I WAS for the CBI....

[Braves4Life]

I'd love to see us get some "home cookin'". I nominate da Coach, tornado, and dogsrus to ref the game tomorrow night

[Tulsa Brave]

But since the CBI hasa control over who refs the games can't they "help" decide the outcome to an extent by weighting the crew in favor of who they want to win? Getting to refs that did multiple Tulsa games is a good start.

Again though iot doesn't really matter....BU could have won this in SPITE of how bad some of us think the game was called. Oh...and it WAS bad.

Yeah we could have won...maybe even should have won. But we will win tomorrow and again Friday.

Are you guys still planning on coming down Friday?

[tornado]

Hartzell resigned ...

so, recall, I said the "appearance of bias or conflict", surely hiring a recent MVC AD as ref for a game involving an MVC team and another foe could do better in avoiding the appearance of a conflict.

Every ref in the nation is available on that night...you know there's not a whole lot of games going on..you can have almost anyone you want, so you pick guys with league ties and homers from Oklahoma?

[cpacmel]

beano...I know the appearance of bias when I see it...but proving intent on bias is, of course,
impossible, since how can you know what's inside someone's mind.

But what about this.........

In Illinois State's home win in the NIT over Utah State, look who one of the refs is...........

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/ils-m19.htm

One of the refs is Rick Hartzell, who I am sure you know quite well,
just happens to be the Athletic Director of ISU's conference mate University of Northern Iowa.

http://unipanthers.cstv.com/genrel/hartzell_rick00.html

UNI Athletic Director Rick Hartzell
who reffed ISU's home NIT win vs. USU


Now seriously.....since ISU will share some of its NIT revenue with UNI, and so therefore,
Rick Hartzell literally gains directly in a financial way from ISU's win, then don't you think the
NIT organizers should have done whatever necessary to AVOID even the remote appearance of bias or conflict in the selection of refs?

This example is one that the Utah State people should have made a stink out of!!!!!!!!!!!
I know it is just an example, but a pretty powerful one at that which I think
proves the tournament organizers really don't care about the "appearance" of bias
and just maybe don't even care about the reality of it either.....you decide.......

so, recall, I said the "appearance of bias or conflict", surely hiring a recent MVC AD as ref for a game involving an MVC team and another foe could do better in avoiding the appearance of a conflict.

Every ref in the nation is available on that night...you know there's not a whole lot of games going on..you can have almost anyone you want, so you pick guys with league ties and homers from Oklahoma?

Tornado, to be fair you said A LOT of things.

You said Hartzell was the AD at UNI. WRONG You even underlined it for effect.

You said Hartzell literally gains directly in a financially way from ISU winning. WRONG Hartzell hasn't been employed by an MVC school since January. He gains nothing, besides his ref stipend for doing that game.

The Hartzell / UNI thing didn't end well. But then again, you think he is still employed there.

Now knowing this, do you think the Utah State fans should stink make a stink about this? Hartzell is a dam good ref. Look over the years at some of the games he has done. He has done big time match-ups and Big Dances the last few years. I was at the game, and there was only 1 call he made, that I didn't agree with. He was by the far the best ref on the floor that night. You think he cares what happens with Dayton / Illinois State? Come on man.

One of the refs that did last night's game did both ISU / SIU's games this year, he also did the Tennessee / Memphis game where #1 and #2 played earlier this season.

All 3 of these refs worked this year's Big Dance. One of them, I believe just worked a Sweet 16 game.

I can't remember who made this point and in what thread, but how come the officiating wasn't questioned in any of the other CBI games? In those games, didn't BU have the foul count and free throw advantage in those games?

Tulsa is a rugged team, that is very athletic and talented down low. Bradley's weakness this year has been post play. I see that as the main difference in the fouls called and free throws attemped. You got outrebounded 46 to 25. Tulsa had 18 offensive boards to BU's 7. Do you think that might have been a bigger issue than the fouls?

Feel free to play games with word semantics with your appearance of bias or conflict all you want.

But in the end, don't let the facts get in the way of your rant.

Still waiting to hear the refs from the Dayton / ISU game that also did A-10 games....

[Out of Balance]

No one ??“ on either side - is going to argue this game was well officiated. Let??™s move on from that.

This game was lost on one factor ??“ Tulsa??™s offensive rebounding. Tulsa had 18 offensive rebounds to Bradley??™s 9 that resulted in a 16-9 differential on second chance points. Add to that the Braves shot 21% on threes compared to a season average of 38% and 55% on free throws compared to a season average of 75%. That was the ball game.

Scouter, I don??™t think I could feel any more differently than you (based on your flippant remarks above). No question, I had higher aspirations for this year??™s team. However, this team has faced a lot of adversity and never quit fighting. It would have been easy to ???mail it in??? at several points this season. They did not and are probably playing as well (despite last night) as they have all year. I am not sure if I will ???let the champagne (sic) flow,??? but winning 22 games three years in a row would certainly be a nice accomplishment. It is unfortunate you have no appreciation for that.

