Missouri State at Nevada

[troutangler]

I really think now that most of our growing pains will occur in non-conf. Yes, the Valley, like any conference has the I-know-you-you-know-me thing going which allows and makes for closer games than most non-conf contests. But Lusk played at SIU, he's Valley-knowledgable. If you are referring to how he deals with refs, I liked what appeared to be a little tit-for-tat he had with Mr Pollard, the ref that hates MSU,in the Nevada game. Pollard can suck cancerous eggs until he dies as far as I'm concerned. He gave what I perceived as a stare-down with Lusk, but Paul didn't bite. Never have cared for Pollard's calls or his attitude. Already I like how Lusk is willing to take a cause to a ref more than what Zo did.

Gerry Pollard does not hate MSU. You sound like the rest of the old cranks at JQH that I have to listen to complain about the referees every game. We drew six player control fouls, so I don't think they were trying to screw us.

[TNMSUFAN]

I don't know why you guys are clamoring for everyone to play 16-18 minutes instead of settling into a rotation of 7-8 guys with a couple others getting in when people are in foul trouble or to mop up.

Coach Lusk has said in several interviews that he likes to play 9-10 guys...doesn't mean 7-8 won't have a high percentage of the minutes though. I think Weems, Patterson, Scheer, Gulley, Biz, Pick, Downing, Kirk, Rhine and Copeland will play every game.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I really think now that most of our growing pains will occur in non-conf. Yes, the Valley, like any conference has the I-know-you-you-know-me thing going which allows and makes for closer games than most non-conf contests. But Lusk played at SIU, he's Valley-knowledgable. If you are referring to how he deals with refs, I liked what appeared to be a little tit-for-tat he had with Mr Pollard, the ref that hates MSU,in the Nevada game. Pollard can suck cancerous eggs until he dies as far as I'm concerned. He gave what I perceived as a stare-down with Lusk, but Paul didn't bite. Never have cared for Pollard's calls or his attitude. Already I like how Lusk is willing to take a cause to a ref more than what Zo did.

Gerry Pollard does not hate MSU. You sound like the rest of the old cranks at JQH that I have to listen to complain about the referees every game. We drew six player control fouls, so I don't think they were trying to screw us.

I agree. The problem isn't that Pollard hates MSU; the problem is that Pollard is just a sh!tty referee.

Every time I see Pollard or Janssen on the floor during warm ups, I mutter, "This is going to be a choppy, inconsistently called game. Better be prepared to boo every negative call loudly because, unlike most refs, these morons will be desperately searching for an opportunity to make a 'make-up' call right away."

[troutangler]

I don't know why you guys are clamoring for everyone to play 16-18 minutes instead of settling into a rotation of 7-8 guys with a couple others getting in when people are in foul trouble or to mop up.

Coach Lusk has said in several interviews that he likes to play 9-10 guys...doesn't mean 7-8 won't have a high percentage of the minutes though. I think Weems, Patterson, Scheer, Gulley, Biz, Pick, Downing, Kirk, Rhine and Copeland will play every game.

They may all play every game, but I wouldn't count on the bottom couple of them getting meaningful minutes every game. Coaches often say things through the media that don't end up happening, like coaches who talk about how they're going to run an up-tempo offense only to grind in the half court. (Like Cuonzo)

I imagine that by the time Valley games roll around, the top eight will play a vast majority of the minutes. I'm still not sold on Copeland, as I don't think he brings anything that the guys in front of him don't.

[FeartheQ]

I don't care who plays what minutes. Lets just win games.

[glm38]

I agcree Paw. But I'd go a little further and say althl of our first 10 are very talented. Finding playing time for all of them could be a very real problem.

No it won't. If Patterson plays anything like he did against Nevada during the rest of the year, Rhine won't get on the court much. On top of that, Copeland won't average over 10 minutes a game for the year. I don't know why you guys are clamoring for everyone to play 16-18 minutes instead of settling into a rotation of 7-8 guys with a couple others getting in when people are in foul trouble or to mop up.

Where did I or anyone else say we were "clamoring for everyone to play 16-18 min"??

