In Reply to: I don't. Cronin would have mucked it up, IMHO posted by Pyperkub on March 26, 2026 at 09:46:37
Cronin's decision to go with a 4 guard lineup by replacing Dailey with Freeny and see if that could open up the floor for Dent or others to score with about 5 1/2 minutes left was the main turning point. Prior to this, the team was able to stay within 4-7 points of UConn. This error led to the stretch where the gap ballooned from 6-7 points to double digits.
In hindsight, Dailey was probably our most competitive player and best scorer under pressure without Bilodeau during the tournament, and our defense and rebounding suffered without him at the 4. Cronin's technical foul was the nail in the coffin. Dailey was not brought back until less than 2 minutes left in the game after the lead had ballooned to 12 points and the game was out of reach.
However, I also doubt that keeping ED in the game would have made a difference in the final outcome. UConn was the better team, especially without Bilodeau playing. We just didn't have a guy we could turn to to score at the end of the game, which I think Cronin's system needs to be successful (thinking of Jaquez or Juzang).