*** Official #2 Houston vs IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

[HFCS]

I thought the worst "call" was the no call when a Houston player (can't remember which one) drove on Gilbert. Gilbert took hard contact and went flying. That has to be a charge or a blocking call. I don't think Gilbert was set but it also looked like the offending player lowered his shoulder (though I can't be sure as there was no replay and I didn't bother rewinding it). It was a pretty egregious no call.

But...there are always bad no calls in every game.

That was really obvious, he popped him in the chest pretty hard. I'm fine if they want to go away from calling charges in general but it has to be some kind of foul to keep the contact under control.

There was also a moving screen where the player hit the ISU defender in the mouth with an elbow. I can see how they missed the elbow but you could've called the moving screen from the worst seat in the house.

The flagrant foul...if that's not the highest level of flagrant foul you need to just have one level. Intentional or not (and it's a real stretch to think it wasn't intentional) he slammed a player in the air all the way to the ground by the upper body including having his fingers hooked into the cheek of his mouth.

In the end Houston looks the part of a team that just really does foul a lot, the same way WVU realy does fouled a lot. We've had our games where we get overly physical too but last night it was obvious ISU just fouled way less than WVU, for one thing we weren't trying to foul them 40 feet from the basket like Houston was doing.

They aren't going to get even foul calls on the road in the Big 12 or in their home games against KU...because they play a style where they just actually foul a ton more than KU does and the refs will laugh that out of the building. I'm curious if they bullied officiating into evening out foul calls in the AAC.

 

[bawbie]

Yeah needs to improve more but he's on the path now. You had to see the jump from last year to this year to even have the notion. Scouts are definitely watching in a new way now.

The way he rebounds and finds loose balls/steals is pretty elite for the position and that seems to just be who he is from day one.

I feel like the free throws are just a matter of time until it works out. His advanced stats are actually comparable to a lot of the best players we've had come through going back through Hoiball era.

He's a G-League player right now because of his height only - if he were 6'5" he'd be a lottery pick

 

[ZRF]

That was really obvious, he popped him in the chest pretty hard. I'm fine if they want to go away from calling charges in general but it has to be some kind of foul to keep the contact under control.

There was also a moving screen where the player hit the ISU defender in the mouth with an elbow. I can see how they missed the elbow but you could've called the moving screen from the worst seat in the house.

The flagrant foul...if that's not the highest level of flagrant foul you need to just have one level. Intentional or not (and it's a real stretch to think it wasn't intentional) he slammed a player in the air all the way to the ground by the upper body including having his fingers hooked into the cheek of his mouth.

In the end Houston looks the part of a team that just really does foul a lot, the same way WVU realy does fouled a lot. We've had our games where we get overly physical too but last night it was obvious ISU just fouled way less than WVU, for one thing we weren't trying to foul them 40 feet from the basket like Houston was doing.

They aren't going to get even foul calls on the road in the Big 12 or in their home games against KU...because they play a style where they just actually foul a ton more than KU does and the refs will laugh that out of the building. I'm curious if they bullied officiating into evening out foul calls in the AAC.

I don't disagree but moving screens are probably the most consistently botched call in the game (along with 3 second violations which they hardly ever call any more). For all the hoorah on charges/blocks, I feel like moving screens are an increasingly poorly regulated part of the game.

 

[CyberJJJ]

I believe the same can be said for Wilt Chamberlain.... (like Manning, never winning in Ames)

Except it was a bigger deal with Manning, as he played 4 years at Kansas while Wilt only played 2 I believe.

 

[Cyclonepride]

That's a ridiculous statement. He's at 39.3% from 3pt range - what do you want? He needs to make his damned free throws and improve a couple other areas, but he's a NBA-level guard defender already.

If he was 2" taller, I think he'd be out after this year. As it stands, we might get him for 4.

 

[CyberJJJ]

Did Sampson really blame the refs? Wow! His team is one of the most physical teams I have seen. It’s like Huggins old WVU teams. Push and grab until it’s called. And one of their guys should have gotten a flagrant 2

After I read his comments, I looked through one of the game threads on a Houston fan forum and they decidedly felt ISU got the benefit of the calls and was mugging them all night.

 

[rosshm16]

Gilbert looks like he's used to driving the lane and getting a shot at will. Now he's playing against teams who can stop that and he's still trying to find his game offensively against this level of competition, which is tough since he's a capable shooter but not a lights-out shooter and is leading to some indecisiveness with the ball. I think he'll get there, and he's a very tough defender. Loving him so far despite the headscratching shots he sometimes takes.

 

[CyberJJJ]

OU imo is a tougher match up for ISU especially on the perimeter. They seemed to have more length.

ISU also wasn't very sharp either but OU played like they had something to prove too.

