http://www.bcsn.tv/news_article/show/623..._id=878183

Those two turnovers in the last 20 seconds were just the icing on the cake. During the last couple of minutes the Rockets also missed numerous opportunities to build on their lead but failed to capitalize on most of them.

When a player scores 36 points (or whatever it was) in a game, one usually criticizes the opponent's defense; however, I am not sure that is entirely appropriate for this game. Despite the high score and the fact that Akron's Anita Brown (#15) flat out went off on the Rockets big time, as crazy as it sounds, I did not think that Akron as a team played a super game and I think the Rocket D may have had something to do with that. On the other hand Akron's defense did not make Toledo miss crucial foul shots, or telegraph lazy passes that went the other way for easy Akron points, or give Akron second chance points when they absolutely had to have them to avoid a loss----that was purely on the Toledo.

Just as the football team spurned Ohio's gift win over NIU, so did the Lady Rockets spurn Buffalo's gift win over Ohio which would have left only 8th seed Buffalo (who the Rockets defeated in the regular season) standing between them and the finals with a potential match-up with CMU who the Rockets defeated twice in the regular season. This was beginning to look like that "perfect storm" was building that would allow the Rockets to do the seemingly impossible (i.e. win a MAC Tournament), but they would have none of it.

The Rockets actually put together a good regular season body of work within the conference, but unfortunately the way the "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory" in Cleveland with not just one, but several key miscues at key moments was a disappointing end to an otherwise promising season. Maybe they will get a post season opportunity somewhere which will be nice for the two seniors, but after yet another annual disappointing trip to Cleveland, personally I have closed the book on basketball for this season and will shift my focus to spring football.

Turnovers can certainly be credited to your opponent's pressure and good D. They can also be due to something else. Men's basketball, women's basketball, football--in these "big 3" we have over at least these past 3 seasons for each now appeared to me, anyway, to struggle with the mental aspect of big moments in big games (bowl victories being a welcome disclaimer to that). I know some schools place more emphasis on sports psychology. Not sure if that is addressed at UT or not (the "SEAL training" that's been done is probably good for establishing more teamwork but it is so far removed from the actual season and over in a relatively short period of time, so its not really sports psychology per se). But somehow, we need to put our athletes in a place where they can emotionally/mentally rise to the challenge of big moments in big games if we are going to start winning conference championships. No team in any sport is mentally sharp for the entire game. But in key games, more often than not, we've developed a nasty habit of letting the other team snatch victory from us.