I just watched the game again on my DVR. The first half they really just kicked our butts...The energy and crowd was huge for them and we were very sloppy and didn't respond well.
In the first half, there were a couple of calls or non-calls that definitely went against us. Coleman got mugged on a rebound with no call and it went outta bounds off him.. Zeller got a foul call on Ingram when he initiated contacted and all Ingram did was put his arms up. Totally Bogus! The real damage was done in the 2nd half from about the 12 min mark down to the final 2 minutes.
1)Andre gets a steal and drives the distance against Yogi when Zeller comes from behind to block his layup...only problem was that the ball hit the backboard first and should have been an automatic goaltending call. Ball hits backboard whether its still going up or not, that's goaltending...refs blew it...2 points lost.
2)Obvious charge by IU's Hollowell into Ingram who was set and again, his only movement at the time of imapact was his arms going up...Hollowell made 2 FT's.
3)Coleman gets called for a charge when Oladipo was moving sideways on the baseline.
4)Ball outta bounds obviously off Abdell but the refs looked at each other with no call for 3 seconds and then one of them from behind the play 50 feet away signaled IU ball. Totally bogus call.
5)Mbakwe called for a block call on Watford drive...Again, he was in position and bulled over...Watford made 1 out of 2.
6)Other end of the court, Zeller blocks Mbakwe at the rim, but slammed into Trevor with his body...No call.
7)Yogi drives to the basket and refs ignore his obvious travel as he lost his pivot foot when he started the drive...Then he jumps into Mbakwe and gets bailed out by the refs again...Shoulda been a no call as he misseed the shot. Instead he made 1 of 2.
8)Hollins makes a 3 that was very close to the line...1 official signalled 2 and other 3...the one who signalled 2 won out and when Tubby asked them to go back and look at it, they told him no can do. Replays showed it was a 3. 1 point lossed there.
9)about 5 minutes to go, IU has an inbounds pass to Zeller about 5 feet from the basket on the backside....Austin winds up trying to defend him and is under the basket..As Austin stood and raised his arms, Zeller leans in with his head canted(anticipating contact), threw up some junk that rimmed out...got bailed out on another foul. Result: 2 more FT's made.
10)2nd half, Trevor is in position for a weakside putback but gets pushed by Sheehey, ever so slightly, causing him to miss the tip in...no call.
Not even counting the 1st half that's 7 to 11 points right there in the 2nd half alone. The refs really impeded our comeback from the 10 min mark down to the final 2 minutes. IU fans could argue that Oladipo's 5th foul on Hollins' 3 point attempt was bogus because Andre jumped into him...And in the NBA that would not be a foul on Dipo...would be a no call...I agree that was a bad call.. Dre made 2 of 3 FT's.
All told, I reckon the refs caused a 14 to 16 point swing in IU's favor for the entire game.. Also kept their players from getting into foul trouble. No Fouls on Zeller until the last 30 seconds when he pushed Mbakwe under the basket as Trevor went up for a rebound.
Other frustrating things watching the replay...We got about 5 second turnovers with our press in the final 5 minutes but couldn't cash them in...the first one, Austin Hollins got a pass from Joe Coleman and drove to the basket on Zeller...Zeller did a great job of not fouling but making it a hard shot. Rodney comes up for the follow up dunk and Yogi manages to distract Rodney just enuf to make him miss the dunk. Ball rims out, they rebounded. Moments later, Andre flys in after a turnover and missed badly over Watford...they rebounded. Those were both situations where we had 3 on 1's. Shoulda scored or got to the FT line.
Yes, they kicked our butts in the 1st half and my worst fears regarding turnvoers and our lack of a great ball-handling guard were realized. Kudos to Andre and the guys for only having 5 turnovers in the 2nd half. we had 12 in the first half when they made their run.
All in all, I came away thinking the Gophers can beat them back in Williams, but honestly, on a neutral court with an evenly called game, we'd probably lose 6 outta 10..We can still win the Conference if we hold serve at home and win 2 out of 3 tough road games at Wisconsin, Purdue and Iowa. I anticipate we'll lose at MSU and OSU.
Best case scenario is 14-4 and a share of the Title. I'm starting to think IU might win the league with a 15-3 record. Worst case scenario for the Gophers is 11-7, barring injuries.
