Now we know why Josh Shipp got shut out Saturday night

[Russ Smith]

Apparently he was sick and in fact has been diagnosed with strep throat. He's on antibiotics. UCLA is holding him out of practice although they expect him to play on Thursday. They just don't want to expose the other players to strep anymore than they already were.

Man that would really suck if he got anybody else sick before a Sweet 16 game.

It's amazing they can't catch a break health wise(luc rolled his ankle again) and yet they keep catching breaks from the refs in games.

 

[Rivercard]

Man that would really suck if he got anybody else sick before a Sweet 16 game.

I hope he coughs all over everyones gatorade. Go HILLTOPPERS!!

 

[Russ Smith]

I hope he coughs all over everyones gatorade. Go HILLTOPPERS!!

WKU is an interesting matchup. Howland was asked who in the Pac 10 plays like them he said nobody really but UW would be closest. To me it seems Oregon would be closest. But both teams have given UCLA trouble. UW has beaten UCLA once the last 2 years, Oregon beat them last year and came close twice this year before losing.

The many guards offense where they don't use the post negates UCLA's post doubles. Oregon and UW did away with the high pick and roll which negated the hedge UCLA does so much, and it became a drive and dish game.

One difference is apparenly WKU likes to press something Oregon and UW don't do. UCLA hasn't seen much pressing, they have good guards but they will turn it over on occasion so it will be interesting.

It would seem on paper Love should do very well, WKU's best big is only 190 pounds, they have a 260 pounder but he's playing less than 16 minutes per game. On paper at least it would appear Love could have a big game inside.
The thing about pressing is it speeds the game up and Love doesn't run the court well so UCLA has to be careful to play at a tempo that allows Love to exploit his size inside. WKU forces a lot of turnovers so it'll be interesting to see how UCLA handles the press.

 

[Rivercard]

WKU is an interesting matchup. Howland was asked who in the Pac 10 plays like them he said nobody really but UW would be closest. To me it seems Oregon would be closest. But both teams have given UCLA trouble. UW has beaten UCLA once the last 2 years, Oregon beat them last year and came close twice this year before losing.

The many guards offense where they don't use the post negates UCLA's post doubles. Oregon and UW did away with the high pick and roll which negated the hedge UCLA does so much, and it became a drive and dish game.

One difference is apparenly WKU likes to press something Oregon and UW don't do. UCLA hasn't seen much pressing, they have good guards but they will turn it over on occasion so it will be interesting.

It would seem on paper Love should do very well, WKU's best big is only 190 pounds, they have a 260 pounder but he's playing less than 16 minutes per game. On paper at least it would appear Love could have a big game inside.
The thing about pressing is it speeds the game up and Love doesn't run the court well so UCLA has to be careful to play at a tempo that allows Love to exploit his size inside. WKU forces a lot of turnovers so it'll be interesting to see how UCLA handles the press.

Nice break down. Thanks. WKU has an excellent point guard in Brazelton and a true NBA prospect in Lee. They will need to shoot well from the perimiter to handle UCLA over 40 minutes. And as stated, UCLA has the size inside so Western will have to try to make the Bruins uncomfortable with the press and tempo. Should be a fun game.

 

[Dback Jon]

NAU beat WKU this year, in Flagstaff

 

[ajcardfan]

It's amazing they can't catch a break health wise(luc rolled his ankle again) and yet they keep catching breaks from the refs in games.

At least you admit this Russ. I thought a few of those blocks they had against A&M were fouls, especially to the body. And, Sloan was definitely fouled at the end, but I knew that one was coming. I thought they wouldn't get a call in the lane. Their best chance was to kick it out for a 3.

But, that game was really physical. I think everyone faces an uphill struggle for fouls against UNC and UCLA. And, to a lesser extent, Kansas.

 

[Russ Smith]

At least you admit this Russ. I thought a few of those blocks they had against A&M were fouls, especially to the body. And, Sloan was definitely fouled at the end, but I knew that one was coming. I thought they wouldn't get a call in the lane. Their best chance was to kick it out for a 3.

But, that game was really physical. I think everyone faces an uphill struggle for fouls against UNC and UCLA. And, to a lesser extent, Kansas.

The whole game was called that way not many fouls especially challenging shots. I pretty much figured when Sloan threw Collison to the floor and they called the foul on Collison that it was going to be a physical game.

I'd like to see less bad calls at critical times but honestly I think UCLA would have won that game even if they called the foul on Shipp. Sloan's a 67% shooter with the game on the line. Even if he hits, UCLA has momentum coming all the way back. You never know of course but I'd take UCLA in the OT if it got that far.

The bigger problem is the appearance of favoritism. I don't think refs are honestly trying to help UCLA or UNC get further, at least not consciously, but when people who follow the sport for a living are wondering about it out loud that's really bad for the integrity of the game. They need to clear the stuff up, demand better from the refs.

 

[Rivercard]

The bigger problem is the appearance of favoritism. I don't think refs are honestly trying to help UCLA or UNC get further, at least not consciously, but when people who follow the sport for a living are wondering about it out loud that's really bad for the integrity of the game. They need to clear the stuff up, demand better from the refs.

It's a tough thing. Refs are only human of course, but we all know there is the possibility that a bad apple could exist.

After the current criticism, now the refs may psycholgically call a game more tightly against UCLA to fend off the appearance of favoritism.

 

[Russ Smith]

It's a tough thing. Refs are only human of course, but we all know there is the possibility that a bad apple could exist.

After the current criticism, now the refs may psycholgically call a game more tightly against UCLA to fend off the appearance of favoritism.

