FCollinsBuckeye;2324058; said:
While I can see where you're coming from to an extent, let's not be "that fanbase" that complains about refs jobbing us.
We were ice cold shooting almost the entire game. We hit better than 25% or whatever it was, we win. Simple as that imo.
It's not even the Wichita State game...it was throughout the tournament. I decided to pull Big 10 tourney stats vs. the NCAA tournament for comparison sake:
Wichita State - We had 22 total fouls, Aaron Craft ended up with 4
Arizona - We had 18 total fouls, Craft had 4
Iowa State - We had 20 total fouls, Craft had 3
Iona - We had 17 total fouls, Craft had 1
In the Big 10 tournament:
In title game against Wisky we had 12 total fouls, Craft had zero
Against MSU, we had 11 total fouls, Craft had zero
Against Nebraska we had 11 total fouls, Craft had 3
We averaged around 12 total fouls in Big 10 play throughout the season. We averaged around 19 in the NCAA tournament. Not only do those fouls equate to free-throws, but it forces guys in foul trouble to play less aggressive defense.
I think what we have to be careful of is expecting the NCAA to move towards Big 10 style of play. We can complain about the lack of physicality we are forced to play with, but nationally, that's how other conferences are refereered. If the Big 10 wants to get serious about having success in March, they'll start calling games in a more similar manner aas other BCS conferences.
It's frustrating to watch Craft get nickel and dimers on what we consider good hard defense but it is what it is. Lenzelle Smith picked up 2 horrible fouls, IMO, on bumping cutters against ISU. Would never be called in Big 10 play.
It's why I also believe Michigan has had the most success in the tournament. They haven't had to adjust their style of play at all because they don't play typical Big 10 defense. On the other end of spectrum, the tightly called games really free up their wings and Trey Burke on the perimeter. Burke must be loving life with how these games are called.....I posted this in the Michigan/UF game thread:
Louisville and Syracuse both play zones. They're physical, but it's a different type of ball pressure. And a majority of the fouls OSU got called on were for bumping players on cuts. Louisville and Cuse are just a different animal. In zone defense you aren't bumping every time a guy runs through your area. Cuse is all about forcing bad outisde shots while Louisville is all about setting traps on poor ball handlers. Ville gets questionable calls on them with some frequency based on the aggressiveness of their traps, but again its much different than the half-court man defense OSU & MSU run. OSU & MSU were taking fouls on run of the mill sets where a guy cuts across the paint and we nick him. Or Craft is applying ball pressure. Or Ravenal cuts across the paint for a rebound on a free-throw. Our fouls weren't called out of aggressiveness, but just our run of the mill, everyday defense. It's difficult to adjust how you play defense day in-day out. I think it'd be easier to live with if the calls were out of over-aggressiveness or guys trying to make plays.
But conference referees really do tend to call games a certain way. Theres already talk about how Cuse and Pitt will adjust to the ACC based on styles. There were games in the NCAA tournament where Craft was essentially negated defensively because he was not allowed to put pressure on the ball, Wichita St game included. Refs just felt compelled to blow the whistle every time a ball handler had difficulty advancing the ball forward against pressure one on one D.
Again, I'm not trying to rip Michigan. They're a very good team and one of the best offensive teams in the country. My entire point has been that the tournament favored Michigan more than any other Big 10 team because the games are called in a way conducive to their style. They're soft defensively so they didn't have to adjust anything about their game. MSU and OSU were in foul trouble from the tip in these games.
To be 100% truthful in all of this, if you took the average crew in the NCAA Tournament and made them Big 10 conference officials, Michigan is easily the regular season champion. Easily. If Aaron Craft can't breathe on Trey Burke accross the timeline, it's death. Aaron Craft wasn't allowed to play anyone tight this entire tournament. In my eyes it was a joke, but nationally, people hate Big 10 style of play so maybe the Big 10 needs to adjust how they call games. That, or teams like MSU and OSU need to refrain from Big 10 style of play and focus on team defense more conducive to the NCAA tournament even if it is damaging in Big 10 play.
Congrats to Michigan and thanks for repping the Big 10. I'm not trying to knock anybody or any team. It's just an honest observation about how the Big10 calls games vs. the rest of the country. Not having to deal with teams that can clutch, bump, and grind for 40 minutes plays right into Michigan's hands. For such a great offesnive team it has to be a breath of fresh air not being knocked off cuts all game long. Defensively it doesn't impact them at all because they're soft on that side of the ball. They don't do any of that anyways so they're just playing their normal game. In my mind, their softness defensively, has actually helped them because while most Big 10 teams struggled with adjusting to how the games are called, Michigan has just gone about their business, scored with great efficiency, and is playing well.
