BU @ Duke, and more

Even a team playing well that goes down three starters isn't going to win at Cameron!
So the game went like we all feared, but there were bright spots.

Two areas I think we need to improve...our bigs need to go hard at the hoop -- Will, JP, and Sticks all shoot way too many baby hooks and fall-away half-hooks.
Of course the shooting pct. this season on those shots is about 10%, so instead just try a strong fake and go up hard and try to draw a foul.
the telling stat...
Our three bigs were at the FT line 6 times last night and that is more than usual!
On the season, in 9 games, our three big guys have accumulated only 38 FT attempts combined -- an average of only 4 per game!
Our bigs need to play more like bigs, not smalls, and as comparison, ISU's jackie Carmichael has been to the FT line 33 times all by himslef, Drake's Van Deest 34 times, Carlton Fay 39 times, and Gene Teague 49 times!

The 2nd area is to cut down on sloppy passes..and we're doing a bit better there given the loss of the point guards...

Last comment -- and it's aimed at both the TV coverage and the newspaper coverage...

--Please tell us more about the actual game, the players that are IN the game, and the things that are happening in the game. when 3/4 of the coverage is telling us continuously about the players who are not playing for Duke, and abuot the silly, spoiled fans that jump up and down it grows old in just the first few minutes.
BY THE WAY -- fans that show strong support for a team that never loses at home and that wins championships, may be good fans, but it's pretty danged easy to get just about anyone to follow when you have so much going for the team.
The real GOOD fans were the ones who traveled 100 miles to see the the losing team or who show strong support for a team that isn't always winning.
Instead of a million words of coverage on spolied, slobbering, obnoxious fans that we could care less about, I would have loved a little more coverage of he fans that are loyal to our team.


Most of you saw this story -- that the Illinois basketball game last night was played for the first

This is the same error that happened in the Manual high school basketball game I discussed just a few days ago here --
http://bubravesblogger.blogspot.com/2010/12/andrew-warren-and-rest-of-basketball.html
....just scroll to the 7th paragraph...

But in the coverage this morning, it is clear that Illinois' Demetri McCamey knew they were using the wrong size ball, he asked the refs, and was blown off by the official!
Only after several more players complained about the ball being the wrong size, did the ref take action, but by then, almost seven minutes into the game, the Illini were shooting poorly and were behind 15-4!!
After the switch was made to the correct ball, then Illinois from that point on dominated the game and outscored Oakland 70-48!!
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ncb/recap?gameId=303420356
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1757252141/Second-half-keys-Illini-win-over-Oakland

Demetri McCamey said...
"I discovered it the first time I shot," said Illini guard Demetri McCamey, who scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half. “The ref didn’t listen. Three other players came up to him. He finally checked it and said, ‘You’re right.’ I said, ‘I know.’”

This prompts me to three different thoughts...

--Even though the guy coaching Oakland said he'd never seen this kind of thing happen before... I am convinced it DOES happen fairly often.
I just documented that it happened only a few days ago in a local high school game where the mistake wasn't recognized until almost the end of the 1st quarter.
Plus, I have been to countless grade school, junior high school, and high school games over the years, and I have seen the exact same mistake made, and a game played with the WRONG-sized ball probably 6-8 other times.

So if it is pretty obvious that this is happening, I think some protocol SHOULD be in place to prevent it.
It should be the jobs of the officials at the desk ad in the game to check this as a specific action before each game just like they bounce the ball to see if it is properly inflated, and just like they check the jersey numbers of the players that report to enter the game, and just like they count the players on the court to be sure there's five from each team before starting the game!
So why isn't this done?? It's their job!

-- the second thing would be to insist that whoever makes these balls, needs to make them look a little different.
If the only difference is some tiny print on the ball that says the size, then that's an easily fixable problem, as there just isn't a reason in the world that the balls need to look so similar. Put a pink or other-colored logo on the women's ball!

-- lastly -- note who the refs were...they included guys generally considered to be the superstars of reffing!! Mike Sanzere, Eric Curry, Ray Perone...
So I have to ask, why wouldn't they have checked the ball and given some credibility to Demetri McCamey the first time he asked them to check the ball? Are they so arrogant that the idea of a possible mistake simply wouldn't and couldn't enter their minds?
Seriously -- if a smart, senior asks about the ball and says he thinks they're using the wrong sized ball...why would guys like Sanzere bark back to play on and forget about it - only to be embarrassed later on because McCamey was right?

This is an interesting story -- and I think the neglilgence that allows this to happen is at several levels, the guys at the desk, the Illinois team managers who are responsibhle for supplying the ball, and the refs...all should know better.



Here's breaking news...that hasn't hit the newswires yet...
and if the Missouri Valley continues to play the challenge against the Mountain West Conference, then I know which MWC team I want Bradley to play...

Seems The Mountain West is going to expand and add two new members...one will be Utah State, and the other will be HAWAII!! ...although Hawaii may be just for football initially, but you have to think ultimately they might be there for basketbal, too.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/50808891-77/conference-hawaii-football-west.html.csp



Randy Kindred, one of the Pantagraph columnists that covers Illinois State wrote a pretty negative hit piece -- calling out ISU fans and even the entire Redbird fan base!
http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_40ce135c-027a-11e0-b13e-001cc4c002e0.html

But I am totally stumped as to why this Pantagraph writer doesn't go after the real culprit. He needs to call out the idiots at ISU who choose willingly to schedule the biggest dirt pile of horrible, obscure, and ridiculously soft opponents!
That's what's turing off the fans base -- that plus the inflated, artifically bloated win totals and lack of real toughness the team has that come from playing such a puny schedule.



A couple game recaps..

-ISU lost at home to an OHIO squad that was 4-3, but whose wins were all over the kind of teams ISU generally schedules. ISU outrebounded Ohio 43-30, but it didn't help them win.
Blake Mishler played 7 minutes and contributed 1 pt, 2 rebs. Trey Blue had no treys (0-3), and senior PG Alex Rubin finished with a season low zero assists. he now has a total of 7 assists thus far this season in nine games. Anthony Cousin who was recruited for the sole purpose of helping at PG also had zero assists.
Ohio's DJ Cooper had 8 assists.

-Evansville loses at home to North Carolina - who came to play in Indiana so tyler Zeller could play near his hometown.
UNC won 76-49, Colt Ryan had a worse game than Andrew Warren did, going just 2-14, and 1-8 from 3-pt.
But Evansville drew 12,116!!! No word on how many were Zeller's family.

-SIU drew 4081 for a home game vs. SEMO. They need to report the Pantagraph writer's column in their local newspaper.
Carlton Fay was 0-2 from 3-pt (his 3-pt shooting pct this season falls to 10%) but generally stayed inside and went to the FT line 12 times.
SIU as a team shot 45 FT's, makes you wonder if SIU needed that much help from the refs.

-Indiana State beat DePaul, with Mike Bizoukas playing 19 minutes and going scoreless. Mario stula was also scoreless and is now shooting 27% on the year and 16% from 3-pt. ex-BU recruit Devin Hill no longer even gets in the games!