ESPNdeux

I agree with everything but this. You can't guard him full court... gives him too much space to work with. Just face guard in the half court and be physical as the stripes are allowing you to be on every cut and drive...throw the double at him sporadically... Slow it down... Pound it inside to you size advantage... Hope your bigs finish strong... If I was Cooper, that would be my plan.

Slow basketball isn't necessarily boring basketball. A few years back Holmes beat Boone something like 32 to 29 and it was one of the more exciting games in awhile in the 9 th tourney?

Assuming you're referring to the 9 th championship that year, Boone stalled them. No one wanted to run with Holmes that year. The teams up here knew it and that's why Boone almost got em. The teams down state tried to run with them... That's why Holmes has a banner hanging for that year.

If you're going to play it without a double team this is what you have to plan to do IMO.... Face guard with no help responsibilities, and bet your other 4 are better than their other 4. Alternatively, when Bolden does touch the ball, everyone has to play help responsiblity, and make someone else beat you... Those guys might have the ability to, but judging by the NC game, no one else had more than 9 points.

This is what I was wondering... They basically were playing a double team out front and 4 on 3 shell underneath.... What I feel like would've happened had they consistently done this is maybe force a few bad/quick shots by the guys that Holmes didn't necessarily want shooting them... However, I feel like if it was consistently beating them, then eventually it would've resulted in a slew of layups and dunks by the bigs... But maybe if they had done the double earlier then it would've negated that 3rd quarter Holmes run that essentially won them the game, and everything evens up, and maybe were still playing.... figuratively, of course....

I agree with this... In this game in particular, his quickness allowed him to get to loose balls and rebounds that he had no business getting to. And in a five point game, those 50/50 balls can be the difference....

I would agree that it isn't right to point fingers, but as a fan with no dog in the fight (no pun intended), it was obvious that those two didn't have very good games, and that was a big factor in the outcome of the game. It isn't meant to put anyone down, as they had great careers, but it's the simple facts... They just didn't have a good game. That's basketball...

This is exactly the answer to the people crying "stallball." Look, they didn't play keep away the whole night, what they did was strategize. They knew they had the advantage off the dribble, and if NewCath was content to play man, which they were for the most part all night, then Holmes was going to make them play a man defense that they have the advantage against. Which is, if you wanna pack the lane, we'll wait until you come and get us, and then go around you. Anyone that knows anything about basketball understands this... I don't think Coach Booher was sitting over there thinking "man we better get moving, the fans are getting bored." His job is to win basketball games. When the job is to entertain the fans, maybe we should go to the NBA shot clock. Because that is their rule. The conversation I had with the group of people I was there with was about how this was probably the most disciplined Holmes team we have seen, being able to execute that game plan without taking bad shots. And kicking out on offensive rebounds to reset and run more time. They still had that three minute spurt in the third quarter where they got out in transition, but they played a slow paced game exactly how they needed too.

The kid got posted up strong and he thought there should have been 3 secs and an offensive foul and after the basket turned to let the ref know and was rather animated about it. Right call...

My only rooting interest is for a great basketball game.... I feel like this is one of the most anticipated games in the 9th in awhile...

I too agree that Milligan should have seen more time...

Honestly, imho, overmatched. I felt like Newport took advantage of Dixie lacking ball skills and bulk from their lead guards not named Hatton...

19 to 9 CCH. 7 left in the first half...

Newport places 4 in double figures l led by Commodore and Jaq. Short with 18 a piece. Jasean Short is a real nice all around player. He does a lot for them.

Final Newport simply has more good players than Dixie and the better team

It looks like Hatton vs 5 Newport guys out there this last minute or so...

55 53 Newport. 2 min left. Timeout Dixie.

Dixie makes a run to get it back to 51-50. Time out Newport.... Pretty sure Niehaus has around 10 since the start of the 4th

43 34 Newport at the end of 3. Pace really favors the Wildcats... Dixie needs to get back to using their size advantage..

Newport pushes tempo and gets more aggressive to start the 2nd half... 7-0 run to start the half.

When Newport bounced Holmes a few years back they were similar teams with similar styles, just Newport happened to shoot the lights out while Holmes I don't think hit their first outside shot til the second half when they were already staring at a 20 point defecit.... So IMO this comparison is apples to oranges...

I agree with all of the above... The kinda guy that so many schools need but don't get is the one that stays and doesn't jump around. It's rare anymore. Seems like they have been pretty competitive in his tenure too. It may be a struggle for program consistency now... The Bellevue and Silver Grove coaching jobs have been revolving doors as of late. I feel like the Dayton job could fall right in that mold....

This should be the best game of the first round other than ' the game's... I feel like pace plays a big role on this one... Newport is quite a bit less formidable in the half court...,, and they havent been playing great lately.... I saya close one goes to the team with the best player.... So Dixie in a tight one..

A bit of a "trap" game for the Colonels after 35 th finals but I think they pull. away at the end and get the W by about 10 or 12....

The ^ this in my last post was referring to this.... Still getting used to this... sorry