MBB: Landmark Conference

[Matt Letourneau]

I'm not touching on an anti-CUA basis, I'm suggesting that one particular official today changed the way he was calling the game after he didn't like what a coach said to him.  Having watched this particular official for many years, I've always thought he had rabbit ears so it didn't surprise me.  I don't think it has anything whatsoever to do with CUA--could have been any coach, any team.    I thought the whole thing was an interesting sidebar but not the story of the game, nor did it affect the outcome.  Hey, plenty of people were at the game--that's just my opinion. 

I would speculate, before discussing it with the official, that what was said at the end of the half had nothing to do with calls that weren't made in the 1st half.  More likely , it wasn't his call/non-call previously and, in the 2nd half, it was, or, the officials discussed it during halftime  and agreed it should have been called,or he called it when the other official continued to omit it, even if he didn't have primary responsibility. I would hope, if I were the coach, that the head official would inform me so before the 2nd half begins. It makes for an uneven game, but the emphasis is on getting the call right.
Again, I'm speculating ahead of discussing it with him because he might not want it publicly on a msg board for a specific game.
 

Well there's no chance he's going to tell you that he got irritated at a coach and decided to prove a point. 

All I can tell you is that it was called twice on back to back posessions, and not again the rest of the game, even though I saw several obvious moving screens.   And it isn't like that was it.  Whatever, its not worth a big thing on here.  The only thing I'd really be interested in hearing from him is why he chose not to enforce any of the bench/sportsmanship rules.   

Matt,

Seems like you have it all figured out and it doesn't matter what Ronk relays to you. I am awaiting for a game where Catholic losses and you simply tip your cap to the other team, without bring up the refs.

And I'm waiting for a Scranton SEASON in which all the Scranton fans don't b--ch and moan about how great it used to be and trash their coach and program instead of appreciating what they've got.

Like the Stones said...you can't always get what you want.

[cugrad]

I don't think that the officiating at Catholic was all that bad.  However, I do think that the refs did miss some calls against a physical SU team.  Matt has a point about those back to back calls against Catholic's big man.  The bottom line is that Catholic did not match the intensity that SU brought in the second half.  The cards have lost three second half leads - getting beat handily in two of those losses.  They also lost an 11 point lead with four minutes left only to hang on against Desales.  SU has a lot of talent.  It surprises me that they have as many losses as they do.  However, they are obviously not undeatable.  I think that Catholic would do well to continue playing their fast pace style rather than running the clock on each possession.  The Cards really struggle with their half court offense.  Also, those four freshmen should spend more time on the court. 

[NEPAFAN]

I'm not touching on an anti-CUA basis, I'm suggesting that one particular official today changed the way he was calling the game after he didn't like what a coach said to him.  Having watched this particular official for many years, I've always thought he had rabbit ears so it didn't surprise me.  I don't think it has anything whatsoever to do with CUA--could have been any coach, any team.    I thought the whole thing was an interesting sidebar but not the story of the game, nor did it affect the outcome.  Hey, plenty of people were at the game--that's just my opinion. 

I would speculate, before discussing it with the official, that what was said at the end of the half had nothing to do with calls that weren't made in the 1st half.  More likely , it wasn't his call/non-call previously and, in the 2nd half, it was, or, the officials discussed it during halftime  and agreed it should have been called,or he called it when the other official continued to omit it, even if he didn't have primary responsibility. I would hope, if I were the coach, that the head official would inform me so before the 2nd half begins. It makes for an uneven game, but the emphasis is on getting the call right.
Again, I'm speculating ahead of discussing it with him because he might not want it publicly on a msg board for a specific game.
 

Well there's no chance he's going to tell you that he got irritated at a coach and decided to prove a point. 

All I can tell you is that it was called twice on back to back posessions, and not again the rest of the game, even though I saw several obvious moving screens.   And it isn't like that was it.  Whatever, its not worth a big thing on here.  The only thing I'd really be interested in hearing from him is why he chose not to enforce any of the bench/sportsmanship rules.   

Matt,

Seems like you have it all figured out and it doesn't matter what Ronk relays to you. I am awaiting for a game where Catholic losses and you simply tip your cap to the other team, without bring up the refs.

And I'm waiting for a Scranton SEASON in which all the Scranton fans don't b--ch and moan about how great it used to be and trash their coach and program instead of appreciating what they've got.

Like the Stones said...you can't always get what you want.

So you are going to dictate how Scranton fans should feel about their program? Don't see the correlation between wanting your program to succeed and b*tching about refs every.single.year. But feel free to carry on.

