MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[westie]

1) Very entertaining game...couldn't have asked for more except for a GAC win.

2) The officiating was horrible at best.  If those were the best 3 officials the MIAC has George has some serious work to do.  I really loved the call when UST passed it in the backcourt and it deflected off of a Gusties player's head and went out of bounds and they gave the ball to GAC.

3)I loathe Archer.  He makes me want to puke.  I wonder how long it will be until he draws a technical for his constant flopping.

4)I feel bad for Wittwer.  The  player control/charging foul on him when the Gusties were up 5 was huge momentum shift.  It was horrible call on another UST flop.    A few minutes later he makes a great play to throw it off the UST defender on the inbounds play, goes up for a two handed dunk gets hacked and doesn't get a whistle. Coach Hanson was actually on he knees for a second yelling at the official.  Shortly after this he fouls out to end his career at GAC.

5) GAC still has a couple of chances in the last minute to but come up short.  Van Sickle takes a very tough long 2 attempt with 17 seconds to go.  I would have like to see him pull the trigger on the 3 instead of taking the tough 2.

6)Still love my Gusties and D3hoops.

[big_shocker]

Alright, I remember my next points:

1) UST was the biggest bunch of whiners I've seen in a long time. First, they flop on every play. I didn't know UST was known as a theater arts school. Also, they cried about every call, especially the obvious ones. Lonnie hammers a GACer down low, getting both wrists, then whines to the officials. Kane gets fouled on a three-pointer, an obvious call, and then two USTers whine to the officials, and then most of the assistant coaches.

2) Archer has got to be the most annoying guy in the conference. He cries on every call. He flops at the sight of possible contact. He was even talking to the scorestable about something (to which the officials just laughed). Plus, while Wittwer is on the bench in foul trouble, because of UST flopping, Archer takes time to taunt him on the GAC bench. Then, when Wittwer gets back in the game, Archer fails to do anything with him. He is a punk to the Nth degree. Plus, he isn't even their best player. Or second best. Or third best. Or, well, you get the idea.

3) What a great game, once again. GAC came to play this time in a big way, considering their best player was on the bench for the majority of the game. Great job MIAC officials- keeping the best player on GAC off the floor. You know that's exactly what kind of game everyone came to see.

4) It's too bad the game was so well-played, but the referees just had to help decide it at the end. I know these guys are just trying to do their best, but this was not the ideal crew to have on the floor.

[BBTommie]

Funny how different the game looks from the other end of the court.  The supposed flop by Viau was a solid swinging elbow that caught him in the jaw.  Happened right in front of me and I was afraid he was seriously hurt.  The last call on Wittwer also was right in front of me and it wasn't a trip but he was a step late on a drive to his left and made solid contact on the Tommie going around him.  I couldn't see the three at the other end of the floor but there were a few calls on the Tommies that I thought were suspect.  Definately not a consistently officiated game, but there was so much intensity that it was either going to have to be a foul fest on both teams or just enough fouls to keep it under control, which I think is what they did.

Archer had one flop that was community theator caliber it was so obvious, but I didn't see any others.  One foul was called on him where it should have been a double foul because he got a solid elbow in response to a bump he gave going down the floor.  He does seem to get in the opponents heads a bit.  There were enough bodies on the floor all night from very rough play underneath, that I'm not sure how you'd pick out any flops mixed in.

Gustavus played so well that I thought when they got up by six late in the game they were going to pull it out.  Their  outside shooting was outstanding up until the last two minutes.  Think there was probably some tired legs at that point.  The Tommies outside shooting was the worst I have seen this year.  4-21 on 3 pointers, while Gustavous was 6-16.  Hard to believe they could survive that poor of outside shooting.

In the end they won because of the play of Al McCoy.  There was a lot of discussion on this board the last couple of weeks in terms of who is the MIAC MVP.  Without Al McCoy the Tommies do not win the regular season and they do not win the tournament.  He is a momentum changer and an enforcer.  Tonight he had 17 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 19 minutes.  More importantly he had them when they were most needed.  Has been the way it's been all year.

Tough luck for the Gusties.  Tremendous fan support that almost made it a neutral court.  Hope they get a post-season berth.  They deserve it.

[Willy Wonka]

An embarrassing display of reffing and flopping that ruined what could have been a classic.

It makes me extremely sad to think Archer is smiling right now, Jeff Coomes is cashing a check for his "work" and — barring a miracle — Wittwer's career come to a close because of both of those clowns.

Who yells at the scorer's table (three times) and goes 70 feet out of his way to call out a player on the bench? Classy.

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

I agree the oficiating was HORRIBLE. Even worse than the cheesy call on Witter's 5th foul (lame lame call) was that on each team's next possession a defender essentially mugged the ball handler with no call! Utterly inconsistent as well as just plain poor calls.

