Civil Bear said:
RedlessWardrobe said:
Gotta love Joel Brown's game and effort. He is really a defensive gem. Has great quickness and also shows the ability to play aggressively without fouling. Look for him to become a member of Pac12 all defensive team next year. Just need him to work on that outside shot. As mentioned elsewhere on this forum he's got that Jorge mentality.
And...... did anyone notice the one guy able to handle Gach yesterday? It was Kuany. Another potentially excellent defensive player. Has really quick lateral foot movement and those long arms that allows him to play an extra half length off of an offensive player. Got a feeling we're gonna see a lot more of Kuany next year.
Pretty much agree, but I thought Brown did the best job on Gach and couldn't figure out why he wasn't in the game late in the second half on defensive possessions. Turns out he was in the locker room getting stitched up! A true warrior, but will need to work on his freethrows if he his going to lead the team in crunch-time.
Im not quite sure how Brown managed to get cut badly deflecting a ball, I thought he might have dislocated or at least badly sprained a finger, but when play stopped next he was showing off his blood to get removed immediately from the game. After Brown came back to the bench, it looked like he twice left to get some adjustment to the bandaged hand, one time late in regulation Fox was looking to get him on for D and frustrated that Brown wasn't at the ready, he was apparently back towards the tunnel presumably getting an adjustment.
After Plummer hit the 3 to cut the lead to 68-67 with 10 seconds left, it looked like Fox didn't want anyone but Brown on Plummer. Brown was in obvious pain/discomfort, but was still hitting the deck and still trying to get his hands into the passing lane, a huge part of 3 OT TO's. The first time he went to the line in OT, I'm thinking, "How can a lefty who basically shoots his FT's one handed, is a very poor FT shooter to begin with, and is in obvious pain from the injury to his left hand hit any FT's?" He missed the first badly. He made the second. When he got his hands on the pass for the steal and had the breakaway to basically seal the game, I didn't know if he could make that left handed layup while injured. But he did. And made his final 2 FT's, too.
And once Brown was in to defend him starting with the final Ute possession of regulation, Plummer didn't score again until Brown was back out replaced by the senior walkons for the final Ute possession in OT.
Brown had only 15 minutes of PT, but he was definitely the hero of OT, and doing it while in pain and discomfort but getting his hand in the middle of things in spite of the risk of causing more pain. I think it was my favorite performance of the year.