That's certainly not what I said. I'm just concerned that we seem to have so many talented players that it will be difficult to find enough min to keep all of them happy. I realize they can't all play equal min.

TMNSUFAN - I agree that it will probably settle out that 7 to 8 guys play the majority of the minutes. I agree with your picks for those min too except Copeland (agreeing with Trout on this). I really like the kid but to date I haven't seen anything from him to warrant big minutes. But I could be wrong and he's just a sophmore. I think Kirk could end up getting a fair # of minutes this year.

[DUBulldog]

I really think now that most of our growing pains will occur in non-conf. Yes, the Valley, like any conference has the I-know-you-you-know-me thing going which allows and makes for closer games than most non-conf contests. But Lusk played at SIU, he's Valley-knowledgable. If you are referring to how he deals with refs, I liked what appeared to be a little tit-for-tat he had with Mr Pollard, the ref that hates MSU,in the Nevada game. Pollard can suck cancerous eggs until he dies as far as I'm concerned. He gave what I perceived as a stare-down with Lusk, but Paul didn't bite. Never have cared for Pollard's calls or his attitude. Already I like how Lusk is willing to take a cause to a ref more than what Zo did.

Gerry Pollard does not hate MSU. You sound like the rest of the old cranks at JQH that I have to listen to complain about the referees every game. We drew six player control fouls, so I don't think they were trying to screw us.

I agree. The problem isn't that Pollard hates MSU; the problem is that Pollard is just a sh!tty referee.

Every time I see Pollard or Janssen on the floor during warm ups, I mutter, "This is going to be a choppy, inconsistently called game. Better be prepared to boo every negative call loudly because, unlike most refs, these morons will be desperately searching for an opportunity to make a 'make-up' call right away."

Agreed. Fans of every team seem to hate Pollard.....he just makes a lot of bad calls, so he pisses everybody off.

You're absolutely right about Janssen, too. He was at the Drake-Upper Iowa game on Saturday (with one arm in a cast). The two teams combined to shoot 70 free throws, in a non-competitive game. That crew, especially Janssen seemed to be anticipating fouls that didn't happen, but they had already blown their whistles.

[WSUbballer]

Janssen is absolute dog poo.

[MSUBear42]

Gerry Pollard does not hate MSU. You sound like the rest of the old cranks at JQH that I have to listen to complain about the referees every game. We drew six player control fouls, so I don't think they were trying to screw us.

I agree. The problem isn't that Pollard hates MSU; the problem is that Pollard is just a sh!tty referee.

Every time I see Pollard or Janssen on the floor during warm ups, I mutter, "This is going to be a choppy, inconsistently called game. Better be prepared to boo every negative call loudly because, unlike most refs, these morons will be desperately searching for an opportunity to make a 'make-up' call right away."

Agreed. Fans of every team seem to hate Pollard.....he just makes a lot of bad calls, so he pisses everybody off.

You're absolutely right about Janssen, too. He was at the Drake-Upper Iowa game on Saturday (with one arm in a cast). The two teams combined to shoot 70 free throws, in a non-competitive game. That crew, especially Janssen seemed to be anticipating fouls that didn't happen, but they had already blown their whistles.

There are no bad referees, only bad fans that criticize them. Right, troutangler?

[troutangler]

There are no bad referees, only bad fans that criticize them. Right, troutangler?

Or fans that don't know what they're talking about talking out of their rear-ends, which is usually the case in any sport. Kind of like our game at Indiana State last year when we fouled the shooter right before the buzzer, and all of our fans first said it wasn't a foul, then admitted that it was, but you "Shouldn't call it at that point in the game". This completely contradicts what fans and the media constantly say ("Call it consistently all game!"). Fans want things called consistently until it goes against their team. At that point, the referees are screwing them and are terrible.

Fans are inherently biased. That doesn't make them "bad", but it does preclude them from judging if the referees are doing a good job or not. If you have no experience actually refereeing a real basketball game, you really don't know what you're talking about.

And yes, there are bad referees out there, but they aren't working D1 basketball at this level.