UK Fans Trash Barnes

Dr, you are welcome to your opinion, but I am with Bob and think you are completely wrong. I think you are completely underestimating the importance of depth and experience. Even if the upperclassman weren't playing as many minutes, there is a lot to be said for their experience in being in the Big Dance and teaching the younger guys how to handle it. You are also discounting other roles that the players have. Just because your top offensive players were young doesn't mean that the older guys didn't add any value to the team. While Ohio State had juniors and seniors starting, the Horns didn't even have any juniors or seniors, at least not any that played more than 7 minutes a game and made more than 2 points a game. The other two significant contributors for the Horns were very raw sophmores - an undersized guard who couldn't play defense (at least at that time) in AJ and a post player who was still learning how to play the position in Connor Atchley. All of that is a far cry from Ohio State's supporting cast.

But most importantly, I think the real key for the Horns' "early" exit was fatigue. We had an undersized point guard that played an average of over 35 minutes a game. Another undersized guard that played over 35 minutes a game. And a once in a life time player who also averaged over 35 minutes a game. USC came in with a bigger, fresher team and beat the Horns. It was certainly a disappointing loss, but I would call it a far cry from underachieving.
 
Does nobody care to mention how big of a defensive disadvantage we were at playing Abrams and Augustin the entire game against freaks like Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt, Dwight Lewis, and Daniel Hackett? Let's see. We've got:

5-9 A.J. Abrams and 5-10 D.J. Augustin (I don't care what they're listed at, I've stood next to them and at 6'0" I towered over both of them) against...

6'3" Pruitt
6'5" Young
6'4" Hackett
6'4" Lewis

All of whom where excellent players and far more athletic than our backcourt. Durant had a great game, 30 points in fact. The fact that we had him doesn't mean that the rest of the team should play well. That team was flawed in so many ways (such as having zero depth, height, and defensive ability), and we ran into a buzzsaw against a USC team that was up on #1 seed UNC by almost 20 points in the Sweet Sixteen before falling apart. If you think back to people's perceptions of the team then, they were picked to go far in the tourney by a lot for the sole purpose of having the best college basketball player in history on their team. Turned out basketball was still a team game and thus UT lost to a far more experienced, athletic, and talented USC team.
 
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