UNI @ Drake 2/18 8pm (FSN and ESPN3)

[Ricardo del Rio]

Yep, outnumbered by the 800 Drake fans and 25 students.

When the camera was on the student section, the zoom could not get much tighter for fear showing noses only to the viewing audience.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

[DUBulldog]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

Foxsports is replaying the game right now.....I'll look for the situations you described, Ricky.

I do have to LOL at your description of Seth Van Deest as a goon. He is one of the most easygoing, nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's too bad for him (and for Drake) that he's 22 year old with the body of a 55-60 year old (bad knees, feet, and shoulders). He can only practice a couple times a week and can only go 20-25 minutes in a game, but he doesn't ever back down.

[Khan4Cats]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

Foxsports is replaying the game right now.....I'll look for the situations you described, Ricky.

I do have to LOL at your description of Seth Van Deest as a goon. He is one of the most easygoing, nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's too bad for him (and for Drake) that he's 22 year old with the body of a 55-60 year old (bad knees, feet, and shoulders). He can only practice a couple times a week and can only go 20-25 minutes in a game, but he doesn't ever back down.

I'm thinking it's the Dane RDR is referring to. He did get away with a lot. The tip-in the TV crew was so happy about came after he shoved Buss under the basket to get space (first half), he later went through Rank and knocked a rebound loose that Drake picked up in a corner and then shoved Rank out of the way and got an And-1 at the other end immediately after, but the big one came on Deon's missed lay-up that would have tied it when he literally threw Tuttle to the floor.

There have been some weirdly called games this year for all the talk of cleaning up the game. Post play has been allowed to be ridiculously physical. You can see it on Tuttle's face.

[DUBulldog]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

Foxsports is replaying the game right now.....I'll look for the situations you described, Ricky.

I do have to LOL at your description of Seth Van Deest as a goon. He is one of the most easygoing, nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's too bad for him (and for Drake) that he's 22 year old with the body of a 55-60 year old (bad knees, feet, and shoulders). He can only practice a couple times a week and can only go 20-25 minutes in a game, but he doesn't ever back down.

I'm thinking it's the Dane RDR is referring to. He did get away with a lot. The tip-in the TV crew was so happy about came after he shoved Buss under the basket to get space (first half), he later went through Rank and knocked a rebound loose that Drake picked up in a corner and then shoved Rank out of the way and got an And-1 at the other end immediately after, but the big one came on Deon's missed lay-up that would have tied it when he literally threw Tuttle to the floor.

There have been some weirdly called games this year for all the talk of cleaning up the game. Post play has been allowed to be ridiculously physical. You can see it on Tuttle's face.

Yeah, what happened to Tuttle to give him that black eye?

Anytime you see a crew that includes Paul Janssen and Gerry Pollard, you know it's gonna be "interesting".

[DUBulldog]

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

Nope. Just saw that play. It was with 2.9 seconds left and Drake up 4. UNI missed a 3, Van Deest rebounded it and Tuttle fouled while trying to tie him up.

[lime]

What early expectations did Drake have??? I don't recall any pre-season.

Would you rather I had said pre-MVC expectations? I consider that to still be "early" in the season. I'm fairly certain that there were Drake fans declaring that Giacoletti had undone years of Mark Phelps "program-poison" in one weak non-conference go around. Clearly that wasn't completely true although I wouldn't disagree that things aren't better. The fact is that Drake had a strong start before a big dose of gravity brought them back to reality.

New coach, new system....early in the season, teams didn't have Drake scouted very well. Once conference season started, teams had Drake scouted much better. And, as the season went on, it became apparent that a weak non-conference schedule was even worse than it originally looked (i.e. several of Drake's non-con opponents fell far short of what was predicted for them....despite those predictions not being great to begin with).

I think most fans (including a lot of Drake fans) underestimated the effects of Gary Ricks' season ending foot injury. He was virtually a non-entity during MVC play last season, so MVC fans wouldn't know much about him. But, Ricks was averaging 12.5 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 45% from 3-point range with a 3.5:1 assist to turnover ratio. Plus, he was the "glue guy". With Ricks, Drake probably has 2-3 more wins in conference.

But, every team has injuries, and you just have to deal with it.

Agree on Ricks and the OOC schedule. Down low just isn't great. VanDeest is just so physically limited at this point, Enevold is too raw, and there isn't an ideal 4 on the roster.

Team seems to be turning a corner after really bottoming out in early February. Narrow losses at ISUb and MSU, now home wins over Loyola and UNI. Decent chance of winning 4 of 5 to end the year with a winning record.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

Foxsports is replaying the game right now.....I'll look for the situations you described, Ricky.

I do have to LOL at your description of Seth Van Deest as a goon. He is one of the most easygoing, nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's too bad for him (and for Drake) that he's 22 year old with the body of a 55-60 year old (bad knees, feet, and shoulders). He can only practice a couple times a week and can only go 20-25 minutes in a game, but he doesn't ever back down.

The guy I have in mind wears #11 or #1, I believe.

[glm38]

Van Deest is #45 I think so it probably wasn't him.

[DUBulldog]

I only watched the second half of the game.

I usually do not comment of officials, either for or against.

In the waning moments of the game, there were some mystery calls or non-calls that I failed to understand.

Less that 2 minutes to go, #1 for UNI drove and made a layup. He was bumped pretty heftily by the defender. No call.

Less that 1 minute, Tuttle got a rebound and he was called for foul. What a call.

With just a few minutes remaining, UNI missed a shot and Drake got the rebound. During the fray, the big goon for Drake, who looks like a mafia enforcer, literally pulled Tuttle to the floor. No call.

Before you Bulldogs go crazy, I am sure there were calls that unfairly favored UNI.

The guard for UNI, Pun something, did not do his team any favors by penetrating into a big crowd and putting up a dreamy, prayer shot.

Foxsports is replaying the game right now.....I'll look for the situations you described, Ricky.

I do have to LOL at your description of Seth Van Deest as a goon. He is one of the most easygoing, nicest guys you'd ever meet. It's too bad for him (and for Drake) that he's 22 year old with the body of a 55-60 year old (bad knees, feet, and shoulders). He can only practice a couple times a week and can only go 20-25 minutes in a game, but he doesn't ever back down.

The guy I have in mind wears #11 or #1, I believe.

OK....you're talking about Enevold....he's the kind of guy you love when he's on your team, and hate when he's an opponent. He's very raw, but he's big and has a great motor. At the beginning of the season, he was fouling about once every 2-3 minutes....he's much more under control now. I think when he adjusts to the American game, he'll be a decent player....and fans of every other MVC team will hate him because of the emotion he shows.

I can't tell you how much I enjoy having that kind of guy on Drake's team.

FWIW, he's also an extremely nice kid (off the court).