Zona III, Zags nil

Oh....yeah, now I remember the feeling...that feeling like all the air has been sucked out of the room. Its been awhile, but now I remember. It's that familiar feeling of disappointment, rage and utter sorrow all wrapped up in one crap sandwich that every Zag defeat conjures up for dinner.

The Zags needed this wake-up call. Arizona outplayed the Zags at virtually every level. They simply wanted it more. The Bulldogs didn't play with a sense of urgency or the killer instinct they are going to need in order to put teams away deep in the tournament. The Slipper Fits is never one to point the blame at any one player, but it's hard to ignore Jeremy's performance down the stretch. He fired up a three from John Rillie-range on a crucial possession for no reason, got whistled for traveling and turned it over several times down the stretch. Josh hit the boards, but shot horribly and got absolutely dominated by Hill. He looked like he might have caught whatever Bouldin had last game. Austin was on fire and should have shot every time down the court in the final minutes. Bouldin is stepping in to the Pendergraft role and getting a lot of right-place-at-the-right-time buckets. And speaking of gingers, the Zags didn't have an answer for Budinger or Wise for that matter.

All is not lost. Arizona is a tough team with a good coach, who coached the hell out of it tonight. The Zags needed a reality check before the Battle in Seattle, and they are lucky it came at the hands of the Wildcats and not Texas Southern. They were garbage tonight, but there is a lot of basketball yet to be played and leave it to Few to have these guys ready to take the Huskies to the mat.