UCLA over Oregon

[Skkorpion]

Watched that game and gained a lot of respect for UCLA grad Marques Johnson. He called it right.

Over and over, he stated that if the refs were going to allow UCLA to get away with repeated hard physical play inside, with no fouls called, Oregon had no chance.

Many times, he pointed out muggings that weren't called.

This was thug ball at its worst. I thought I was watching the John Thompson coached, Pat Ewing team all over again.

If Howland is allowed to play that way, nobody in the PAC 10 has a chance to beat them. The combination of superior talent and referee-sanctioned thuggery is unbeatable.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I wonder if it's merely a coincidence that Pac-10 officials starting allowing a lot of contact on defense around the same time it's marquee hoops draw (UCLA) became a grinding, physical team on defense. Because for pretty much since I started watching Pac-10 basketball quite a few years ago, touch fouls were called regularly and the style was more open. Don't get me wrong, I think this way is bette for the conference come March but for those of us who have watched West Coast hoops for awhile the change was tough to stomach at first.

At this point it's a reality of the conference that we're turning into the Big 10 or Big East. Arizona has started playing physically thanks to the Rick Carlisle sets KO brought with him from the NBA after getting pushed around the last couple years. Bennett Ball is alive and well in the Palouse. ASU and USC clutch and grab all over the court. With Lute gone, the last two remnants of the wide open freewheeling Pac-10 are Ernie Kent and Lorenzo Romar.

 

[Russ Smith]

Marques pointed out a few plays in the first half he thought were fouls. one on Love bumping Leunen that was pretty obvious. He also pointed out repeatedly Oregon was mugging Love inside with no call at one point he even complimented Kevin on his composure, the whole crowd screaming at him, signs all over, getting pounded on by Catron and Leunen, repeatedly knocked to the floor and Love just kept his cool and kept playing hard.

That said, if UCLA was mugging Oregon with no calls the whole game how do you explain that when Keefe of UCLA fouled out with 10 minutes left in the game, Oregon as a TEAM had been called for 6 fouls, in the entire game not the half. 6 fouls in 30 minutes of play.

At that point in the game UCLA had 13 total fouls, Oregon had 6, Keefe had 5, Aboya had 4 and not one player on Oregon had more than 1 foul. They called the game loosely in the first half. They allowed a lot of contact on the inside, very little elsewhere which is how UCLA got in foul trouble. The first play of the game for UCLA they lobbed the ball into Love, he got doubled, Leunen clobbered him, the ball popped out of his hands, he recovered it and scored, and the ref called walking on Love. At that point in the game I said to myself if they call it this way all game it's going to help UCLA.

Personally I thought that was a pretty impressive win. Mac Court is a terrible place to try and win. UCLA had 3 of their top 8 players out injured. Love got stepped on and rolled his ankle in the 2nd half, after getting raked across the eye by Hairston in the first half. UCLA had 8 scholarship players for the game and played the bulk of the 2nd half with Keefe fouled out and Aboya with 4. They trailed by 7 with 4 minutes left and won.

 

[Russ Smith]

I wonder if it's merely a coincidence that Pac-10 officials starting allowing a lot of contact on defense around the same time it's marquee hoops draw (UCLA) became a grinding, physical team on defense. Because for pretty much since I started watching Pac-10 basketball quite a few years ago, touch fouls were called regularly and the style was more open. Don't get me wrong, I think this way is bette for the conference come March but for those of us who have watched West Coast hoops for awhile the change was tough to stomach at first.

At this point it's a reality of the conference that we're turning into the Big 10 or Big East. Arizona has started playing physically thanks to the Rick Carlisle sets KO brought with him from the NBA after getting pushed around the last couple years. Bennett Ball is alive and well in the Palouse. ASU and USC clutch and grab all over the court. With Lute gone, the last two remnants of the wide open freewheeling Pac-10 are Ernie Kent and Lorenzo Romar.

I think you must have blocked out the Mike Montgomery era at Stanford?

Howland didn't start the physical play in the conference Monty did. Mark Madsen, Pete Sauer, the Collins twins.

Stanford was getting accused of thug ball long before Howland was at UCLA.

He's certainly changed the style of play in the conference and there's no question UCLA plays physical ball. Aboya is a borderline thug, I don't think he's dirty just not a very smart player. At least once a game he'll foul someone 25 feet from the basket with 2 seconds on the shot clock, he just can't back off. That's why Jefferson of USC killed him, he kept getting up tight and Davon would blow by him. Love is a very physical player too but just look at his back the next game you watch, look at all the scratches and red welts that appear on his back during a game, he's getting hit too.

 

[Russ Smith]

This is a tangent but somewhat applicable to Skorp's point which I do agree with, UCLA is physical and gets away with it at times. IN the USC game Packer was saying Floyd was going off before the game about free throws in the game last year, UCLA shot 31, USC shot 5 "he has a point that's ridiculous." During the game he repeatedly said Floyd had worked the refs and now was getting calls on UCLA that he wanted. Packer sees UCLA maybe once a year, so I cut him some slack but if he'd bothered to do any research on the game Floyd was referring to, he would have been surprised.

That 31 to 5 discrepancy was the single most talked about thing for a week after that game it was analyzed to death, here's the facts of that game last year.

In the first 36 minutes UCLA had shot 13 FT's, USC 5. There was about 4 minutes left in the game when Lodrick Stewart missed a shot, fouled going for the rebound and got mad and spiked the ball and got a T. The player he fouled made the FT's, UCLA made the T shot, and then UCLA went downcourt and USC grabbed Lorenzo Mata 50 feet away from the ball and the ref correctly called it an intentional foul. From that point on the game turned into a contest of USC fouling UCLA and then jacking up a 3. The last 10 points UCLA scored were freethrows.Something like 15 of the last 17 was from the foulline. Afflalo shot 10 freethrows in the last 2 minutes. Of those infamous 31 ft's Floyd was complaining about, 18 of them were shot in the last 4 minutes of the game because USC was fouling intentionally.


The real issue in that game wasn't the 31 UCLA shot, it was the 5 that USC shot which is awfully low for a full game.