Dirt's live game notes:

A special thanks to Brisbin for agreeing to drive me (and put up with me for a car ride down and back.) Another great ambassador for Gael basketball.

First thing's first. If you think Trasolini is ugly on TV or from a distance, you should see him in person and up close. And apparently he's been telling a lot of lies lately. Does anyone else think Troy Paine looks like he's 37 years old? They also have a giant poster of Steve Nash hanging. Steve Nash looks like he smells like pee.

Santa Clara's antics during time outs are worse than ours. At one point they brought a garbage can out and every time the lid was lifted the crowd would cheer. And when it was closed they would stop. Repeat ad nauseum. I was waiting for KK's career to pop out of the garbage can and yell "surprise." They also have a robot that shoots t-shirts at the crowd. I was secretly praying that it would turn around and shoot the jack ass mascot, but no such luck.

Overall the defensive effort was much better, as was the rebounding. Rob Jones was a beast on the boards and we didn't give them a ton of second chances. Offensively, there were too many cold streaks and too many turnovers. Delly and Mickey made some uncharacteristic mistakes.

Mickey - He's just a gamer and refuses to let the gaels get out of it even if he has to carry the offense on his back. voiceinthewilderness was right all along. He's been slashing into the lane a lot more lately and that has really helped the offense as the defense collapses on him and he kicks it out.

Delly - He seems up and down lately offensively. I think part of it is what the defenses are giving him, but he's not taking a lot of shots. I'd like to see him get open for more looks.

Rob - not the best shooting night he's had, but his inside presence and toughness were much needed to secure the win last night. He might be the best player I've seen at selling a charge. There's nothing like seeing a guy built like Clint Steindl run over a guy built like an inside line backer.

Steindl - he needs to just keep shooting. That's all there is to it. Last night was the first time I felt like the offense was incomplete without him on the floor. Holt is good, but without the outside threat, the offense loses a bit of its luster. He had a couple of early 3's just rim out. A couple of times later in the game he had some wide open looks at a three and just passed on them. He needs to just keep shooting. His defense was very good and I think his length gave santa clara fits.

Holt - decent minutes off the bench. Still needs jump shot work and learning how to stay at home on defense. Last night he made a stupid foul on a three point shot attempt. Luckily Santa Clara shoots free throws like Lindsay Lohan stays out of trouble. Randy sure let him have it on that one. I'd like to see him drive into the lane more.

Mitchell Young - Overall he did an above average job at the free throw line which was nice to see. He looked the best of the three last night.

Tim Williams - He started the second half!!!!! Holy $$#@!!!! He needs more time and defensive toughness.

Kenton - Is his shoulder hurt? It looks like he started the game with a brace on it and then took it off (too constricting?)

Did anyone see Phil Benson's sweet head bandage? Rumor has it that Randy is making him wear it to keep the basketball knowledge in until they play gonzaga.

Overall, we'll need to do better shooting and protecting the ball to come out with a win on Saturday.