Agreed. I think we lost the UNC game because we didnāt value possessions. Playing more close games forces us to get better on that front.
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I spent the first half pissed that we were playing a highly ranked ND team in another universe. Certa? Koehler? Shrewsbury? Looked like 5 star Dukies heading for NBA top 10 selections.
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I wonder how he looks in practice? Maybe he is a different guy in practice and is not carrying that on the floor yet.
Just an amusing tidbit hereā¦in his post-game presser Shrewsberry complained that they were unfairly called for too many fouls.
4 Likes
When Elijah came in last night, couldnāt help but notice the extra pep in his step. Didnāt look scared, looked like he had had a long talk with himself saying next time he played he was going to be aggressive. Then he missed the three and seemed to immediately throttle it back. Man, I wish that one would have gone in for him.
13 Likes
It was a hard time to come in the game honestly. Things were going off the rails and the offense was stalled. Hard to come in green into that situation. Every guy looked deflated shooting. Felt bad for Eli on that front.
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For real? Thatās rich. Fouls somehow ended up being 27-25, but in the part of the game where they built the big lead it was a massive disparity. We win by 5-6 in regulation without that help for them.
2 Likes
Conference road games in late January/February are almost always slogs, even against mediocre teams. Michigan State had to go to OT to win at Rutgers last night.
I have a feeling we come out and beat down BC on Saturday.
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I would agreeā¦ but someone needs to sit him down and tell him he is not a point guard. 
@DFresh11ā¦ as the resident PG
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I think they were probably upset with the nine fouls that TDR drew. Those last couple in OT that fouled out Towt especially.
Iād be frustrated as an opposing fan/coach with his ability to bully into the lane and draw contact. Almost impossible to defend without fouling. It also helped that he went 14-15 from the line.
(Edit: just playing devilās advocate - thought officiating really favored the Irish)
11 Likes
He got benched because he canāt go 30 seconds without committing a stupid foul. But that seems to be an epidemic on our team. Makes me question the sanity of pressing full court without really attempting to trap or get steals. It gets them into stupid touch-foul mode 30 to 90 feet from the basket. It tires our own guys out on defense too. When Ugo started picking up the ball handler 80 ft from the basket, Iām thinking what on earth are we doing? But itās getting us all in early foul trouble and our opponent into the double bonus way early.
3 Likes
I think this was an Eamonn Brennan point, but Shrews is reacting to things like a guy who knows heās on the hot seat (Eamonn made the same point about Ed Cooley). Donāt think you go ballistic like he did in the Cal game if youāre not feeling pressure.
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Hot take that Iām fully prepared to get skewered for - the refs werenāt bad last night IMO. The 52 fouls were a lot but everyone was a hack last night. Push in back 94 feet away, body bumps on baseline drives, guys thinking theyāre vertical but making contact on the arm or lower body on shots, multiple hand checks whenever we had slow feet and couldnāt catch up, dumb reach around steal attempts with nothing to gain in high risk moments, etc.
It also was a ton of fouls on us compared to a few on ND early on because they drove the ball and we didnāt. We had slow feet and bumped a ton or used our hands a lot, while they just had to close out since we were shooting 50%+ of our shots from 3 at that point. When we started driving the fouls āmagicallyā started to balance out. I donāt blame refs for deciding to call it tight if in fact people are fouling and then they keep it consistent all night. Itās on the teams to adjust to the game not the refs to change the rules because the guys are racking up fouls. No one comes for the refs but itās a lose lose if you start switching up how youāre calling it from the start.
Now with that said, they did miss some calls but probably the same amount youāll see missed if you watch whatever game ESPN has on tonight. They also had some that went against us and also some that went for us. Overall seemed like they were a pretty competent crew, both teams just need to watch the Sean Miller presser and get rid of their fouling virus.
Bring the heat 
6 Likes
The bias is always real I think. As a soccer referee, I tell people all the time to go watch a game where they have no affiliation or investment in any team. You will realize that the majority of the time, the referees are calling the game pretty evenly. Now in my discussions w/ @JBHoo @DFresh11 @BDragon last night, I am not a big fan in how ticky tack the foul calls are madeā¦ there are so many fouls that are called at the NCAA level that are not called in the NBA.
@BDragon & @DFresh11 call it the baseline aggressiveness that we show. If we donāt come out aggressive, then the refs are going to call the ticky tacks.
Who knows.
6 Likes
Uuuhhhh ā¦ thatās a 5 star dude for a reason.
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lol - what did Gertrude do wrong last night? Was the only one who actually missed long and straight on a 3 attempt and also immediately beat his man off the dribble and delivered a dime to TDRā¦ and then proceeds to get benched in favor of Jacari and Hall and Malik the rest of the game. SMH - give the dude some actual run
2 Likes
I agree completely. Hate all the whistles, but geez we gotta stop all the obvious fouls. Malik loves to extend his arm to get separation from an on-ball defender and always looks puzzled when the ref blows the whistle. The refs are gonna call that an offensive foul most every time. And he (and others) love to chest bump the opposing ball handler so far from the basket, itās bizarre. I suppose we were a little flummoxed by ND hitting so many deep threes, but Iād rather our guys play a foot or two back and just stay in front of their man.
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Groover has worked 3 of the last 4 nattys. Cassel is a vet whoās worked sweet 16s and elite 8s.
Reffing is always imperfect but those guys are pretty well respected.
3 Likes
Was thinking same. Would love to see some data on this. Either way, we are fouling fouls. Highest rate in the ACC. Who is reffing doesnāt matter. Shot clock awareness (donāt bail them out!) is not a thing for us. Weāll foul you anywhere on the floor at any time. Hip check, shoulder, grab, poke, slap ā¦ whatever it takes. And, we are always surprised at the call.
2 Likes
Hotter take: The refs WERE bad but it isnāt clear which team it favored and made for a worse product to watch. They clearly called it lopsided for ND for the first few minutes of each half, then tried to even it out, then did a weird āwe have to go back and forthā thing for a while.
It simply wasnāt consistent and seemed called in order to not fall out of favor with any one side at any given moment. That is not the point of reffing and therefore it was bad.
In two instances the only explanation was they missed clear things OR they were trying to game the game which led them to make poor calls: 1) Chanceās out of bounds that had to be reviewed on a challenge, and 2) Sam Lewisās shot off the Mallory airball that reset the shotclock.
8 Likes