Get out now

[Nacho]

This was the worst officiated game of basketball that I have ever witnessed. The game was stolen by the inept, pathet WAC refs. Please tell me how BHop gets called for charging when he goes up to shoot a 3 pointer. Unbelievable! And that was only one of the awful calls. A tape of this game should be used as a training tool for refs--a what not to do tape. Completely disgusting in every way. If those 3 are ever allowed on a basketball court again it will be a disgrace.

It is time for SMU to leave the WAC. It is a renegade conference full of non and partial qualifiers., little more than glorified junior colleges. SMU as an academic institution has no business being associated with these other "schools." The exceptions being Rice, Tulsa and SMU.

SMU needs to either go independent or join the Sunbelt. The Sunbelt is about the same as the WAC academically but at least it is regional. This conference makes no sense geographically or financially. I have seen too many games stolen from SMU in basketball and football in this pathetic conference. This was the final straw. Leave the WAC. Get out of this mess.

[PX]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Nacho:
<B>This was the worst officiated game of basketball that I have ever witnessed. The game was stolen by the inept, pathet WAC refs. Please tell me how BHop gets called for charging when he goes up to shoot a 3 pointer. Unbelievable! </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can tell you how. This is a trick I've seen pulled off successfully 7 or 8 times in college basketball games, and Bryan made it work early in the first half. I thought he had done it a couple times earlier in the year, but I wasnt absolutely sure until the first time tonight.

When someone shoots a 3-pointer everyone turns to watch the flight of the ball, including the referees. What he was doing was grabbing the guy boxing him out, and falling backwards, pulling the defender down on top of him. The ref doesnt see the grab, but when he turns back he sees the 2 players rolling on the ground and assumes that the defender must have fouled the shooter. Whistle, foul, 3 free throws for the guy who basically tackled his defender. You probably remember the first time it happened tonight, because Bryan and the defensive player wound up rolling all over the court. The Boise coach knew what had happened and complained to the refs, but they couldnt change their call. Bryan tried it again later in the first half, but he couldnt pull the defender down, he kept his feet. So, Bryan wound up flopping on the ground holding the Boise players jersey. After that, I think the refs were looking for it.

He's actually lucky he didnt get called for an Intentional or Technical foul on the last one. The refs dont like blatant attempts to trick them, and when they catch a guy pulling this bit they usually at least hit them with an Intentional Foul.

[boulevard bum]

I was totally with you until you mentioned the Sunbelt... The officiating was terrible. It probably cost us the game although Q did not play too well. He even missed 3 free throws. Anyway, with the Sunbelt thing...Arkansas State may as well be in Idaho because their fans will be danged if they are going to make a trip to dallas. New Mexico State coming to Dallas???Please...us going to Las Cruces??? No way. MTSU might as well be in Hawaii because that's too far for us to travel and they won't make that trip either. The Basketball in that conference is a joke and nothing about RPI or Sagarin rankings can change my mind about that. The football in that conference is also a joke although I'd love to win the toilet bowl every year. The WAC is probably in the top 6 conferences in Football and Basketball. There needs to be a new conference made that makes regional and ticket selling sense. If we play Fresno State in football I'll be there...if we play Arkansas State you can forget it. That's boring. They had two teams with winning records in football and the only reason was they got to play each other. North Texas is the only school in the Sun Belt that makes regional sense. I almost resent how you downgraded the WAC schools. Would you take La-Lafayette or La Tech in both sports? Would you take Tulsa or Ark State in both sports? Would you take Fresno State or Middle Tennessee State in both sports??? Come on...the Sunbelt makes more sense than the WAC? I understand your frustration but I don't look at Hawaii as a glorified junior college. I don't look at Fresno or Boise as glorified junior colleges. The only schools I would say that about are UTEP and San Jose State. The Sun Belt should change its name to Div 1 Junior College conference...Ark State????La-Lafayette???Florida International???New Mexico State???Arkansas-Little Rock???Western Kentucky??? Give me a break. Are you sure you don't have the conferences mixed up? If you don't agree at least agree that you have conflicting views. I understand you may believe they are a more regionally sound conference...but do you really think they are better academically???? Please...

