Losing to a 15 seed is bad enough.  But losing to a 15 seed that shoots 35% from the field, 31% from 3 and you out rebound them by 17?  Those numbers are mind blowing.  You lost to a 15 seed that didn’t even play a good game.

When Virginia got shocked as a 1 seed, you could at least point to UMBC shooting really  well and playing an extremely good game.  That was not the case this afternoon.

Ultimately, Holtman is going to have to take a lot of blame this.  Washington putting up a very inefficient game with questionable at best decision making and shot selection is no surprise.  He has proven time and time again that he can’t be trusted late, yet Holtman essentially hitched his wagon to Duane going 1 on 1 just about every critical possession this year.  

This was one of the worst really good teams I’ve ever seen.  The 2 seed was earned, but 10 losses and sliding to a 5th place finish in conference doesn’t point to something special.  As the year wore on, it seemed like players who were contributing early slowly dropped off the radar.  By the end, Meechie, Ahrens, Towns, Brown and Jallow contributed almost nothing.  What once looked like a team that could overwhelm you with sheer depth wilted away into a small group of contributors with very little margin for error.  

I’m not ready to give up on Holtman, but I think the honeymoon is over.  Haven’t been to a sweet 16 yet and players not growing much from year to year is starting to become a concern.  The recruiting seems to be headed in the right direction, but are we satisfied with being a perennial 1st weekend exit?  The team crumbling in crunch time was a recurring theme this year.  Poor decision making, bad shot selection, and overall sloppiness reflects back on the staff.  It’s tough to say a team is well coached when they implode in the final minutes almost every night.