with one miss on the front end of a 1-and-1, so more like 9/21), and had 2 turnovers. Gott had the right lineup in for the press, they just didn’t handle it well and couldn’t make free throws. That is not the fault of the coaching staff.
“St. Louis never gave up, which is something State does regularly.”
Again, this is complete and total BS. Not only that, it is one of the worst insults that can be said about a team. State didn’t give up in this game and does not do so “regularly.”
“I have been a State fan for nearly 40 years. I have never been as disappointed as I was last night…”
You have a short memory if this was your biggest disappointment in the past 40 years of State athletics. Just last season, our first game NCAA tournament loss was much more disappointing, given the talent and expectations on that team.
These quotes are all examples from a recent post, but many others have been equally off base. This team wasn’t even in the top 300 in terms of experience this year, yet exceeded expectations in the regular season and the postseason. Gott isn’t Valvano, but he did a good job with this team. Anyone who disagrees with that has an unrealistic perspective on what should have been expected of this team.