I think the whining was about even, but as bad as the refing was, I dont balme any of the players or coaches for bellyaching. Plus it often seemed to influence calls (both ways). For as incredible as the players played, it was disgusting to see it mucked up by three goofs who must have gotten their striped shirts working at Lady Foot Locker. The minute I saw Coomes and Spanier out there, I cringed.

It was an awesome setting for a championship game-- excellent crowd (announced at 1700 but capacity is listed as 2250-- I highly doubt you could have squeezed 550 more people in. I'd estimate it at 2100, not 1700). You could see the players on both teams fed off the energy of the crowd.

UST was only 4 for 21 from 3-pt range...woeful shooting, which makes Scott's 3 with 115 even huger.  When Sivesind had the big steal with 41 ticks left, I was sure the pendulum was going the other way-- but it UST was able to hold on for the win.

McCoy and Eicher (#40) were amazing. Each was 6 for 7 from the field. McCoy ends with 17, Eicher with 13, Scott with 18. UST had only 3 turnovers in the 2nd half.

I hope GAC gets a Pool C and there is a rematch in the Elite 8 (at the Shoe)...but I' probably asking too much of the hoops gods with that.

[Drake Palmer]

Nice recaps Shocker & Westie. 

Great atmosphere & crowd for a league championship game ballgame tonight between the Gusties & Tommies.  The ballgame matched the electricity in the air as both teams were bringing it from the jump. This game was definitely not for the faint-hearted as there seemed to be a 100 lead changes & momentum shifts.  It really was one of those games when unfortunately you knew one team would have to lose.  Props to the Gusties & all the GAC seniors - Wittwer, Sievesind, Kaus & Doble.  Kane Sivesind was money & came up with clutch shot after clutch shot.

Officiating – yeah it was pretty, pretty choppy.

Out of respect for the Gusties, I'll sit on any possible gloating for a day.

[kel_varnsen]

First of all, great effort by the Gusties. I'll save my sentimental ramblings, just in case they grab a Pool C bid.

The criticism of the officials tonight points to what I see as a growing problem in basketball more generally. We're asking referees to do the impossible. They have to compromise between traditional "non-contact" basketball and the modern physical style of play. Think about this. Imagine watching a basketball game with someone who has never seen the sport before. He's going to ask, "What's a foul?" Could you explain it to him? I know I couldn't. That's the entire problem, and the powers-that-be in basketball need to consider this carefully.

I don't want to say anymore along these lines, as it is the postseason, and we ought to have better things to talk about.

[Rugman]

The criticism of the officials tonight points to what I see as a growing problem in basketball more generally. We're asking referees to do the impossible. They have to compromise between traditional "non-contact" basketball and the modern physical style of play. Think about this. Imagine watching a basketball game with someone who has never seen the sport before. He's going to ask, "What's a foul?" Could you explain it to him? I know I couldn't. That's the entire problem, and the powers-that-be in basketball need to consider this carefully.

I totally agree KV.  It has been happening at all levels and it results in selective viewing by the fans.  Even worse is the end of games.  I'm not sure why anyone would try to win at the buzzer by going inside.  You're just going to get hammered and no foul will be called.

Some games are just "controlled mayhem".  It also seems that at all levels it gets moe haphazard the deeper you get into the playoffs.  In theory you should be getting the better officials the further you get, so maybe that is what makes a good BB official; having the ability to let the game flow, allow a lot of contact and not call anything that is going to unfairly tilt in either teams favor?

[dobleismyhero]

I am a senior at GAC, and have been a die-hard gustie fan since my first game.  I sat in front of a few past gustie players tonight and I heard them talking about the refs before the game began, so I knew we were in for a long night.  I'm not gonna say they were only bad towards GAC, the two in question made horrible calls all night against both teams.  There were just a few situations that were appalling no calls:
Wittwer dunk attempt when he obviously was hacked and when Schmidtknecht was sandwiched between two tommies to force a turnover with under 2 min. left.  All I'm asking is that the refs don't decide the outcome of the game, and they did that by forcing wittwer to sit down.

My one memory of the night that i will cherish for a long time, i think paulson partially blocked a shot about midway through the 2nd, and the ball went up against the backboard.  Wittwer leaped up and grabbed the ball off the glass when it was about halfway up the backboard.  he literally jumped out of the gym to grab that ball.
It was even better than espenson's dunk in the closing minutes of the first round game in 2005.

[big_shocker]

I think perhaps the main problem with calling fouls in today's game is that there are two games on the floor- ones on the inside and ones on the outside. No official is going to call a hack on the perimeter the same as on a putback. Where is the boundary? WHo knows? There is so much contact inside, and so much less contact to make a foul on the outside, it is tough. I will give officials that.

