Bracket Busters games involving MVC teams

[DUBulldog]

I was kind of shocked at how bad UW-GB was. Bulldogs were playing without Jordan Clarke, and still handled them easily. I think they're 9-5 in the Horizon, and beat Marquette earlier this year.

Seth Van Deest had his first double-double of the season with 15 & 10 against UWGB's 7'1" center. Freshman Kori Babineaux had by far his best performance with 10 points and 7 rebounds in only 13 minutes.

[shoxrox]

I almost never complain about the refs and have actually defended them during many controversial calls this year (e.g. 3 pt foul against Koch @ end of ISUblue game).

This being said, the Panthers were royally screwed last night. Here is a condensed sequence of events to end the game.

1) Sonnen gets leveled on a 3 pt shot. No call is made (DU up 3).
2) Coach Jake takes two steps outside the coaching box to complain. The ref T's him up.
3) Denver player hits both free throws (UD up 5).
4) Denver player is fouled on the next possession.
5) Denver player hits one free throw (UD up 6).
6) Game over.

This is the first and hopefully only time I will ever make this statement, but the refs literally cost UNI the game.

I thought it was a little ironic that Cool Benny J received a technical after you spent the entire week throwing Marshall and the WSU program into a pack of wolves. Ben takes the lead on the technical count over Gregg this year.

And UNI didn't lose because of the officiating. They could have played better in other parts of the game. I've learned on this site that blaming the officiating is a lame cop-out. Give some credit to Denver and move on.

[rlh04d]

And UNI didn't lose because of the officiating. They could have played better in other parts of the game. I've learned on this site that blaming the officiating is a lame cop-out. Give some credit to Denver and move on.

As always, in pretty much all sports, blaming the officiating is a lame cop-out until it happens to your team. Then suddenly it's all important.

[UNIFanSince1983]

I have said it in this thread earlier, but the refs did not cost us the game. We played very very poorly for a stretch in the first half when Denver outscored us 26-7 after we were up 14-2.

The refs at the end of the game were very very awful. Both coaches were riding them really hard. Both coaches were out of the box all night, and then after Sonnen gets knocked down on a three they T'd Jake up. Jake said it was his fault and he knows better, but really I cannot blame him for how blatant a bad call that was. Not to mention we did not have AJ for the last 10 mins of the game or so, and he was sorely missed. Denver was a very dirty team, but they played better than us last night.

In the scheme of things that game meant nothing to us. We just need ot get back on track Wednesday in Carbondale.

[uniftw]

I have said it in this thread earlier, but the refs did not cost us the game. We played very very poorly for a stretch in the first half when Denver outscored us 26-7 after we were up 14-2.

The refs at the end of the game were very very awful. Both coaches were riding them really hard. Both coaches were out of the box all night, and then after Sonnen gets knocked down on a three they T'd Jake up. Jake said it was his fault and he knows better, but really I cannot blame him for how blatant a bad call that was. Not to mention we did not have AJ for the last 10 mins of the game or so, and he was sorely missed. Denver was a very dirty team, but they played better than us last night.

In the scheme of things that game meant nothing to us. We just need ot get back on track Wednesday in Carbondale.

Missing that call was almost as bad as when the Denver player landed with 2 feet out of bounds literally 7 feet from the ref, and it was missed.

[Khan4Cats]

I have said it in this thread earlier, but the refs did not cost us the game. We played very very poorly for a stretch in the first half when Denver outscored us 26-7 after we were up 14-2.

The refs at the end of the game were very very awful. Both coaches were riding them really hard. Both coaches were out of the box all night, and then after Sonnen gets knocked down on a three they T'd Jake up. Jake said it was his fault and he knows better, but really I cannot blame him for how blatant a bad call that was. Not to mention we did not have AJ for the last 10 mins of the game or so, and he was sorely missed. Denver was a very dirty team, but they played better than us last night.

In the scheme of things that game meant nothing to us. We just need ot get back on track Wednesday in Carbondale.

Missing that call was almost as bad as when the Denver player landed with 2 feet out of bounds literally 7 feet from the ref, and it was missed.

