Marathon Becomes Sprint to the Finish

[Wolverine]

For all of the talk about the downgrade in conference and high school gyms,etc., this has turned into a heck of a race for the regular season conference title. This conference is pretty dang competive when an 0-15 team can make you sweat out almost the entire game. Great bounce-back win on The Hilltop by the Dons. Hope the Cougs get rested and healthy in the next few days. Game with the Zags now seems as critical as any other conference game the past few years. With both the Zags and Gaels going down today, as well as Aztecs and Rebels, it will be interesting to see if some Cougars finally crack the Top 25. Going to be a fun week! GO COUGARS!

[EM_Puma]

For all of the talk about the downgrade in conference and high school gyms,etc., this has turned into a heck of a race for the regular season conference title. This conference is pretty dang competive when an 0-15 team can make you sweat out almost the entire game. Great bounce-back win on The Hilltop by the Dons. Hope the Cougs get rested and healthy in the next few days. Game with the Zags now seems as critical as any other conference game the past few years. With both the Zags and Gaels going down today, as well as Aztecs and Rebels, it will be interesting to see if some Cougars finally crack the Top 25. Going to be a fun week! GO COUGARS!

Kind of feels like last year when we went to SDSU and needed a win for a good seed. Now we're possibly cementing a NCAA Dance ticket this Thursday. We would still need to win the final game vs Portland at home.

[Dcr36]

It's been great seeing LMU and USF step their game up in conference play.

I really hope the WCC reffing improves because I genuinely do like the WCC. I feel bad when other teams' fans hear our moaning and presume its our superiority complex kicking in. That's not how I see it. I see the reffing as the biggest obstacle to the WCC becoming an even-better basketball conference.

[BroncoBot]

WCC = MWC with more games on TV!!!!

[Wolverine]

I really hope the WCC reffing improves because I genuinely do like the WCC. I feel bad when other teams' fans hear our moaning and presume its our superiority complex kicking in. That's not how I see it. I see the reffing as the biggest obstacle to the WCC becoming an even-better basketball conference.

Don't worry as we have plenty of company in this department. Zag fans in complete meltdown over officiating in loss to Dons. http://www.guboards.spokesmanreview.com ... hp?t=38632" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Huge game this week! GO COUGARS!

[SpiffCoug]

Having not watched the GU game, I think the fact that they had 21 turnovers and USF just 10 had more to do with their loss than the officiating. Yes, they were called for five more fouls, but USF only shot five more FTs. Both teams made the same amount of FTs.

In the two games against SMC, here was the foul/FT situation:
Provo:
Fouls: BYU 26 SMC 22
FTs: BYU 33 SMC 22
FTM: BYU 14 SMC 25

Moraga:
Fouls: BYU 24 SMC 20
FTs: BYU 16 SMC 30
FTM: BYU 9 SMC 24

BYU was called for 26 fouls and SMC shot 33 FTs (making 25) in the game in Provo

[BroncoBot]

Having not watched the GU game, I think the fact that they had 21 turnovers and USF just 10 had more to do with their loss than the officiating. Yes, they were called for five more fouls, but USF only shot five more FTs. Both teams made the same amount of FTs.

In the two games against SMC, here was the foul/FT situation:
Provo:
Fouls: BYU 26 SMC 22
FTs: BYU 33 SMC 22
FTM: BYU 14 SMC 25

Moraga:
Fouls: BYU 24 SMC 20
FTs: BYU 16 SMC 30
FTM: BYU 9 SMC 24

BYU was called for 26 fouls and SMC shot 33 FTs (making 25) in the game in Provo

So if both teams shoot equal number of FTs, the officials did their job???




I don't think you can analyze the refs with stats. BYU was being VERY aggressive in Provo so the refs were probably calling more fouls on BYU because BYU was making more illegal contact. What you could do if you have the time is show, through video review, how the same calls that went against BYU weren't called against SMC. I'm too lazy to do that, but the answer is not as clear as you've laid it out with FTMs.

[SpiffCoug]

No, my argument is a closer amount of FTs suggests a more consistently called game. Looking at the GU box scores, the stat that stood out to me was the turnover disparity, not the fouls or FTs.

[Dcr36]

No, my argument is a closer amount of FTs suggests a more consistently called game. Looking at the GU box scores, the stat that stood out to me was the turnover disparity, not the fouls or FTs.

To be fair, most of the Zag fans on the forum Wolverine linked said as much. Wacky reffing or no, you can't turn the ball over that much and expect a happy ending.

[BroncoBot]

No, my argument is a closer amount of FTs suggests a more consistently called game. Looking at the GU box scores, the stat that stood out to me was the turnover disparity, not the fouls or FTs.

Ok, I can buy "suggests". And I agree with you. Can't win many games with 20+ turnovers. Turnovers and FG made are the 2 most important stats in basketball. I won't ruin the surprise, but one of them must be high and the other must be kept low to win games.