[saratoga]

Matt: just what exactly should we be appreciating...that they continue to fund a men's basketball program? Because that's about what it looks like these days...roll the balls out & let's see who looks like they've done this before.
Or maybe it's that two players account for 75% of their scoring? That the total body of work out of the point this weekend was 51 minutes played, ZERO assists, ZERO points & 7 turnovers?
Perhaps it isn't the ongoing lack of bringing in a true point prior to or since Randy Arnold. Maybe it's not the lack of a recruited post presence...ever. Please remember Elphick was Bess' recruit & Tom Bicknell fell in to place for reasons unrelated to basketball.
It's those darn refs. If they just called the games a little better & evened up the free throws we'd have won yesterday. Come to think of it, those Jersey refs kept Drew in the game on Friday as well. I saw at least 15 offensive fouls on Drew that were never called. We should have won by at least 15. And how about the John Carroll game...man did the refs give it to us in that one.
Let's not fool ourselves...most of the time the game at this level is dictated by the talent on the floor & the leadership at the top. Refs can & do screw up games but, more often than not it won't take a rocket scientist to review game film & determine where the breakdowns have been occuring.
Refs come & refs go...the only constant is the team you put on the floor each night. Have a team full of good players that play with passion & understanding of their roles & you'll overcome any ref having a bad game.
Next adventure...Juniata.

[Matt Letourneau]

I'm not touching on an anti-CUA basis, I'm suggesting that one particular official today changed the way he was calling the game after he didn't like what a coach said to him.  Having watched this particular official for many years, I've always thought he had rabbit ears so it didn't surprise me.  I don't think it has anything whatsoever to do with CUA--could have been any coach, any team.    I thought the whole thing was an interesting sidebar but not the story of the game, nor did it affect the outcome.  Hey, plenty of people were at the game--that's just my opinion.

I would speculate, before discussing it with the official, that what was said at the end of the half had nothing to do with calls that weren't made in the 1st half.  More likely , it wasn't his call/non-call previously and, in the 2nd half, it was, or, the officials discussed it during halftime  and agreed it should have been called,or he called it when the other official continued to omit it, even if he didn't have primary responsibility. I would hope, if I were the coach, that the head official would inform me so before the 2nd half begins. It makes for an uneven game, but the emphasis is on getting the call right.
Again, I'm speculating ahead of discussing it with him because he might not want it publicly on a msg board for a specific game.
 

Well there's no chance he's going to tell you that he got irritated at a coach and decided to prove a point.  

All I can tell you is that it was called twice on back to back posessions, and not again the rest of the game, even though I saw several obvious moving screens.   And it isn't like that was it.  Whatever, its not worth a big thing on here.  The only thing I'd really be interested in hearing from him is why he chose not to enforce any of the bench/sportsmanship rules.    

Matt,

Seems like you have it all figured out and it doesn't matter what Ronk relays to you. I am awaiting for a game where Catholic losses and you simply tip your cap to the other team, without bring up the refs.

And I'm waiting for a Scranton SEASON in which all the Scranton fans don't b--ch and moan about how great it used to be and trash their coach and program instead of appreciating what they've got.

Like the Stones said...you can't always get what you want.

So you are going to dictate how Scranton fans should feel about their program? Don't see the correlation between wanting your program to succeed and b*tching about refs every.single.year. But feel free to carry on.

Things that are tiresome to everybody else but never seem to stop.

And in that category for me, mis-reading and misrepresenting what people write in order to rail on about it.  Its much more fun for NEPA to pretend that I wasn't complimentary about Susquehanna, that I didn't talk about how Spenser took over the game, that I didn't say that the episode with the official was "an interesting sidebar" that didn't determine the outcome of the game...but of course I did say all those things.  It just wouldn't be as much to acknowledge that because then he'd have less to complain about.

As far as Scranton--look, you all can think whatever you want about your program.  From my standpoint, winning your league two consecutive years is nothing to sneeze at--I'd be proud of that.  Frankly, Catholic's recent history is considerably more impressive than even Scranton's, so I understand the high expectations.  And there are different ways of measuring success--maybe in my old age (ha) I've started taking a longer view...is my program graduating most of its players?  Do they represent themselves and the University well?  Are they competitive?  Is the effort there? If the answer to those questions is yes, then I can accept that.  Of course I want to win as much as humanly possible, but there's no way I'm going to turn on them unless those other things start to not be true.  In this environment, its very hard to reach those "elite" levels and after a while...well, we all get the point.  The Scranton people aren't happy.  

Feel free to keep b*tching about how Scranton is falling short...every.single.year.  (More like every single loss).  But yeah, I will feel free to carry on about officiating.  As long as I'm being fair about it and giving it proper context--ie, its been a LONG time since I've EVER claimed that officiating cost Catholic a game, and it sure as hell didn't this weekend--then I'll continue to point out bad/unusual/remarkable officiating.

[NEPAFAN]

I'm not touching on an anti-CUA basis, I'm suggesting that one particular official today changed the way he was calling the game after he didn't like what a coach said to him.  Having watched this particular official for many years, I've always thought he had rabbit ears so it didn't surprise me.  I don't think it has anything whatsoever to do with CUA--could have been any coach, any team.    I thought the whole thing was an interesting sidebar but not the story of the game, nor did it affect the outcome.  Hey, plenty of people were at the game--that's just my opinion.