However, tonight's game was just SO inconsistent, it's tough to feel sorry for them.

It's just like Coach Hanson did after Wittwer got his forth foul: he just shrugged as Wittwer came out. You can't do anything about it, even if nothing is going your way. You have to give it up to GAC to give everything they had without their star player tonight.

[big_shocker]

Oh, and I agree about the attendance. It was packed where I was sitting. I just wish someone would have cleared all the UST fans out of the aisle. I had a UST guy standing in the aisle next to me, and he was a little too close for comfort. I had to ask my cohorts to make sure the kid wasn't trying to take my wallet:) We were packed way too tight down there to make me think there was any room left in the place.

[AO]

Looks like there might have been too many upsets in d3 hoops for the Gusties to get in with a pool c, but perhaps they have one last miracle in them.  Hardly seems right that Buena Vista who was beaten by 12 by Gustavus in Storm Lake would get a pool c, and the Gusties would be left out.

[Willy Wonka]

I'd encourage any who only saw the aftermath of Archer's shenanigans to request a copy of the game tape before saying they were the correct calls. Wonka had the "pleasure" of watching them unfold right before his eyes and this is what they reminded me of. It's just too bad basketball refs can't issue a red card for such things, though that'd probably open up a whole new can of worms with the Bakkos and Coombes we have in this league.

I heard a rumor that Archer put on a similarly disgusting display of diving in the Bethel game against Madson, except he was quickly yanked, scolded by Fritz and did not re-enter the game the rest of the way. The guy is a complete clown, which is sad because he's has the talent to be a solid player in this league.

Coombe's Track Record With GAC This Season
• Blatantly ignored, then T'd up Hanson on 2/9 against St. Thomas (first T in years)
• Main player in 3 offensive fouls being called against Witter in the same game
• T'd up Paulson on 2/23 against Carleton — a game in which the Gusties outfouled the Carlies by a 2 to 1 margin
• Called all 5 fouls against Wittwer in the MIAC title game, including 4 on the offensive end

For those keeping track at home, here's the season breakdown for GAC:
In games Coombe didn't work: 19-5, 1 technical
In games Coombe worked: 0-3, 2 technicals

Given the reaction myself and a few other former players had when we saw him, this doesn't seem to be a new phenomenon. With that in mind, at what point can the GAC AD demand that he never be assigned to another Gustie game? It sure seems like something Molde should begin investigating immediately.

Drake - Your statement about my hating everything purple did not go unnoticed, though it's completely untrue. I have the utmost respect for *every* player I played against in that program from 2000-2004 — especially Buri, whom I consider the best player I ever played against. Let's just say that respect is sorely lacking for many on the current Tommie team — with Robinson and McCoy being the most notable exceptions.

AO - GAC lost at home to Luther, Mac and Augsburg. It dug its own grave if the bid isn't in the works. Hard to make a great case for yourself now when those skeletons are lurking in the closet.

[BBTommie]

Coombe's Track Record With GAC This Season
• Blatantly ignored, then T'd up Hanson on 2/9 against St. Thomas (first T in years)
• Main player in 3 offensive fouls being called against Witter in the same game
• T'd up Paulson on 2/23 against Carleton — a game in which the Gusties outfouled the Carlies by a 2 to 1 margin
• Called all 5 fouls against Wittwer in the MIAC title game, including 4 on the offensive end.

For those keeping track at home, here's the season breakdown for GAC
In games Coombe didn't work:[/b] 19-5, 1 technical
In games Coombe worked:[/b] 0-3, 2 technicals

Let's not ignore Statistics 101 here (sample size), but the bigger question is why would an MIAC official want to intentionally cause Gustavous to lose?  Or why would he be so biased as to distort what he thinks he is seeing?  The problem with these kinds of claims is that I never hear an explanation of why.

[big_shocker]

To reference an earlier point I made, I suggested that last night's game was like Celtics/ Lakers. Great matchup, classic rivalry. Now imagine that Larry Bird only played half of the game due to ticky-tack fouls. As a Celtics fan, you would be pretty angry. All I'm saying is that thanks to these questionable calls, GAC lost the chance to have a full roster.

I think what WW is mad about is how could that one guy be responsible for reffing the title game. It just seemed like he was operating on a completely different wavelength than other officials.

MAybe there was some contact on the elbow late in the game, but the UST player nearly did a complete backflip on the ensuing flop. It was such a sad play that the UST guy flopped that much and that the official fell for it.

Also, to touch on WW's point, Fritz was getting angry at ARcher all game, and Teddy was not in at the end, when it mattered, once again. Just seems to me like you'd focus on winning the game instead of pulling your antics in the MIAC championship. I mean, Zach Johnson does not have many fans on this board because of some of his antics, yet I didn't hear many negative antics from him during the playoffs.