Wichita loses to UConn

[theBUer]

Absolutely mind-boggling that CU, UE and now WSU cannot close it out and let them into it. Either they get too comfortable and let it go over their heads, or the opposition simply wakes up and takes advantage while they are gassed/in foul trouble (like Stutz).

I'm going to beat a dead horse with this one, MVC will be another one-bid league. The regular season champ, if they don't win Arch Madness, punches a ticket for a chance to play at MSG.

[BradleyBrave]

UConn was certainly assisted by the stripes, baldy made a couple of very late, very questionable calls late in the game against the Shockers. UConn also shot 43 FT's, more than twice the amount of WSU. Kemba Walker is a superstar, but UConn doesn't win without the freebies from the refs. Bad loss for the MVC.

[real fan]

tough loss for wichita. i agree w/ the announcers- that was not an illegal pick.

Part of the reason why I do not want my big guys setting screens that far out as you end up getting called for moving or illegal screens because the officials seem to like that call more then a foul on the defender,it is much harder to see illegal screens down low and officials seem to let you bang a lot more inside then out away from the basket.
Kemba walker is the best college player that I have seen so far this season, Wichita could not stop him inside or out.

[tornado]

UConn 83 - Wichita State 79

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201011220129

UConn went to the FT line 44 times to the Shockers' 13!!!!!!!!!!!
...an absolutely unfathomable discrepancy...

The three refs were Ed Corbett, Ken Ditty, Chris Rastatter

Ed Corbet is a Big East ref - has never done an MVC game and oes predominately Big East for years

http://statsheet.com/mcb/referees/ed-corbett/conferences

The other two guys Rastatter & Ditty are Pac-10 refs...have never done MVC games or Big East

[shaunguth]

The free throw (foul) disparity is laughable! Has WSU really committed that many more fouls than UCONN?

Everyone on this board should know by now that officials are not the reason teams lose. I'm thinking the WSU players were just not prepared properly or maybe they shouldn't have been recruited.

I said it last year and I'll say it again......what a crappy conference!

[Chico]

Our bigs better get more physical or the Shockers will eat us up.

[Bravesfan]

Absolutely mind-boggling that CU, UE and now WSU cannot close it out and let them into it. Either they get too comfortable and let it go over their heads, or the opposition simply wakes up and takes advantage while they are gassed/in foul trouble (like Stutz).

I'm going to beat a dead horse with this one, MVC will be another one-bid league. The regular season champ, if they don't win Arch Madness, punches a ticket for a chance to play at MSG.

Can't disagree with any of your points, unfortunately. It seems like BU is not the only team in the Valley that can't hold leads (comparing to last year's BU team of course, at least so far).

[Bravesfan]

UConn was certainly assisted by the stripes, baldy made a couple of very late, very questionable calls late in the game against the Shockers. UConn also shot 43 FT's, more than twice the amount of WSU. Kemba Walker is a superstar, but UConn doesn't win without the freebies from the refs. Bad loss for the MVC.

Another reason why I would not lose sleep if Division I basketball split into two divisions like football. If the zebras and big boys want to cheat their way to wins, then I'd rather see Bradley and other Valley teams play in a lower division than get shafted almost every game! And when a team like Butler, UNI or Gonzaga does break through, well let's just say the hornet's nest gets more stirred up every time!

I know many will disagree with me on this, but feel free to flame away!

[Bravesfan]

Everyone on this board should know by now that officials are not the reason teams lose. I'm thinking the WSU players were just not prepared properly or maybe they shouldn't have been recruited.

I said it last year and I'll say it again......what a crappy conference!

Ehhh, normally I would agree with you, but you know the big boys get more of the "homer" calls, at least much of the time. No one would admit that, but I think it's more true than you think.

[Chico]

I watched the 2nd half and the only questionable call I saw was the illegal screen near the end. I know the difference in ft attempts was a lot, but you can't always blame the refs for that. Missed or made one and ones can add to the difference as can shooting 2 fts after fouls. How many times have we won over the years when the other team outscores us from the field? Happens all the time.
Shockers looked good and will be tough in the Valley.

[real fan]

I watched the 2nd half and the only questionable call I saw was the illegal screen near the end. I know the difference in ft attempts was a lot, but you can't always blame the refs for that. Missed or made one and ones can add to the difference as can shooting 2 fts after fouls. How many times have we won over the years when the other team outscores us from the field? Happens all the time.
Shockers looked good and will be tough in the Valley.

I watched the whole game, a couple of questionable calls, the one on Stutz at the end looked like Stutz raised his elbow and appeared to use it against the defender which I think is why he was called for the foul, had he just kept his arms down the call may have been different, Wichita lost because they could not stop one man from scoring and gave up a lot of dribble drive lay-ups which should not happen to a team with their kind of size.

[wily coyote]

Great game wish WSU could have pulled it out. When I left St Louis last march I said WSU would be the team to beat in the Valley and I didn't see anything to change my mind. I'm not saying we can't complete with them but we got a whole lotta work to do.

[LittleBrave]

Everyone on this board should know by now that officials are not the reason teams lose. I'm thinking the WSU players were just not prepared properly or maybe they shouldn't have been recruited.

I said it last year and I'll say it again......what a crappy conference!

There was one possession in last 5 min. where the refs were determined to give UConn every chance to score to make it a ballgame. 2 clearly horrible calls in favor of UConn that may have been the turning pt.
WSU folded late though too. However, had the refs been fair, WSU probably wins this one IMO. Baldy from the Big-East....hmmmmmmm

[LittleBrave]

I watched the 2nd half and the only questionable call I saw was the illegal screen near the end. I know the difference in ft attempts was a lot, but you can't always blame the refs for that. Missed or made one and ones can add to the difference as can shooting 2 fts after fouls. How many times have we won over the years when the other team outscores us from the field? Happens all the time.
Shockers looked good and will be tough in the Valley.

Really? Even the announcers pointed out a couple other calls that should have been made differently. I can think of 4 bad calls in favor of UConn.

[RoyalShock]

- The block called on Durley, which would have been Walker's fourth foul.
- Blair's clean block on Walker that was called a foul and resulted in two points.
- Reversal of an out-of-bounds call by baldy from the opposite wing. (Refs say that the baseline guy getting over-ruled by the opposite wing ref is very rare and insulting.) On that play the baseline ref made an immediate and confident call giving WSU the ball.
- The illegal screen on Stutz. His forearms barely came away from his body and only after the contact.

There are questionable calls in every game, many affecting the outcome. In the first half WSU got away with one or two "over the back". But the 2nd half saw every bad call go UConn's way, and it was mostly, if not all, by one referee. That is suspicious.

Nevertheless, we didn't capitalize on Walker being out most of the first half and the adjustments Marshall made (zone, match-up-zone) to try and stop Walker didn't work and we ended up on the short end. You just hate to see lopsided officiating play that large a role in the outcome.

WSU isn't likely to see any player with the skills of Walker outside the NCAA tournament for the rest of the year. Stutz took himself out of the game with some mental lapses (bad foul, fumbled pass) that made his performance look much worse than he really is. However, I still thought our post game was better than UConn and if Murry/Kyles can continue to produce like that I think WSU will have a very nice season.