So what's the great equalizer in this league?

[shoxlax]

Why are teams that get blown out by non BCS teams and losing to Division II schools competitive in the league race while teams that have beaten UNLV, Vandy, and Old Dominion comparatively struggling? Is it:

a. The way the refs call the game in that no one with a dominant athletic advantage is allowed to use it because of all of the flopping, grabbing and holding allowed;

b. The idea that teams seem to adjust their style of play to match up with their opponent instead of saying here's what we do best and try and stop it;

c. All the bad teams seem to gel at the right time coincidentally;

d. Teams know each other so well from playing two to three times per year (with several new coaches in the league I am not buying this one).

e. All of the above.


What say you?

[ShockerFever]

I'll go with a little bit of c. and a whole lot of a.

[RoyalShock]

Defense and shooting are great equalizers. When both come together even a poorly coached team - cough-SIU-cough - can beat a team that is better coached and more talented.

I would also add choice d, with an explanation BU (new coach) got blown out by WSU and lost to SIU. Ford isn't familiar with the league. On the flip-side, you have Lusk taking MSU into CU where McDermott isn't familiar with Lusk's style. So it can work both ways with new coaches. Clearly, the one with more talent (Lusk) is surprising people. (Incidentally, the Bears were without their starting center and two other regulars were playing sick in their home loss to the Redbirds).

[kcshocker11]

I think the Valley is a very physical league and in non con if the refs dont like a physical brand of B-Ball then the Valley teams seem to have trouble adjusting.

[AJShock]

E

[proshox]

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/state_of_the_game_2011/

read the entire post using the link above or just the section below to justify answer A. SIU forced everyone to up the ante of physical play during their run of dominating the Valley. Now all teams go into every game looking for a war and the refs have to adjust . This ends up with what I would consider to be typical fouls left uncalled (check out how many times Stutz and TM got mugged last night without a call)...

2. Clean up rough play.
This idea comes up all the time from coaches and commentators. Through the miracle of YouTube you can easily confirm there is more contact in the game today than there was ten years. And there was more contact ten years ago than there was 20 years ago, etc. However, very few people really want to clean up the contact. You need only look at the reaction when a lot of fouls are called in a game. (Most recent example: Kentucky/Louisville on Saturday.)
Nobody likes those kinds of game. Refs don’t even like those games. That’s why the average number of fouls called in a game has remained nearly constant since 1953. The players define the acceptable amount of contact and, in most games, officials work around that. Everyone involved in the game has become conditioned to that. Which is why when a game has 51 fouls called, people get upset. If you truly want contact cleaned up, you’ll have to sit through a bunch of games like Kentucky/Louisville before the players adjust and I don’t think anybody has the stomach for that.

[Kung Wu]

http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/state_of_the_game_2011/

read the entire post using the link above or just the section below to justify answer A. SIU forced everyone to up the ante of physical play during their run of dominating the Valley. Now all teams go into every game looking for a war and the refs have to adjust . This ends up with what I would consider to be typical fouls left uncalled (check out how many times Stutz and TM got mugged last night without a call)...

2. Clean up rough play.
This idea comes up all the time from coaches and commentators. Through the miracle of YouTube you can easily confirm there is more contact in the game today than there was ten years. And there was more contact ten years ago than there was 20 years ago, etc. However, very few people really want to clean up the contact. You need only look at the reaction when a lot of fouls are called in a game. (Most recent example: Kentucky/Louisville on Saturday.)
Nobody likes those kinds of game. Refs don’t even like those games. That’s why the average number of fouls called in a game has remained nearly constant since 1953. The players define the acceptable amount of contact and, in most games, officials work around that. Everyone involved in the game has become conditioned to that. Which is why when a game has 51 fouls called, people get upset. If you truly want contact cleaned up, you’ll have to sit through a bunch of games like Kentucky/Louisville before the players adjust and I don’t think anybody has the stomach for that.

If they really wanted to control it, why don't they call a ton of fouls very early? That sets a precedence and gets lots of guys in foul trouble who are somewhat forced to stay clean from then on. Would annoy the carp[sic] out of fans, but that's one way to clean it up.

[proshox]

They could call a hundred fouls, but the coaches and fans would puke. The MVC allowed SIU to set the bar and this is the result... I could see it coming back then.

[pinstripers]

If they always called fouls to begin the game, the fouls would clean up. No doubt. They ALWAYS call guys for stepping out of bounds, and so guys simply do not do it.

[kochHead]

It's hard to say the officials call Valley games differently than others, as an official do you think to yourself "I am going into an MVC arena, I think I will let 'em grab, push, and hand check more."

[shock]

But refs do think, I am going into a MVC arena, this league is very physical, I need to let them play.

[DoubleJayAlum]

If you think the MVC is physical, watch a Big East game.

I can live with physical play among the big guys. Stop rewarding all the floppers who completely disarm the superior team's advantage by getting the bigger, better player into foul trouble, even though that player hasn't really fouled anyone. Centers and PFs in the Big East and other BCS conferences do not get slapped with the same number of ticky-tack fouls as centers and PFs in the MVC do. Floppers are also rewarded less often in BCs conferences.

Ultimately, I think 3 point shooting is probably the greatest equalizer though. A solid 3 point shooting club can knock off a more talented team when they get hot from behind the arc.

[proshox]

It's hard to say the officials call Valley games differently than others, as an official do you think to yourself "I am going into an MVC arena, I think I will let 'em grab, push, and hand check more."

The exact point is that officials do call the game differently based on how the teams play; therefore, if two teams play physical in your shirt defense they are not going to call ticky tack fouls. Every player would foul out for SIU and Evansville if refs called their games exactly the same as they do when to zone based teams played.

[SubGod22]

And different conferences will stress different aspects for their officials to watch and call.

Even at the HS level, a game in the City or AVCTL isn't going to be called the same as a game in the SCBL or even the CPL. Those are based more off of talent and ability with some parts just based on the commissioner and his schools. Same for NCAA. The MVC may stress that they want the game called a certain way and that may differ in some aspects from the B10 or BE or whoever.

[wusphlash]

A and D.

Regarding A. One of the criteria for a foul is advantage gained. When two players of the same physical ability bang on each other hard, there may be no real advantage gained. When the athletically inferior player uses tactics such as holding, pushing, etc. to keep up with the physically superior player, that is an advantage gained and should be called. SIU, in their heyday, was athletically equal or superior to the other MVC teams and thus any advantage gained by the grabbing was probably discounted by the officials. I don't necessarily equate what they did, aggravating as it was, to the team with minimal athleticism using the same tactics. Officials may argue that these kind of judgment calls would be beyond them . But come on, some of it is just so obvious.