Got home from Philly at midnight warm and happy despite the mercury reading, went to bed, got up this morning, and looked a the postgame Board thread over breakfast. Imagine my surprise to discover that we suck. Observations:
1. Orange script throwbacks throughout my field of vision for two hours. Tranquil satisfaction: my life is now truly complete.
2. It was a PSU home game for sure. 4,700 announced attendance but that seems heavy to me. Didn't seem much over 3k at the opening tip, then more people arrived, particularly in the high-rent seats. I guess 4,700 is possible. Anyway, it was PSU's gym and got quite loud on the occasions when they were able to cut the lead to 10.
3. The outcome was never in doubt from the opening tip. I mean never. After the ten min mark of the 1H not once did the fear "OMG, they're going to cut it to five" enter my amygdala, let alone the fear that they'd make it a one-possession game, let alone ever lead. It was over when Keaton fed Mirk to make it 7-0.
4. We shut down Mingo until the end, and he's the only reason why the winning margin wasn't ~ 12-15. We shut him down completely in the 1H: in foul trouble and he had a handful of assists and no points. He had five points 15 mins into the second half, and then 11 in the final 4:18.
5. PSU is not a bad team. It simply doesn't have the horses we do. They're well-coached and active on both ends. Ball movement was solid and opened some excellent looks from three for them. Not a lot of upside for them. In this era the program simply won't get the NIL bag unless a basketball-only patron with deep pockets appears. Mingo likely gone next season. They need more Mingos and probably won't get them.
6. I'm glad we have the horses. Lots of strong horses.
7. I was disappointed (gentle term) that I didn't get to see more of Wagler. I was pleased, however, that we had to figure out how to play without him running the offense last night against a BT bottom-dweller rather than next Sunday in IC. BAM's understandably out of practice there. Still, Keaton had 16 pts and three assists in only 20 mins. Mingo (also true frosh)? See (4).
8. Tomi? Who knows. Brad is supportive of him and I'm going out on a limb and assuming that he knows more about the care and feeding (and potential) of Tomi than I do. Hope he comes around. We need him. Z was fun to watch.
9. High Knees. Forty mins of watching High Knees. Glorious.
10. If you ever get a chance, see a game like this at the Palestra. As we walked back to the garage past Franklin Field next door, a back gate was open and we strolled in for a view. So much history in that stadium, built in 1895. As I noted to
@Retro62 , it hosted the annual Penn-Cornell Thanksgiving Day football game for 70 years, which was for a time among the biggest college football games in America. Drew like 70-80,000 in the '40s.
Chills, standing in that place, dimly lit and as atmospheric as the Palestra, basking in the warmth of Victory Illinois Varsity.
I'm not worried that we'll fail to bring our A game next Sunday in Carver-Hawkeye.
figured out and been practicing it …