Yep I'd argue that's what happened in the Pac 10 final with Stanford. The Lopez twins both travel quite a bit, in that game it was unreal how often they got away with it. WHen they finally called a walk on Robin, it was actually a help to Stanford because one ref called a charge on him, the other called the walk.

I think all the attention from the prior Stanford and Cal games worked against UCLA that game they kept doubling the twins, they kept walking, and it went uncalled.

I just hate seeing big games that are close have such obviously missed calls
at the end but in the A&M game they missed calls throughout. I think I'm an obsessed UCLA fan there's a guy calling himself Bruinbob who runs his own
site that has unbelievable slo mo detail and frame by frame detail of the SHipp foul and others. He has a replay of a tip dunk by DeAndre Jordan in the
game that confirms what everyone who watched it live thought, wasn't that basket interference. The shots are so clear you can tell he's over the cylinder the whole way he even pulled his hands back after dunking because he knew it wasn't going to count. But the refs don't get that detail they have to call it live, and they miss things.

 

[Rivercard]

Nice win for UCLA. At least the Toppers made it interesting - too bad they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. Shipp's (I think it was Shipp?) timely off balance 3 with a few minutes to go was the key moment.

I have to say the refs do have a tendency to suck. You get a pinky close to a UCLA player as they drive to the basket and your gonna get a whistle. Love and co can practically scale your back for a rebound. Not that WKU should have won by any means - but UCLA does not need the help.

 

[Russ Smith]

Nice win for UCLA. At least the Toppers made it interesting - too bad they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. Shipp's (I think it was Shipp?) timely off balance 3 with a few minutes to go was the key moment.

I have to say the refs do have a tendency to suck. You get a pinky close to a UCLA player as they drive to the basket and your gonna get a whistle. Love and co can practically scale your back for a rebound. Not that WKU should have won by any means - but UCLA does not need the help.

Ironically UCLA fans are all complaining that they were in the double bonus with 10 minutes left in the 2nd half while WKU was pressing madly and had only 3 fouls. I thought alot of the fouls were silly reaches after turnovers but I also think Collison's 5th foul was phantom the replay clearly showed him pull the hand back and under Lee's arm/elbow. If he touched him I never saw it.

Great comeback by WKU and I agree Shipp's shot was huge. WKU had just missed an open 3, Love got a putback to make it 6 and then Shipp hit the prayer and that was it.

There were 2 plays in this game that just staggered my mind as to how they didn't get called. Obviously I'm biased but. Shipp drives to the basket, his shot is "blocked" by a defender who literally got his hand stuck in the net causing the rim to snap back so loud you could hear it on tv. The whole rim moved, it's a goaltend. Shipp said in the postgame interviews he was amazed he said even on the playgrounds that's a goaltend.

The second was Lee stole a bounce pass on the break and then collided with his teammate. He staggered and took 3 steps, holding the ball. AS the crowd yelled walk, he took a 4th step to right himself. Not only was either called, CBS never pointed it out either.

At that point I ceased to worry about the calls UCLA gets. Remember, WKU had 2 more fouls than UCLA, but the last 14 freethrows UCLA attempted were the result of WKU fouling trying to catch up. From the play by play it looks like 8 of their fouls in the second half were intentional so it was 22-14, not 22-24 in terms of fouls. UCLA only had less fouls because WKU fouled at the end.

Boy was Brazelton fun to watch, he and Lee took 50 of their 72 shots but Lee was only 7-29 that was the game really.

No idea what they will have left for Xavier, Love played 38 minutes, Shipp played 33 after being sick, and Westbrook played was limping the whole 2nd half after rolling his ankle again. They're resilient as hell but if I were Xavier I think I'd press them too.

 

[Rivercard]

There were 2 plays in this game that just staggered my mind as to how they didn't get called. Obviously I'm biased but. Shipp drives to the basket, his shot is "blocked" by a defender who literally got his hand stuck in the net causing the rim to snap back so loud you could hear it on tv. The whole rim moved, it's a goaltend. Shipp said in the postgame interviews he was amazed he said even on the playgrounds that's a goaltend.

Yeah, I was surprised nothing was called there. I'll have to rewatch the tivo. Maybe the refs ruled that the ball was not in the cylinder or utherwise "un-makeable"?

The second was Lee stole a bounce pass on the break and then collided with his teammate. He staggered and took 3 steps, holding the ball. AS the crowd yelled walk, he took a 4th step to right himself. Not only was either called, CBS never pointed it out either.

It's a wash. Love took more steps than an AA meeting a few times.

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah, I was surprised nothing was called there. I'll have to rewatch the tivo. Maybe the refs ruled that the ball was not in the cylinder or utherwise "un-makeable"?



It's a wash. Love took more steps than an AA meeting a few times.

On the first the rule is simple if you touch the rim or the net it's a goaltend, the shot doesn't really matter in that instance. I've seen it called on a backboard slap too.

Love walks quite a bit, not as much as Brook and Robin Lopez due but he's got that subtle slide the pivot foot after a pump fake down pat.

The thing about him is when he does it he's so convincing they often don't call it. Luc on the other hand he'll walk and then he will literally take 2 more steps like whoops I walked I guess no point in finishing the play. He does it at least once a game I love the kid but it drives me nuts. Play to the whistle, or
better yet learn a jumpstop.

Remember 2 years ago this time when experts had Mbah a Moute as a possible lottery pick? I don't think he'd even get drafted now. Knee problems and just no offensive game at all. When you have trouble scoring playing next to Kevin Love something is wrong. Look at Keefe he didn't make a shot that was longer than a foot last night and had 18.