[Charleston Pony]

all I can say is it's sad on a Saturday night when you can only draw 3251 (and my guess is that's the PAID, not actual attendance) for a team that is playing some very entertaining basketball. I don't think we could do any worse if we were playing in a more regional conference. I wonder how many we would have drawn for a game with La-Lafayette? I doubt it would be any worse.

[OldPony]

The question isn't "can we do any worse?", the question is "how do we form a conference at some point in the future to do better?". There are combinations of schools in our region which would help promote the crowd but the Sunbelt is a silly idea. WAC has a better rep than Sunbelt in every way. Ark St is a joke for a school as are many of the others. They can't draw flies. Just because someone is nearer than many of our WAC opponents, it doesn't mean people go to see them or that SMU feels any sort of rivalry. This thing will play out over the next 3-4 years. SMU fans need to understand that we need to build competiive teams AND show that we can put at least 5-6000 in Moody and 30,000 in Ford to be attractive. That doesn't mean just when we play our old SWC rivals who fill our venues with their fans. The key is somehow connecting to Dallas. I would have thought that, with Q and BHop as 2 of our marquee players, some improvement would have come about but it appears that isn't happening. We must direct our ad dollars to Dallas, most alums have shown over and over that they just don't care about SMU sports.

[Hoop Fan]

Couple things. Prof X was prophetic last night, he told me to watch Hopkins pull the defender by the shirt after he shot. Sure enough Hop did it and the little Napolean ref called it. That one ref really seemed to be enjoying making calls against the home team. Oh well, Boise was the better team last night. Cant blame the refs, Boise was tougher, more physical and shot better. As for La Lafayette reference, there is no difference to the average SMU fan between Boise State and La Lafayette, none. They dont care about either. I knew we wouldnt draw flies last night and actually the fans that were there were pretty vocal in the 2nd half.

[Nacho]

I'm saying that the Sunbelt makes more sense than the WAC. If you guys think SMU is ever going to win a championship in basketball or football in the WAC you are sadly mistaken. It will not be allowed.

The BHop call was only one among many. I can't tell you how many times Boise got away with walks and charges. The "Little Napoleon" was the chief culprit but the tall guy was a willing accomplice. Pitiful.

This is a ridulous conference. If you guys can't see it then I can't help you. Tell me how having teams in Texas, Oklahoma, California and Hawaii makes sense. Go ahead, tell me. You can't. It's a stupid conference and you know it.

Ideally SMU would team up with Rice and Tulsa to form the nucleus of a new regional conference. The Big 12 is nothing but a pipe dream. Get over it and deal with reality.

Copeland earn your money. Get us out of this stupidity. Start talking to Rice and Tulsa about forming a regional conference. Surely the 3 of you can beat the current set-up. We need to be with schools from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. That should be obvious to everyone.

[Hoop Fan]

The WAC is ridiculous geographically, but I dont think the conference refs are out to get us or keep us down. We do a good enough job of that ourselves. The problem is there are not enough willing teams right now for a regional conference: Tcu, Houston, Tulane and Baylor are all happy where they are. The WAC is a marriage of convenience until things shake out in the 2006 football tv contract renewals.

[Horseradish]

The WAC is one of the 6 best conferences in football and basketball? ok.... Out of the Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, ACC, Big East, SEC, Mountain West, and C-USA, name the three that are behind the WAC? Keeping in mind that the WAC has no teams ranked in the top-25 in either basketball poll. No teams in the top-50 of either the Sagarin or RPI, and only one team in the top-75. Reality is the WAC is closer to 12th or 13th in both sports.

