Par for the Course, Part 2

Don't think I forgot about the basketball team.

The Men's trip to Maui, was, let's just say, it was a learning experience.

The Washington game was over pretty quickly.  Virginia tried to run with them, and got burned by their defense and three point shooting.  Hey, if a team makes 17 3's for the game including 58% from the floor for the game, it's hard to get a victory.  But this was two games in a row where teams have had their "offensive game of the season", which could be coincidence, or a lack of defense by the Hoos.  Time will tell.

Virginia played a quality second game against Oklahoma, although OU went on to lose to host Chaminade.  A couple of positives that you could take away from this game.  They can beat a team from a major conference, which bodes well with LSU and Iowa State coming to town.  They lead at half, and put them away in the second, which is a good sign as well.  Finally, Jeff Capel would be a great addition to the staff next year, because him being in Norman next year would be a Christmas miracle. (Oh, and Scott had 27 and 15.  Not too shabby).

I'm still trying to figure out what happened in the Wichita St. game.  After jumping out to a 20 point lead, they came back and won by 12. For some reason, we don't shoot very well in the second half of our losses.  Again this could do with opposing teams making adjustments, or we are just getting tired.  But this one didn't slip away as much as it "squeaked" away.  It was a close game at half, but on every fifth possession where we matched the Shockers, they would steal a basket. And slowly the 4 point lead became 6, then 8, then 12.  Wichita St. are no pushovers, but that would have been a great non-conference win.

So now the Hoos are 3-3 and looking at two more road games before a much needed home stand.  Monday we head to Minnesota to play the Gophers, who are off to an amazing 6-0 start, including a win over then #8 UNC.  Granted the Gophers haven't left home yet and UNC is not looking as stellar as everyone thinks, but they are playing with confidence, and is all you need early on in the season.  They can play inside with Sampson III (yes, that Sampson) and Mbakwe or outside with Hoffarber or Nolen.  UVa will need to shoot lights out to stay in this game and SLOW THE PACE DOWN to keep it in the 60s.

So good luck to the Hoos as they gear up for the last big road trip for a while.