I would speculate, before discussing it with the official, that what was said at the end of the half had nothing to do with calls that weren't made in the 1st half.  More likely , it wasn't his call/non-call previously and, in the 2nd half, it was, or, the officials discussed it during halftime  and agreed it should have been called,or he called it when the other official continued to omit it, even if he didn't have primary responsibility. I would hope, if I were the coach, that the head official would inform me so before the 2nd half begins. It makes for an uneven game, but the emphasis is on getting the call right.
Again, I'm speculating ahead of discussing it with him because he might not want it publicly on a msg board for a specific game.
 

Well there's no chance he's going to tell you that he got irritated at a coach and decided to prove a point.  

All I can tell you is that it was called twice on back to back posessions, and not again the rest of the game, even though I saw several obvious moving screens.   And it isn't like that was it.  Whatever, its not worth a big thing on here.  The only thing I'd really be interested in hearing from him is why he chose not to enforce any of the bench/sportsmanship rules.    

Matt,

Seems like you have it all figured out and it doesn't matter what Ronk relays to you. I am awaiting for a game where Catholic losses and you simply tip your cap to the other team, without bring up the refs.

And I'm waiting for a Scranton SEASON in which all the Scranton fans don't b--ch and moan about how great it used to be and trash their coach and program instead of appreciating what they've got.

Like the Stones said...you can't always get what you want.

So you are going to dictate how Scranton fans should feel about their program? Don't see the correlation between wanting your program to succeed and b*tching about refs every.single.year. But feel free to carry on.

Things that are tiresome to everybody else but never seem to stop.

And in that category for me, mis-reading and misrepresenting what people write in order to rail on about it.  Its much more fun for NEPA to pretend that I wasn't complimentary about Susquehanna, that I didn't talk about how Spenser took over the game, that I didn't say that the episode with the official was "an interesting sidebar" that didn't determine the outcome of the game...but of course I did say all those things.  It just wouldn't be as much to acknowledge that because then he'd have less to complain about.

As far as Scranton--look, you all can think whatever you want about your program.  From my standpoint, winning your league two consecutive years is nothing to sneeze at--I'd be proud of that.  Frankly, Catholic's recent history is considerably more impressive than even Scranton's, so I understand the high expectations.  And there are different ways of measuring success--maybe in my old age (ha) I've started taking a longer view...is my program graduating most of its players?  Do they represent themselves and the University well?  Are they competitive?  Is the effort there? If the answer to those questions is yes, then I can accept that.  Of course I want to win as much as humanly possible, but there's no way I'm going to turn on them unless those other things start to not be true.  In this environment, its very hard to reach those "elite" levels and after a while...well, we all get the point.  The Scranton people aren't happy.  

Feel free to keep b*tching about how Scranton is falling short...every.single.year.  (More like every single loss).  But yeah, I will feel free to carry on about officiating.  As long as I'm being fair about it and giving it proper context--ie, its been a LONG time since I've EVER claimed that officiating cost Catholic a game, and it sure as hell didn't this weekend--then I'll continue to point out bad/unusual/remarkable officiating.

Frankly, I could care less what standards you have for Catholic. Your constant chirping and cheerleading for Banzhaf make me think your standards are more in line with the Scranton fans then you think. I am not going to get into an internet war with you, but I would rather hold my team to higher standards then continually b*tch about refs.

[cold_case]

You haven't been around here long enough.  10 years ago, midnight posts from me were the norm!  So were long posts and heated arguments.

1 wife, 2 kids, and 4 jobs later....things change.

Like what?

[Matt Letourneau]

You haven't been around here long enough.  10 years ago, midnight posts from me were the norm!  So were long posts and heated arguments.

1 wife, 2 kids, and 4 jobs later....things change.

Like what?

Like the fact that this is the first time I've said anything about officiating in 11 months.  Which apparently constitutes "constant chirping."

[cold_case]

Like the fact that this is the first time I've said anything about officiating in 11 months.  Which apparently constitutes "constant chirping."

But you made up for it during the short time you've been back. Hence, you lied to all of us so how can anyone trust your opinion(s)?

[Matt Letourneau]

Like the fact that this is the first time I've said anything about officiating in 11 months.  Which apparently constitutes "constant chirping."

But you made up for it during the short time you've been back. Hence, you lied to all of us so how can anyone trust your opinion(s)?

Umm...maybe you're taking this a tad bit too seriously? 

[Matt Letourneau]

Like the fact that this is the first time I've said anything about officiating in 11 months.  Which apparently constitutes "constant chirping."

But you made up for it during the short time you've been back. Hence, you lied to all of us so how can anyone trust your opinion(s)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM&feature=related

[saratoga]

Looks like the karma gremlins have been out early tonight. Hmmmmm let me guess! 

[Matt Letourneau]

Hey, it ain't me...I'm dropping karma like an NBC late night host.

[saratoga]

Newman!

[mailsy]

Newman!

No he's over in the CSAC!