Found this game of the 2004 NCAA Men’s Champ game between Stanford and UCLA on YouTube… was Azevedo and Ormsby’s senior year. Great game for anyone that wants to watch.
Great game between former high school team mates in Garcia and Azevedo. That UCLA team was so fast in the counter. If anyone has the 2003 or 2005 or knows how I could get a copy please shoot met a DM or reply with the source.
“What are those green markings?” -My sons’ first question about the game ![]()
amazing match! thanks for posting this classic
Thanks for that. Great game. Just entertained me on a sick day. A couple of reactions.
(1) Not Azevedo’s best game–by a long shot.
(2) It’s really nice to see water polo make sense with a rule where the offense gets the ball back if the defense blocks a shot or pass out of bounds. Why–oh why–was that rule ever changed? And is there any other sport where the defense gets the ball in that situation?
Ultimate frisbee favors the defense.
Imagine how much fun it would add to basketball if blocks out of bounds went to the defense!
Dikembe Mutumbo would have been king of the world!
Don’t know if that comment is sarcastic or not. If you are serious, I’d like to hear more. My observation is that we now see much more dumping of the ball late in shot clocks because the consequence of taking a shot is so likely to be a turnover. I’d rather see more offense, and a team rewarded for offensive tactics that force the other team to shot block.
Shot blocks in polo and basketball are exciting but in basketball are anticlimactic and the value of a Dwight Howard rejecting the ball into the stands style block is very low when the offense retains possession. Tim Duncan tip blocks are way more valuable but much less fun to watch.
I think this rule change has caused the defenders to match arms with the shooter instead of taking away the nearside with the outside arm and funneling shots to the middle. I’m old school and prefer the old defensive approach.