Back from St. Louis to find the in-box boiling over with Illini indignation.
How could the Tribune ignore the way that game was officiated? The most one-sided calls I’ve ever seen in my life. They let Sean May get away with murder, knocking “our” defenders over like bowling pins. “We” were supposed to beat North Carolina and the officials? What game were you watching?
Uh, North Carolina-Illinois for the NCAA championship. The Tar Heels won 75-70. Crackling good game, for the most part. And I’m sorry, but I didn’t think the officiating had much to do with how it turned out.
Would James Augustine’s availability have made a difference? Maybe, but I doubt it. Augustine seemed to get in foul trouble in the warmup line. He played only nine minutes before fouling out and didn’t score a point.
The second foul was dubious–Augustine was whistled for a charge while trying to get to the rim for a put-back. On the others he either was late getting to a spot or caught defending with his hands instead of his feet. Ticky-tack? Maybe, but the officials served notice that they were going to call it close by whistling the Illini three times in the first 3 1/2 minutes.
Augustine is a good player, but a maddening one in the sense that he doesn’t always grasp how good he is, or could be. He seemed a little out of his depth the entire weekend. Bruce Weber should make sure that Augustine’s off-season regimen includes exercises in self-esteem.
Then there’s Sean May, the object of so much Illini ire. May has a big, strong body that he knows how to use. He also has great hands and terrific footwork, and he runs the floor surprisingly well for such a hulk.
My seat was about 40 feet from May for much of the game, and if the officials were going easy in him, I didn’t see it or sense it.
But if TV was your vantage point, you probably didn’t notice how ineffective Illinois was at denying May position. Once he sets up in the low block, he’s going to do pretty much what he wants. And with those meat-hook hands, he’s going to snatch every pass Carolina sends his way.
More Top Picks Best Noise Canceling Headphones For Studying
“Beat him to the spot.” If you have played basketball at any level, you had that command barked at you the same day you were told to dribble with your head up. Illinois couldn’t do it.
Augustine was a non-factor. May was quick enough to thwart Roger Powell’s efforts to front him, and too strong for Jack Ingram. He went around Nick Smith as if the Nickster were encased in cement. The Illini had no answer for him.
Given that, it’s remarkable that May took only 11 shots, none in the final four-plus minutes. You would have thought he would have his number called every time down the floor.
What about the 19-8 disparity in free throws, you ask. Playing styles. May shot eight of those free throws, a reflection of his status as the Tar Heel’s go-to guy. Point guard Raymond Felton, who drove the lane and forced the action, shot six. Carolina brought its game to the basket, where contact occurs and free throws result.
Illinois, meanwhile, was content to fire away from beyond the perimeter–40 of its 70 shots were three-pointers. Forty three-pointers? I’m not sure a team with a guard line of Bo Lamar, Freeman Williams and Reggie Miller would jack up 40 three-pointers in a game. You shoot from that far out that often and you’re not going to draw fouls.
But if I’m Deron Williams I might have thought about attacking the basket once Felton was in foul trouble. He had two fouls less than eight minutes into the game and four with plenty of time left, but he still played 35 minutes. Losing Felton would have been every bit as costly to Carolina as losing Augustine was to Illinois.
None of this is meant to denigrate what Illinois did, or what it was this season: a tough, talented, gutsy team that was great fun to watch and provided its followers with a season’s worth of memorable moments. Monday night’s second-half comeback was one of them; the Illini ran out of steam, not heart. You sensed it was not to be when they forced Rashad McCants into a wild-and-crazy, no-chance heave on a drive and Marvin Williams somehow tipped in his miss.
They ran into the only team in the country that was better, and not by much. No shame in that.
———-