I realize that no one wants to hear about objective, acccurate, measurements that interfere with their egotistical delusions, but RPI and Sagarin are 2 of the criteria that the NCAA selection committee uses when they pick teams. Unless I'm confused, arent you the same guy who keeps saying we're going to the tournament this year? If thats really your goal, perhaps you should pay more attention to things like this, because thats where the actual decision gets made.

[Horseradish]

Forgot to mention before, the shirt pull trick is an old one. A decade ago the Georgetown players used to pull that one so often I thought John Thompson must be teaching it in practice. Eventually the refs busted them, and they had to quit.

[Mickey]

I saw BHop make 3 blatant and deceptive fouls last night. He was called on 2 and on the other, the foul was called on the opponent.

The first call was in the first half as PX mentioned. BHop shot a 3 from the top of the key, was screened out by CJ Williams and when the shot missed, he pulled Williams down with him and the foul was called on Williams. The call didn't go unnoticed by the BSU coach and I am sure he mentioned it to the refs.

The second call as Nacho pointed out was at the end of the second half on another 3 from the right side of the court. BHop again pulled the defender down after the shot, only this time they made the correct call on BHop

The 3rd call was very late in the game when SMU was trapping BSU at their end of the court. The play was near the scorers table and BHop literally grabbed the player with the ball by the shirt. The ref made the correct call and BHop held up his hands with the "who me?" look. It was clearly a foul and it was definitely the right call.

Lastly, BHop was very close to getting some other calls against him. He jumps into the defender quite a bit when he shoots driving inside. In my opinion, they were all correctly called against BSU as BSU was just a little late in getting set, but BHop is dangerously close to charging. Those calls may go against him in the future if he keeps grabbing the defender on his numerous missed 3 pointers.

[This message has been edited by Mickey (edited 02-02-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Mickey (edited 02-02-2003).]

[Blunt Pony]

Blaming the officials is sooo SMU of you Nacho. The officials while not perfect did not cost us this game. Calls go both ways and there are always a few for and few that go against. Also, the refs are not WAC officials. They are regional officials that do other games in the region. Did you notice that the officials in the Texas v. Kansas game were officials that we have seen at Moody many times? We lost that game to a decent Boise team that I thought we should have handled on our home court. We should be used to this song and dance by now. You know, the one that goes build some momentum with some good wins and then have a big letdown in front of a decent crowd. It is frustrating because we could have really made some noise by sweeping this homestand. We are going to finish in the middle of the WAC, where we should, and then look forward to next year like we always do. Although I thought Dement did a good job of coaching at the end of regulation, this team needs a change at the top. The Dement era is frighteningly similar from season to season. It has gotten predictable and stale and should be taken as a sign that things need to be shaken up.

[JasonB]

This game had the worst officiating I have ever seen. The Bhop call was the right call. And we lost the game by not playing well in set offenses and our inability to get the ball into the post. But the bad officiating didn't help. It was one of those games where the calls definately did not fall in our favor.

One comment about the Bhop play. The funny thing is, they called the offensive foul, but didn't give Boise free throws. The Broncos were in the bonus, and should have had a one-and-one at the other end.

[Nacho]

I'm glad everyone is content to play in Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Utah, California and Hawaii. Good luck with all that. Look where it has gotten us. At least the Sunbelt people realized that they had to get out of the Big West. NTSU has been to 2 straight bowls. While SMU has been desperately trying to keep NTSU down they have passed us by. They could have easily beaten SMU last year. If you don't think so you are wrong. How many bowls and NCAAs has SMU been to since joining the WAC?

SMU and its fans are so delusional that they think they are in a good thing. Well good luck to you. You deserve the sorry WAC refs. We would be much better off going with the Sunbelt or even becoming an independent than putting up with the WAC.
Adios
Nacho

[Hoop Fan]

You dont get free threes when the other team commits a 'player control foul' which offensive fouls almost always are, regardless if you are in the one-in-one or double bonus situations.