Creighton Bluejays @ Northern Iowa Panthers - 1/26/2011

[unipanther99]

UNI being carried by the refs. has anyone heard the attendance.

Attendance: 6,415 - nearly a sellout (it think it needs about 500 more for a sellout)

Actually I think they consider 6500 sold out. And yes, the capacity is over 7000 with chairs on the concourse and standing room only tix.

[musiccitybulldog]

The thing that surprises me most about UNI is the play of O'Rear. He seems to get rebounds you wouldnt expect him to get, He blocks shots you wouldn't expect, he makes moves to the basket and scores when you wouldn't expect. Huge plus this year. He has always been a positive influence on the games, but his skills seem really modified with playing time.

[cu8493]

Two keys to the game: 2 ridiculous offensive fouls on Echinque in the first half and third early in the second half put him on the bench when UNI has no answer for him. If he plays 25-30 minutes, CU wins. BCS conferences would absolutely roll on the ground in a fit of laughter if they saw those kinds of fouls called on the big guys underneath. MVC officiating has no clue how to handle someone with his size and power.

Second key - and really more troubling to me is 18 turnovers (although don't they count offensive fouls as turnovers?). At least 5 of those turnovers were just stupid, lazy passes that you might expect from a junior high team. Cut that down to 12, and CU wins the game.

Unless UNI collapses, IMO POY comes down to Ahelegbe and Weems.

[DUBulldog]

Two keys to the game: 2 ridiculous offensive fouls on Echinque in the first half and third early in the second half put him on the bench when UNI has no answer for him. If he plays 25-30 minutes, CU wins. BCS conferences would absolutely roll on the ground in a fit of laughter if they saw those kinds of fouls called on the big guys underneath. MVC officiating has no clue how to handle someone with his size and power.

I don't know who was calling the game last night, but a lot of "MVC refs" also officiate in the Big 12 and/or Big 10.

But, I agree, a couple of those calls were ridiculous

[unipanther99]

For those who watched on ESPNU, could you pick up on the crowd noise? It was about as loud as I have ever heard it in the McLeod last night.

[unipanther99]

Two keys to the game: 2 ridiculous offensive fouls on Echinque in the first half and third early in the second half put him on the bench when UNI has no answer for him. If he plays 25-30 minutes, CU wins. BCS conferences would absolutely roll on the ground in a fit of laughter if they saw those kinds of fouls called on the big guys underneath. MVC officiating has no clue how to handle someone with his size and power.

I don't know who was calling the game last night, but a lot of "MVC refs" also officiate in the Big 12 and/or Big 10.

But, I agree, a couple of those calls were ridiculous

I think the refs were rattled after the one missed the way obvious travel on Echinque early in the game, and had a hard time figuring out how involved to get in the game. I've reffed HS for many years, and I would never want to do D-1 college. Those guys have an incredibly difficult job, and I respect them tremendously. The one thing I don't like about college officiating though, if I missed an obvious call like that (which is easy to do if it's right at your feet), one of my partners would bail me out. In college, they seem to get too caught up with not calling things out of their "area." I understand why they do that to a point, but I think they would be well served to help each other out once in a while.

[valleychamp]

CU benefited from crappy touch fouls too, when UNI defenders played perfect defense standing straight up and down.

And the "MVC refs" thing is a tired subject. We get the same refs that the BCS conferences do.

[bleach]

And the "MVC refs" thing is a tired subject. We get the same refs that the BCS conferences do.

But they call the game differently.

[valleychamp]

lol, ok do you honestly believe that?

Do you believe that they do a B12 game on monday and call the game a certain way, and do an MVC game on Wednesday and call it completely different?

[pantherrob82]

That and the constant booing got a little old.

A lot different than the gray hairs sitting in silence, eh?