Hard to compare the games as one was away and the other in Hilton. Oklahoma had patience against our traps and moved the ball well as the game went along to get the open three better than Houston did. OK also hit 40% of their 3's while Houston was under 30%. Everybody looks better when you hit shots.

 

[Gunnerclone]

OU imo is a tougher match up for ISU especially on the perimeter. They seemed to have more length.

ISU also wasn't very sharp either but OU played like they had something to prove too.

I think in a way Houston is like looking in the mirror for ISU. that game doesn’t need as much strategic adjustment as a game against OU.

 

[CyberJJJ]

Different game, the big comeback was 2015 senior night.

Wasn't there another big comeback victory vs. Oklahoma in Hilton years earlier?

 

[CyberJJJ]

They're not tough to officiate. Call the fouls that are there and they will stop fouling so damn much.

The difficulty with officiating basketball ( I did it for 15 years) is that for every time you blow the whistle and interrupt the game, you probably made 10 decisions not to blow the whistle and interrupt the game.

 

[madguy30]

Wasn't there another big comeback victory vs. Oklahoma in Hilton years earlier?

Okie State in '92 was a big one.

2014 in the last minute and then Naz's three.

Can't recall another OU one.

 

[rosshm16]

Okie State in '92 was a big one.

2014 in the last minute and then Naz's three.

Can't recall another OU one.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

The difficulty with officiating basketball ( I did it for 15 years) is that for every time you blow the whistle and interrupt the game, you probably made 10 decisions not to blow the whistle and interrupt the game.

Would you at least agree not reviewing the fish hook foul slamming Jones down was terrible officiating?

 

[CyberJJJ]

I was wondering that when they didn't review it, if they can go back after the game and say no that should have been flagrant 2 and suspend him for the next game. I have no idea how the refs let that go. That was completely excessive and could have resulted in a serious injury.

I liked that BRE didn't get up and get in the guy's face. Just professionally walked to the line and calmly sank two free throws. Didn't let it make him lose focus.

 

[CyberJJJ]

I agree. I'm much more in favor of, if it's considered to be even close to 50/50, calling it a flagrant 2 when a physical team is involved and it's early in the game. I also like that line of thinking when the play comes in the midst of escalating physicality/behavior. It sends a message and helps promote a certain level of safety. Thankfully it wasn't a precursor for more physical or dangerous play the rest of the game.

One of our girls who plays soccer had a tournament in DM last year. We hate playing in DM as the tournaments typically have some of the lowest quality referees we see. Anyways, we were slated to play a local (DM area) team that was known to be notoriously physical; there had also been issues with their parents in one of the previous games. Luckily we had an African American (as in he was originally from Africa and emigrated) ref who obviously had several years of refereeing experience (both here and abroad). He talked to the teams at length before the game and after a fairly physical early foul by the opposing team, stopped the game and gave the team another stern verbal warning. It completely set the tone for the rest of the game as the opposing team was less physical. This obviously created a much safer environment and served as a reminder that it is "just a game" for these 8th grade girls. He was also very nice and called a great game (which he could be the head ref for all of our games).

This also has a lasting effect over time. We've seen it in football with the helmet to helmet hits. It's not immediate noticeable but over time there has been a vast decrease in unsafe launches/hits. Players learn the rule, adjust, and ultimately the game is much safer from it. I think they missed this call but won't complain about it as the body of work was about as good as it gets from officials these days.

Your comments in bold made me remember the Hogue "karate kick" game against WVU and the subsequent mugging Monte got going to the hole shortly after.

 

[rosshm16]

I liked that BRE didn't get up and get in the guy's face. Just professionally walked to the line and calmly sank two free throws. Didn't let it make him lose focus.

There was a story sometime in the last two years on how TJ and the staff coach the players on stuff like that: don't respond to hard fouls / bad calls, don't jaw with the officials, those kinds of things, basically a team of anti-Caitlin Clarks.

 

[CyberJJJ]

We had good looks last night; we are just not making them. No one is saying that Houston is not great at defense, but there are times you have to make shoots. I am not talking 12/15, but you have to hit more than 3/15 to win on most nights. If we had lost last night, everyone would be looking at the 3/15 from 3 point and saying that is the reason we lost, but since we won, people are glossing over that fact.

I don't disagree with you, but it isn't as if Houston shot way better than us from three as happened in the Oklahoma game. If we would have lost, I think people may have looked at the rebounding margin disparity first.

 

[rosshm16]

If we had lost, I would have thought the same thing I thought against OU: played pretty well overall against a good team, got enough good looks to win, didn't make enough shots, can't shoot 43% overall and 19% on threes (or in this case 38% and 20%) and expect to win many Big 12 games.

 

[bosco]

Houston, being bullies in the AAC.

ISU