A Letter to Dee Dee

Dear Dee Dee Jernigan,
I know that many people have surely been criticizing you about two missed layups in the Elite Eight. However, what these people fail to notice is that there were many other missed shots in that game. In fact, your team as a whole missed a total of 37 shots throughout the game. I realize that some people will say that I cannot assume that shot made earlier in the game would affect the final outcome in the same way that these late game layups would have, and they might be right. However, another shot made earlier in the game by Xavier would have only shifted the momentum toward the Musketeers. Again, as my history professor would say, this is counterfactual speculation, but it seems that people are much too quick to assign the blame directly on you simply because you are a convenient target as the last one to miss one of the 37 shots. Also, assuming you made the shot, there was still the full court drive by Stanford that ended up breaking the tie and advancing the Cardinal. Again, assuming that the game might have gone to overtime, who knows what would have happened? You would have no more won the game for Xavier then many people are claiming you lost it. Winning and losing is a team effort; no one player can be absolutely held responsible. As difficult as it may be, ignore those people who are needlessly and groundlessly heaping this loss on your shoulders. Without all of the shots you made throughout the season, this Elite Eight berth may not have even been.
-Zak

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuseeger/ / CC BY 2.0