WSU vs. Houston in the AAC Tournament Game Thread

[IndianaShocker]

2, 4, 3, 5, 1, 4, 5, 1, 1

3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2

That's everyone who appeared in the game's # of fouls except for Gray who had 0 in 37 minutes.

I knows others have made mention before, but clearly HCKS has stolen a page from the Slick Rick playbook...foul, foul, foul knowing officials don't have the fortitude to call them all.

I think it's a very interesting strategy, especially when you have the interchangeable parts that Houston has.

[another shocker]

Tough loss but next weekend is what people will remember.

ouch.. that's gonna' hurt.

so many airballs today. how embarrassing to see that on cbs. the country is still waiting/looking forward to wsu to errupt.. but wsu won't oblige.

[WuDrWu]

Does anyone think there's a snowman's chance in hell that were the roles reversed, and Austin challenged Gray and knocked the ball free, that Austin wouldn't have been whistled for the foul?

Hell of a time for TV Teddy and his crew to pass. Remember the loose ball after Landry's missed FT? Much less contact on a FREE ball. Be consistent. That's all we ask.

Replay on ESPN in the box score page....not only a foul but a HUGE advantageous carrying/palming of the ball after the foul. SMH

[WSUwatcher]

I commented on the Gray-Reaves collision earlier, Doc, and I believe you're exactly right about how things would have gone had the roles been reversed. I also thought it was amusing that Sampson was quoted after the game as saying that on the deep in-bounds pass Gray turned into Ronnie Lott, because that's exactly what happened: he bodied Reaves out of the way to pick off the pass. It was a football play, and probably one that would have been called interference (well, except against the Patriots) -- which in this context means a call against the inexplicably foul-free Man with the Bun.

The TV announcers were bogus as well, calling it a good no-call, to which I respond (for the benefit of the PG-rated crowd), "BS!" Absolute, total BS. If knocking someone out of the way is okay because both players were "going for the ball," as one of the TV bozos said, there should also be no such thing as a foul for going over the back of a guy on a rebound play, because you're just "going for the ball." Yet somehow the refs usually don't swallow their whistles on that one.

This would have been an interesting game for the sort of retrospective officiating review of the final moments that the NBA did for a while (and may still do; I don't know); the Gray-Reaves play and sequence would NOT show well.

Having said all that, obviously, the Shocks were not totally innocent bystanders. Shamet could have made the foul shot to put them up three, and he didn't; he should have called time out instead of lobbing it to Reaves, and he didn't. And Reaves's final in-bounds pass intnded for Frankamp was a poor effort at best. So the Shocks cooperated in their own demise, and that's after having wasted numerous opportunities earlier in the game. But just because you mess up doesn't mean you should also get the short end of the stick from the zebras. And in this case, it took both of those misadventures to beat them.

[wsubball96]

When was the last game the entire team showed up? The fact that we are even in these games before we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory gives hope but its never more than 3 players at most that perform like you expect anymore.

[FadedCrown]

Home game versus Houston

[another shocker]

considering that the shockers returned six seniors.. hugely disappointing.

shocker nation showed up, though! just like they did before marshall and after marshall.

[mjbaker84]

78% free throw percentage for the game... needs to be better. I harp on it every game as its the easiest issue to correct.

Houston will have a different look next year, they also have 4 seniors leaving (including Rob Gray.

Cincinnati will lose Gary Clark as well.

Lots of good players will be done in the American after this year ( 6 shocker seniors and Landry leaving for the NBA) etc

[shock-it-to-me]

What are you talking about? 78% would be a top 10 percentage in the country.

[Stickboy46]

I wanna see the pass interference no-call again, and man-bun's dribble after

Here

https://j.gifs.com/nrXJRp.gif Gif of it

[ShockerPrez]

ouch.. that's gonna' hurt.

so many airballs today. how embarrassing to see that on cbs. the country is still waiting/looking forward to wsu to errupt.. but wsu won't oblige.

Yes, it does, but Blackmag is correct. 2013, blah regular season, but final 4. 2014, undefeated, perfect season, disappointing defeat to UK. 2015, don't remember, but beat KU, YES!! And Wessel never misses 3s, ever.

My biggest issue isn't that we are losing these games, it's that we are losing because we are not playing our best basketball. And maybe we are.... maybe we are and those teams beating us are just better. But that's gonna be a problem for me to accept, because I and probably a lot of us who watch every game, know that every guy out there on our team has great ability and talent. And if he just did what he did that one time I saw him, it would be awesome.

And in every game we play, there is a path to victory, regardless of who we play. We can beat any team, if we find that path. And sometimes there are many paths that will get us to victory and they are easier to recognize and navigate. And games like today, those paths require us to overcome obstacles or find other alternatives, and we just aren't doing it.

But I still have hope that we get to find that path a couple more times and we bring all our tools to the expedition.

[shoxrnum1]

Austin needs to stay off the court in late game situations. Anyone remember the Notre Dame game?

He’s too weak and too slow to play at this level. He would have been fine in the valley but any games against good competition, these flaws are quite visible.

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Sounds like the freshman in the game against Louisville in the Final Four. So glad we kept that kid on the bench. What was his name again? Whatever it was, after playing weak against Louisville he was never heard from again. He was too small anyway.

[ShockTalk]

Here

https://j.gifs.com/nrXJRp.gif Gif of it

Just flat unbelievable. AR going straight up, has both hands on the ball, man-bun jumping laterally (reason he didn't out jump AR and had no hand on the ball), knocking AR sideways a good 4-5 feet, man-bun striping AR's arm from the ball due to the body hit sideways.

[asiseeit]

spot on.......no question a foul. I yelled it at my TV the moment it happened

[ShockerDropOut]

I used some rather "colorful" language that I had not uttered in a very long time. I am not proud of it. I think my wife's ears are still burning.

[ShockerFever]

Austin needs to stay off the court in late game situations. Anyone remember the Notre Dame game?

He’s too weak and too slow to play at this level. He would have been fine in the valley but any games against good competition, these flaws are quite visible.

Awesome first post.

[ShockerFever]

Here

https://j.gifs.com/nrXJRp.gif Gif of it

The punk got babied the whole game like a little b****. If a non-babying officiating crew calls the game today and going forward, they're gonna get boatraced out of there.

[Shox The Revenant]

It's the hideous yellow jerseys with those stupid butt stripes that are losing us games.

[mattdalt]

More egregious, is the last play where gray "strips" Austin, forcing Austin to dive onthe ball and call timeout. I believe I saw it correctly, Gray got all arm.

[Stickboy46]

More egregious, is the last play where gray "strips" Austin, forcing Austin to dive onthe ball and call timeout. I believe I saw it correctly, Gray got all arm.

He did. The fact that Gray got zero fouls called on him all game says it all

[kochHead]

Gray got the star treatment, but there will always be an obstacle or two to overcome. Our end of game execution, and inability to put games away in general is a reoccurring theme, and can't be blamed on the refs. We clearly need a player who can physically take over and create his own shot at the end of the game, because our end of game sets and execution have been consistently ineffective. I am optimistic that our future personnel will be up to the task, but to think we will suddenly change our stripes next week may be naive.