Summing up last night's game.

[shockball]

That is a great picture tw.

There was also a no call late in the first half for a Pitt player dragging his pivot foot. We made the defensive stop but they kept the ball. They hit a three about 10 seconds later in the possession.

From across the court you could see Gregg's face turn Crimson. It happened right in front of him and the official. It was just like giving a baseball team four outs in an inning.

[tw805]

There shouldn't be any mistake here. I am in no way blaming the loss on officiating. The play was really sloppy and the unforced errors were unnerving. This game was going to be a loss even if we got all the calls.

That said, my real beef is with how many blatantly obvious problematic calls there were. As someone noted, the referee in the picture has a textbook vantage point on this play. Up to that point, he did his job perfectly. So how/why do you blow the whistle? I expect there to be some questionable calls at game speed. Referees are human. But there were too many completely phantom calls/no-calls last night to be ignored.

The NCAA and its conferences are a joke. We've been over that before. These kids bring in millions of dollars to their respective schools and conferences and it costs them essentially nothing in return. The least we could do is pay for some decent freaking officials, not part-time high school principals who do this twice a week.

[MTXE]

On a different note, this picture illustrates the level of athlete GM has brought into the program. Check out the air under Murry and the length of his reach.

It's a whole new level of player now vs just a couple of years ago. 8)

I remember a certain Big East team that came into Koch Arena not too long ago loaded with big athletes that quickly left with a big, fat "L". Big athletes are great if not essential, but so is intelligence and solid coaching.

Marshall was able to dominate Big South teams because of a disparity in athletic talent relative to his competition. Nobody questions the fact that Gregg was a star recruiter in the Big South or hasn't brought in what seems to be great recruits to WSU. What people have questioned is some of the "stuff" we see on the court. Call it X's and O's, call it mental preparation, call it lack of intelligence, whatever..

Hopefully for WSU's sake, all those long arms and springy legs translate into a pile of wins in the MVC and hopefully the NCAA's. If not, perhaps the program is just one solid assistant coach away from a team that can win BIG! Usually the head coach is the X's and O's guy and the assistant is the super-recruiter, but nothing is set in stone.

[Maggie]

I actually agree with MTXE to a certain extent – he or she makes some valid observations.

Notwithstanding, it is far too early to pass judgment on CGM’s coaching abilities (and I am not asserting MTXE is doing this). This is still a young team and while CGM has brought in a different caliber of athlete – those individuals would not be considered “BCS level” athletes out of H.S. They are all “projects” to one degree or another. By definition most of them will take longer to adapt to college basketball.

The jury is still out and on the positive side – I have seen improvement in several players under CGM.

[rZ]

What people have questioned is some of the "stuff" we see on the court. Call it X's and O's, call it mental preparation, call it lack of intelligence, whatever..

I have never heard any intelligent basketball fan, WSU fan or otherwise, question HCGMs ability to coach.

[KC Shox]

ONE THING IS FOR SURE. THE NEW BLACK UNI'S ARE FREAKIN AWESOME. PLEASE WEAR BLACK AT HOME.

[Anthroshock]

ONE THING IS FOR SURE. THE NEW BLACK UNI'S ARE FREAKIN AWESOME. PLEASE WEAR BLACK AT HOME.

I liked the Unis. Nike Jumpman. Shorts are a little too "flowy". Wonder if the side panels on the home version will be black or yellow?

[pogo]

On a different note, this picture illustrates the level of athlete GM has brought into the program. Check out the air under Murry and the length of his reach.

It's a whole new level of player now vs just a couple of years ago. 8)

HCGM brings in athletes but FHCMT got teams to play team baskeball. Gregg needs to work on his communication of the x's and o's to his players. Hatch didn't get screens to give him open three point attempts, for example.

I don't know if having screens would have helped Hatch last night. The shots he took were open and he couldn't throw it in the ocean last night. I love him to death but he has had nights when it was famine. Last night was one of them. The single biggest reason we lost was the quickness of their guards. Not only foot speed but their hands were quick to deflect passes, granted quite a few seemed less than crisp. I don't think CH would have been a great deal of help on the D side but he could have made an impact on the other end.

[Aargh]

Film of Murry's block needs to go to the MVC offices and be mandatory viewing for any referee before officiating WSU games.

The moment the ref saw Murry going up, he blew the whistle because he had never seen anyone able to do what Murry did. It had always been a foul, because no human (outside the NBA) is supposed to be able to block that shot without fouling.

Once officials get word of some of WSU's athleticism, calls like this will stop. If it's been a foul 100 times out of 100 times an official has seen it, the first time it's not actually a foul, it's still going to get called.

[rjl]

The ref actually blew his whistle before any contact was made. He was anticpating a foul on that one.

The television angle during live action on that play was from Toure's back, so it looked as if it plausibly could have been a foul.

Even before a replay from a different angle showed that it was, indeed, all ball, I was amazed by the athletic ability that blocked a shot which, 3 - 4 years ago, wouldn't have even been contested by a WSU team, foul or no foul.

To see that it was a blown call and should have been a clean block just added to the amazement.

We got jobbed on that play and a few others. JT picking up 2 fouls with plenty of time to spare in the first half hurt us, too. I never saw an angle of the charge he attempted to take to determine if the defensive foul he was given was a good call or not. It also appeared as if we became scared to defend a drive to the basket for fear of a whistle. Things like that can add up.

That all said, the officials didn't determine the game.

[pogo]

They actually showed the replay on the score board. It was more clear in the replay that there had been no foul. Talk about incurring the additional wrath of the Shox in attendance.

[rjl]

They actually showed the replay on the score board. It was more clear in the replay that there had been no foul. Talk about incurring the additional wrath of the Shox in attendance.

You could hear the waterfall of "boos" cascading down onto the court.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

yeah when I watched it in real time I thought he hit him with the body. And that was mainly due to the ol dudes reaction (going down to the floor and toure was behind him) But yeah thankfully there is replay and slow mo.

No contact at all.

And yes the new uni's were fresh.

[shock-it-to-me]

The thing I liked most about this play was that even though he new he didn't even touch him, Toure did not react negatively at all. In fact, he even started over to the fallen player to help him up before another Pitt player got there first. He is one classy dude. You can imagine how a lot of players would have reacted after that clean of a block and getting whistled for it.

[Shox21]

The thing I liked most about this play was that even though he new he didn't even touch him, Toure did not react negatively at all. In fact, he even started over to the fallen player to help him up before another Pitt player got there first. He is one classy dude. You can imagine how a lot of players would have reacted after that clean of a block and getting whistled for it.

One in particular comes to mind.