First of all, Merry Christmas to all Ramblermaniacs.

The Calculator Lady and I got back from Vegas last evening as we got lucky with the weather and no airport delays. It was a great three days with Lady Greebee, Mike Angelitis, and Ramblin'Ray. Also got to talk to some parents particularly the Crismans, some players: Devon Turk, Milton Doyle and several other LU followers including Ahunti. (sorry about the spelling). Sat in front of Eric Porter's dad on the plane ride home. A great guy. Looking forward to seeing him at the Bradley game. I hope Eric can get some playing time in the future. He chose to be a walk on at Loyola even though he had several offers from other schools. If you saw the Midnight Madness, you know he can shoot the lights out with the three. Could be a great late game surprise weapon.

The main point of this post is to congratulate the coaches on two great game plans, in particular the Boise State game which required a very short turn around time. Saw Coach Mullins and Coach Dildy scouting the Boise State-Houston game. Also taking into account the impact of the passing of Coach Moser's mother on the 22nd, it was remarkable that the staff was able to focus.

Three things were pointed out on the Coach Robinson post game interview.

1. The strategy to go to Christian Thomas down low was based upon the fact that Boise does not double team down low. Thus, Thomas was able to use the extra space to make his move on go to the hoop. It really paid off in the second half where he scored 13 of his 17 points and half of the team's 26 points. It was especially pleasing since he had been in the doghouse the game before and had played only five minutes in the second half against Texas Tech. it was nice to see him get an all tourney trophy.

2. The team went to a zone late in the game and it held Boise to zero field goals the last 5:15. Great in game adjustment.

3. The Rambler depth made a difference. Boise was tired at the end as they had several players playing over 35 minutes. Yes, this may be somewhat attributed to injuries to two key players. But the Ramblers had no player with more than 26 minutes. This can be attributed to the fine recruiting of the entire staff. Thus, allowing a deep bench to be a part of the strategy of a swarming defense which contributed to Boise being below their average season point total and their shooting percentage.

Great job, Ramblers and hats off to the entire coaching staff.

Side bar: A number of us sat on the Texas Tech side in the lead up game. They were a nice bunch of people and were very complimentary of our Ramblers in the game the night before.
While some of the TT message board, decried losing to a "nothing school", I found the TT community that was on hand to be very fine fans.

It was a great trip and the Orleans was a great hotel. Looking forward to the Great Alaska Shootout in November 2015.