Utah vs Kensucky

I do not understand why any person would ever listen to TV announcers, let alone Walton, when you can sync to Bill Reilly and Jimmy Soto. But to be honest, when Walton is announcing and if I can’t sync radio, I watch in silence. I quite literally hate him as an announcer. I’ve never listened to anyone so full of themselves, and it’s doubly irritating because his whole hippie schtick is a complete oxymoron with the wealthy arrogant media elite premadonna that he so clearly is. If Walton never did another broadcast, the world would be a much better place.

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Are you implying that there are times when Walton isn’t baked?

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It was anybody else unimpressed with our end-of-game strategy (if you can call it that)? I mean, I am thrilled that we won, and impressed with the grit and poise they showed in the end. Still, I was a little surprised that with a few seconds left and a three point lead, we didn’t foul Kentucky but gave them two open trey attempts. I guess that was a percentage decision, if indeed It was a decision.

My advice, from a guy that has done this religiously for at least the last 5 years. The Pac 12 app and TuneIn radio both allow you to pause the stream, as well as (obviously) Dish Network on DVR. Using the ESPN700 app, pausing the stream is unreliable, and sometimes you can’t get the stream directly on the app depending on the event. The think I like about the ESPN700 app is that it’s usually only about 10 seconds behind the Dish broadcast, whereas TuneIn is often like a full minute behind making phone updates frustrating such as CBS Sports App banner notifications problematic. So as long as I can get the game on Dish and on ESPN700, that’s my preference. But if I am away from home and need to stream, I use Pac12 app and TuneIn (I have paid subscription, mainly because I do same with PA for the Vikings games and NFL streams are paid content, not sure if ESPN700 is, didn’t used to be).

No TV Announcer Can or Will make a Call Like this:


It makes the hair on my arms stand up.

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I like Walton, and I think he’s a genuine hippy.

I also think we were going to foul on the last possession, but they got away from us.

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I’m a Walton fan, as well, but I did think he was a little over the top last night. However, his observation of Utah getting tentative on both ends of the floor was dead on. Just before he really started down that critique road I’d said to my wife that I was worried the offense was now starting to work about 3 feet farther out from the basket rather than going toward it. Maybe I should be worried I think too much like Bill Walton, but the reality is when he’s talking about basketball, he’s someone you should listen to. The rest of it can be alternately annoying and pretty funny, and I’ll take that over someone telling me that the way for a team to win is to score more points than the other team.

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Utah’s missed free throws, missed gimmee’s and turnovers going down the stretch will get better. For one thing, they won’t be playing Ky’s press.

An idle thought, I wonder if referees are hesitant to work a game where an unranked team beats a top 10 team. The tripping of players driving the lane and the block-charge calls were particularly one-sided I thought.The reversal of Batten’s block was flagrant. The rule forcing a review saved Utah’s ass. It wasn’t even close - he was 2’ outside the circle and moving back. They reversed because it was obvious.
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I’m with you on that. Loved him as a player but as an announcer, he’s annoying and distracting to the point of ruining the game.

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I didn’t watch the game, don’t have ESPN/ESPN2, but I see it’s on YouTube.com so I’ll watch it tonight.

Walton is kind of unusual, but for me the good outweighs the bad. As a Southern California native I grew up watching him play for UCLA/John Wooden. Plus, he’s a Grateful Dead fan like myself. I watched a short snippet of the game so far, it humored me when he referenced Jerry Garcia. Did you know Walton attended over 850 Dead concerts, I attended 1. Walton seems infatuated with Utah physical geography, which is easy to understand. I read Walton’s book a couple years ago, it was kind of shallow, boring, too much NBA, which I don’t care for at all…

Rylan Jones is kind of amusing, in the way that a kind of goofy looking relatively short player can contribute at D-I hoops as a true freshman. If you met him at a party and he happened to mention that he was a starting guard on the Utah Utes basketball team, inside you’d be thinking, yeah right.

The Jon Huntsman Center is the coolest basketball arena I’ve seen. For starters, a round (and possibly oval) arena bests all rectangular ones. That it is 3/4 underground gives it a cool feel. Personally I liked the look when the laminated wood beams (the largest wood arch dome in the world at the time, 1969) were more exposed, but it’s still beautiful after 50 years.

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Don’t forget Riley Battin. He scored ten points last night and hit thar huge corner three that put them up six.

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I think the only reason why they called a block initially was because they thought he may have been in the restricted area. But once replay proved he wasn’t, they had to call it a charge.

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But that Parker Van Dyke comment he made was hilarious.

He seems like a smart player and is only a sophomore. I think he is going to be a real contributor. Nails from 3.

I think Jones clearly made a mistake on the last second in-bounds play when he left the 3 point shooter to double down on the guy who received the pass.

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Agree. I think it was late game execution more than late game strategy. Happily, it didn’t matter.

I was also busy screaming at the TV for the failure to call the inbound passer for traveling.

That reminds me of one of my favorite calls by Edmonton Oilers radio voice Jack Michaels.

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In other words, Walton best stay the hell off Rocker’s lawn.

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