Coach Nosek, in his post-game radio interview, said that they had told the team before the game about bringing the bench in early. He also said they made the decision to hold Darius out because he couldn't find a rhythm offensively. So it was a decision that the coaches made because they saw him struggling. Like you said, when he did return he barely gave Nelson room to breath. There was lots of great coaching decisions made by the Ags in this game that made a big difference in the final outcome.

That's really interesting. We definitely coached this game differently than any regular season game.

I thought, from a layman's standpoint, that UCI didn't make adjustments throughout the game. And I'm still not sure why they called a timeout with 2.6 seconds left to set up a play, and then the play wasn't to get Nelson open but to get it to Demacopolous (sp?). Perhaps the in-bounder freaked and didn't let the play develop, but no one around us could believe that Nelson didn't touch the ball on the last possession.

Yes, that time out with 2.6 left was questionable although they had been successful just moments before on that inbounds play where Nelson nailed that deep 3 to get the Eaters within a point. From my armchair coaching position, I would have let Nelson continue on an try and create a good look for a 3 rather than calling a time out. He had the ball, had momentum and he's a pure shooter that can knock down a fall-away 3 from distance. I'd would have let him go at that point.

I thought for sure UCI would run the picket fence (Hoosiers).

Looked like a blown play or as you said, the inbounded got a little jumpy. I don't think the ball was ever supposed to go to the big guy in the corneR. The following inbounds play was worse. A cross court lob? For a fade away three? Either way It was our defense that caused UCI to panic and not get a shot off.