Absolutely mind-boggling that CU, UE and now WSU cannot close it out and let them into it. Either they get too comfortable and let it go over their heads, or the opposition simply wakes up and takes advantage while they are gassed/in foul trouble (like Stutz).
I'm going to beat a dead horse with this one, MVC will be another one-bid league. The regular season champ, if they don't win Arch Madness, punches a ticket for a chance to play at MSG.
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UConn was certainly assisted by the stripes, baldy made a couple of very late, very questionable calls late in the game against the Shockers. UConn also shot 43 FT's, more than twice the amount of WSU. Kemba Walker is a superstar, but UConn doesn't win without the freebies from the refs. Bad loss for the MVC.
Everyone on this board should know by now that officials are not the reason teams lose. I'm thinking the WSU players were just not prepared properly or maybe they shouldn't have been recruited. ;-)
I said it last year and I'll say it again......what a crappy conference!
I watched the 2nd half and the only questionable call I saw was the illegal screen near the end. I know the difference in ft attempts was a lot, but you can't always blame the refs for that. Missed or made one and ones can add to the difference as can shooting 2 fts after fouls. How many times have we won over the years when the other team outscores us from the field? Happens all the time.
Shockers looked good and will be tough in the Valley.
Everyone on this board should know by now that officials are not the reason teams lose. I'm thinking the WSU players were just not prepared properly or maybe they shouldn't have been recruited. ;-)
I said it last year and I'll say it again......what a crappy conference!
I watched the 2nd half and the only questionable call I saw was the illegal screen near the end. I know the difference in ft attempts was a lot, but you can't always blame the refs for that. Missed or made one and ones can add to the difference as can shooting 2 fts after fouls. How many times have we won over the years when the other team outscores us from the field? Happens all the time.
Shockers looked good and will be tough in the Valley.
- The block called on Durley, which would have been Walker's fourth foul.
- Blair's clean block on Walker that was called a foul and resulted in two points.
- Reversal of an out-of-bounds call by baldy from the opposite wing. (Refs say that the baseline guy getting over-ruled by the opposite wing ref is very rare and insulting.) On that play the baseline ref made an immediate and confident call giving WSU the ball.
- The illegal screen on Stutz. His forearms barely came away from his body and only after the contact.
There are questionable calls in every game, many affecting the outcome. In the first half WSU got away with one or two "over the back". But the 2nd half saw every bad call go UConn's way, and it was mostly, if not all, by one referee. That is suspicious.
Nevertheless, we didn't capitalize on Walker being out most of the first half and the adjustments Marshall made (zone, match-up-zone) to try and stop Walker didn't work and we ended up on the short end. You just hate to see lopsided officiating play that large a role in the outcome.
WSU isn't likely to see any player with the skills of Walker outside the NCAA tournament for the rest of the year. Stutz took himself out of the game with some mental lapses (bad foul, fumbled pass) that made his performance look much worse than he really is. However, I still thought our post game was better than UConn and if Murry/Kyles can continue to produce like that I think WSU will have a very nice season.
WSU got jobbed, the 44-13 FT discrepancy is criminal. The two call reversals by baldy were awful. All that said, WSU still should have won that game. I think it affects the league as a whole more than WSU, as I think WSU is going to have a nice year regardless. Was a bit disappointed that Marshall didn't do something to take the ball out of Walker's hands. He's a great player, but WSU didn't make things very hard for him.
I don't know. Walker just did the same thing to Michigan St. That kid is just CRAZY good.
Really? Even the announcers pointed out a couple other calls that should have been made differently. I can think of 4 bad calls in favor of UConn.