Or the Denver three point attempt that hit the rim, bounced up, came down on top of the backboard, bounced up again, and came down on the other side of the backboard that Denver rebounded and ran another 25 seconds off the clock. Fortunately they didn't score, but the refs were that bad.

Still should have won that game if we don't go 8+ minutes without a bucket in the first half.

[bradley_brave1989]

Great day overall for the Valley in what will be the last bracket buster event, Some things i collected from other posters and just watching games.

Bradley-FINALLY A ROAD WIN. FINALLY A ROAD WIN, heaven all mighty FINALLY A ROAD WIN.

Creighton-This team has not regressed they just haven't changed, they are to unathletic and too easy to scout. If they just change the game plan a bit, they can be that top 15/sweet 16 team.

Drake-Good job beating a from what i thought was a good UWGB team, and beating them handily.

Evansville- I think this team is last years Illinois St. I think they are putting it together at the right time, It showed against Wright and i think it will show in St. Louis.

Illinois St.-Had to go to arguably on the hardest places to play in the country cannot fault them for losing even if USU isn't what they usually are, but get a great return game next year.

Indiana St.- I dont get it at all, they look so good at times and so bad. Nice to eeeeeek out the win ,but i was really hoping they wiped the floor with Iona. Great plays made down the stretch for a W though.

Missouri St.-I dont care how bad EMU is, good job bears, to go from losing to a mid-level SWAC team at home to winning multiple valley games and making us all proud on the road in BB.

Northern Iowa-Didnt see but heard what happened I am sry.

Southern Illinois-HEY! wohoo!

Wichita St.-Good win against a good team, I think the 15 point win though was more DM not showing up though. They did not stop the ball on defense. There was numerous times Detroit was willing to give up drives and open lay-ups for what ever reason.

BTW thanks for coming out MAC and Horizon. 6-0!

I hope in the future some type of Out of conference games are scheduled later in the season so we can gauge ourselves against other leagues. Even if it is like MVC/MWC challenge type deal except during the conference season.

[CaliRdBrd]

I hope in the future some type of Out of conference games are scheduled later in the season so we can gauge ourselves against other leagues. Even if it is like MVC/MWC challenge type deal except during the conference season.[/quote]

I would love a MWc/MVC showdown, but thank God that didn't happen this year.

[mvcfan]

There was numerous times Detroit was willing to give up drives and open lay-ups for what ever reason.

I would speculate that since they only give 7 people any minutes and they try to run, they give out a lot of effort on offense and they conserve their defensive effort. When they play teams who aren't athletic and not deep, they get away with it. WSU played 10 players and pushed them on both ends of the court with full court defense and offense. DM couldn't hang with that. The DM coach even said that WSU played too fast of a pace for his team in his interview after the game.

[rlh04d]

There was numerous times Detroit was willing to give up drives and open lay-ups for what ever reason.

I would speculate that since they only give 7 people any minutes and they try to run, they give out a lot of effort on offense and they conserve their defensive effort. When they play teams who aren't athletic and not deep, they get away with it. WSU played 10 players and pushed them on both ends of the court with full court defense and offense. DM couldn't hang with that. The DM coach even said that WSU played too fast of a pace for his team in his interview after the game.

I thought that would likely be a problem for Detroit in that game. Having only 6 players able to play any real minutes, versus 10 for Wichita State, meant that a fast pace was going to absolutely destroy them by the end of the game.

I'm actually kind of surprised WSU hasn't used that strategy more often. We subbed in that game early and often, with little dropoff from one player to another. Plenty of other teams have more overall talented players, but I think very few have the quality of depth we have.

Unfortunately, I think WSU's problem with fouls probably takes away our ability to play like that Detroit game more often. Without the regular stop in play, we're able to go full speed, subbing constantly, and leave teams in the dust by the end of the game. Being able to go full speed on offense, then switch back and put their bodies on the line on defense the way they were, is fully based on depth ... I don't think any starting five can keep up that pace for 35 minutes + a game.