Physical play

[humbleopinion]

In his comments after the game, Luke Gore said that the Horizon League is a more physical conferences than the Big Ten as well as other conferences.  Twice we saw KVW on the floor last night without a foul called.

The refs that should be calling fouls in the Horizon are not exclusive to the Horizon -- they ref other conferences as well.  I can't imagine that conference officials tell refs to call fewer fouls when officiating Horizon games.  Isn't it the responsibility of the refs to determine how much banging is allowed?  I know that I'm old and mourn that the Shaqs of the basketball world have replaced finesse with pushing and plowing into people, but I need help to understand why one conference would have more of it than another.

[valpotx]

It did seem like quite a few fouls weren't called yesterday, as I think there were only 11-12 on each team.  This is much different than some of the road games we have played, where 20+ were called on each team.

[Valposter]

Does Coach need to work the officials more ala Bobby Knight (obviously not anywhere to that extent, of course).  But we should be getting an advantage at home on the way the game is called.  We've certainly seen us being disadvantaged on the road, sometimes alot more than others. 

[valpopal]

The play last night was very physical, and the officials seemed to be reluctant to blow the whistle. Kevin and Bobby were hit pretty hard a number of times under the basket, and Kevin was hurting at times during the game. Erik was begging the officials to call fouls a couple of times after he was clearly hacked on drives to the basket, which made it even more frustrating when he was called for a couple of touch fouls.

I am still convinced the physical play in the Horizon League justifies using Kevin and Bobby on the court together, especially with Ryan, as much as possible. I believe those three as a front line would have made a difference in the Loyola game. Valpo would at least have had the rebounding edge.

[atkins]

In his comments after the game, Luke Gore said that the Horizon League is a more physical conferences than the Big Ten as well as other conferences....

What?  He's got to be kidding.  If he really said (and believes) that the Horizon is more-physical conf. than the Big Ten, then my concern about the coaching of this team has exponentially grown.  Unbelievable that a college coach would make that comment. 

[Valpo89]

Does Coach need to work the officials more ala Bobby Knight (obviously not anywhere to that extent, of course).  But we should be getting an advantage at home on the way the game is called.  We've certainly seen us being disadvantaged on the road, sometimes alot more than others. 

Is there a rule that says the home team gets an advantage from the officials? I think not.
I think there were a lack of calls both ways last night.
Bryce doesn't let anything go. He talks to the officials a lot. Believe me, I'm sitting right there and I hear it.
As for the Horizon being "more physical" than the Big 10 - maybe that's because the players aren't as good. I remember playing against some of my friends when I was younger, and they weren't very good at basketball. One of them, a defensive lineman and a wrestler, tended to foul more because he was bad at basketball.

[valpopal]

Here is Kevin being helped off the court after being clobbered in one of the plays where there was no foul called. As Valpo89 mentioned, Bryce was complaining by talking to the officials repeatedly about the no-calls; however, Bryce is clearly not as forceful or intimidating as other coaches when confronting the officials. By contrast last night, the Loyola coach was very demonstrative and powerful in his behavior towards both the officials and his players. Also, for those wondering whether or not Rossi was dressed, you can see him in the foreground with his back to my camera, wearing a warm-up suit.

[valpo84]

By the way on Rossi, it was discussed on Twitter by those who cover Valpo that Rossi was not dressed for the game. Those tweets went out 15 minutes before the game from guys like Paul Oren, who also does great post-game "optimist, pessimist, realist" tweets.

[MattCarter]

humbleopinion you are not alone in thinking these comments were strange to say the least.

I also had problems with Coach Drew's comments that there are "16 conference games that all mean the same".  Only 8 of those are at home!

The post game responses by the coaching staff seemed to off to me.   

[valpo4life]

In no way is the Horizon league more physical than the Big Ten. But I think what Gore was getting at is that it is the comparison in calls made during the game. The Big Ten usually has a lot of whistles and rightfully so (even though people think a lot is let go). But sometimes in Horizon league games it seems like officials let more go than what Big Ten officials do in their games. That is the comparison that I am getting out of this.

[chef]

The Horizon League officials are Big 10 officials. All three officials from last night will work mostly Big 10 games the rest of the way.

[Smj]

The refs tonight really let them play (loyola game). This does not usually seem like it is good for us. It was a bit strange because they did not call anything inside but called Buggs for two quick fouls where it had no impact on the player or the game. I think we are a team that needs an expectation set by the refs that calls will be made. When that happens we get a game on our terms. When they allow a very physical game with few calls we struggle.

I see a correlation between how we look and how the refs decide to call the game.   I am not looking for or saying that calls should go our way.  Consistent calls but don't swallow your bleeping whistles...

[MattCarter]

The Horizon League officials are Big 10 officials. All three officials from last night will work mostly Big 10 games the rest of the way.

They can have them and Hightower won't put up with some of what they did!