The Pembroke Postgame Report.

That Elite Eight team was tough. That 05 squad was pretty tough too.

 

I don't think toughness was ever the problem with any Pearl's teams as a whole.

 

Don't know about that. There were a couple of mentally fragile teams. His last one, to some extent.

 

I think I was using the word differently from the way you and jo have interpretted it. Tough, to me, is showing up and battling play after play and night after night. Pearl's teams were famous for doing exactly not that.

 

The teams that sandwiched the Elite Eight season were anything but tough.

 

I do. It was consistently a problem. That's why Louisville kicked the shit out of us in the Sweet 16. That's why Pearl couldn't beat Billy G. The recipe for beating a Bruce Pearl coached team is to play like Cuonzo Martin plays. Make it a halfcourt slugfest and Pearl's teams struggled.

 

Agree with the Elite Eight team being tough. I don't agree that '05 would be a team I would characterize as tough.

 

CJ Watson, JaJuan Smith, and Dane were all tough. Lofton was tough in his own right. Tennessee has won at Kentucky twice in my lifetime. That team was one of the teams that did.

 

And Oklahoma State beat the shit out of them by simply being tougher on the interior, and they were also handled on the interior by Wichita State in the NCAA tourney. I agree that Watson, Smith, Lofton, and Dane were solid players, but we were a finesse team that usually got pounded by physical teams. Thus, I wouldn't call them a "tough" team. I'm certainly not hating on the players you mentioned.

 

Pearl's last team definitely had the carpet yanked out from under them before the season even got started. Maybe it wouldn't have been any different had that whole deal not gone down, who knows. I'll concede that one. I guess it's hard to argue about the team the year before the Elite 8, too, as the last thing I remember about them is Byron Eaton abusing them.

I guess I felt like, for the most part, Pearl's teams (as a whole, with some obvious exceptions like Hopson) weren't afraid to get in there and mix it up and play hard. I guess that's what I'm defining as tough. Isn't that team that lost to Louisville the same one that went into Memphis and won? They certainly had their weaknesses in a half-court styled game, but that seemed to be scheme/roster as much as lack of "toughness."

I do also concede that one characteristic of Pearl's teams was at least a couple of colossal no-shows every season.

 

Law, the ceiling for that team was pretty obvious. It was guard heavy and Dane played on the post half the time. They did everything they could to get to the second round.

Let me ask you this... You think Joachim Noah thinks the 05 boys weren't tough?

 

I don't know what Noah thinks. They were a scrappy bunch, no question. But, finesse teams that get pounded on the glass aren't typically what I think of as tough teams. We were a jump shooting team that had some really good shooting guards. I guess it comes down to what your definition of "tough" is. Under my definition, the '05 team was not tough.

 

Exactly what did they have taken away from them?

 

It devalues the 05 squad to call them strictly a finesse team. They played at a pace that made some teams uncomfortable and they seemed to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time defensively. They were tough in my opinion because they never seemed to get starry-eyed against an opponent. Guys who had never played meaningful minutes contributed. They won several road games against ranked opponents, including the eventual national champion. And the core of the team -- particularly JaJuan and CJ -- will go down as two of the toughest to wear the orange jersey.

 

Just meant it was probably difficult for the team to really focus on basketball what with all the BP stuff.

 

UCONN had NCAA issues last year. How far in the tank did they go?

 

UNLV seemed to thrive on it.

 

They were a finesse, jumpshooting, transition team, Jo. There's no other way to look at it. We had some scrappy guards that won us big games. I'm not hating on them, but it is what it is. Secondly, I'm a big fan of that team, but who are some of these several road games that we won against ranked teams other than UF? Also, they were the worst defensive team in the SEC that year. That's not a tough team.

 

They didn't. Congrats to them. Still think it could've been a factor with the Vols. Or maybe they just weren't that good. Not saying it was unjust or anything.

I don't want to compare NCAA issues to health issues, but they're in the tank this year. I just mean sometimes off court stuff can get to a team. And maybe they're just not good. You can't tell how things might've been different.

 

Losing Kemba Walker might have slightly more to do with it.