I agree this game was winable but wasn't because of all the things you said above. Take away the bad 3 point and freethrow shooting plus the oneway officiating, the game is just more of what we have indured all year on the boards!

[Scouter]

Scouter, I don??™t think I could feel any more differently than you (based on your flippant remarks above). No question, I had higher aspirations for this year??™s team. However, this team has faced a lot of adversity and never quit fighting. It would have been easy to ???mail it in??? at several points this season. They did not and are probably playing as well (despite last night) as they have all year. I am not sure if I will ???let the champagne (sic) flow,??? but winning 22 games three years in a row would certainly be a nice accomplishment. It is unfortunate you have no appreciation for that.

So finishing 17-15 in the regular season and getting to the finals of an inaugural third-tier tournament is a successful season? Even though this team was picked to finish second in the league and was supposed to be an NCAA tourney team? Getting to this point in this tournament does not make this a successful season, despite all the different selling points you could make because of it (three years with 20+ wins, three straight postseasons, etc.).

Yes, this team has faced a lot of adversity. But two of the four major issues that happened to this team were self-inflicted, which makes it harder for me to appreciate what they did because of that. In any case, this team never should've lost to UNI and WSU at home, even if Ruffin was out. They also shouldn't have looked like squat in the season opener against a less-than-stellar UIC team when we had everyone available. No excuses for those three losses. I'm sorry.

And how is "champagne" spelled wrong?

[VeveJones007]

For anyone who doesn't think the CBI is good for Bradley, I have one argument. Remember Drake? That team that had an great year and was ranked in the top-25 for much of the second half of the season and got a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament? Well if Bradley wins on Wednesday, the Braves will have had 2 more weeks of practice and games than Drake.

The cost of the tournament is insignificant because I'm sure most college coaches would tell you that an extra two weeks to work with your team is priceless.

The refs were bad, but foul discrepancy was a product of getting absolutely dominated down low. Even though the game was back-and-forth most of the way, it was not one of Bradley's better games. I would actually argue that we played poorly. As some other posters have said and I'll simply add on: Play better and we win the game. Period.

[Scouter]

For anyone who doesn't think the CBI is good for Bradley, I have one argument. Remember Drake? That team that had an great year and was ranked in the top-25 for much of the second half of the season and got a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament? Well if Bradley wins on Wednesday, the Braves will have had 2 more weeks of practice and games than Drake.

So you'd rather be in the finals of the CBI than win the Valley regular season and tournament, be ranked in the top 25 much of the season and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament?

[beanocookschins]

The cost of the tournament is insignificant because I'm sure most college coaches would tell you that an extra two weeks to work with your team is priceless.

I like the CBI for some reasons. A)Im a fan and more games I get to watch and go to the better B)It means more games for seniors who love playing the game C)It gives you more practice time D)It gives younger players a chance to play more and see what you have.

Now, BU hasn't really taken advantage of the younger player thing. However, the CBI is not a feather in your cap thing. I don't talk it up that way. It is a third-tier tournament that gets absolutely zero play nationally. It is based only on money and its not merit based. I don't consider playing in the CBI a "successful" season.

Veve: I understand your point but quite a few teams turned down the opportunity to pay to get the extra practice. They do enough individual workouts I don't know how much the extra practice matters.

I like it from a fan standpoint but I'm not crowing about it. This year didn't meet preseason expectations, plain and simple.

[Gold]

Hey gold...there's a waiting period to post on your board, so I can't post this there. I see someone posted they need more people to sign up for the bus to Peoria or there won't be a bus. Are Bradley fans from Tulsa welcome?

I imagine they are. You might get some people looking at you.

[VeveJones007]

I like the CBI for some reasons. A)Im a fan and more games I get to watch and go to the better B)It means more games for seniors who love playing the game C)It gives you more practice time D)It gives younger players a chance to play more and see what you have.

Now, BU hasn't really taken advantage of the younger player thing. However, the CBI is not a feather in your cap thing. I don't talk it up that way. It is a third-tier tournament that gets absolutely zero play nationally. It is based only on money and its not merit based. I don't consider playing in the CBI a "successful" season.

Veve: I understand your point but quite a few teams turned down the opportunity to pay to get the extra practice. They do enough individual workouts I don't know how much the extra practice matters.

I like it from a fan standpoint but I'm not crowing about it. This year didn't meet preseason expectations, plain and simple.

I, like many I'm sure, expected this years Bradley team to be in the NCAA tournament. I didn't explain my view well enough. This year's team is lost to me. They underachieved for a variety of reasons...and I'm in offseason-rebuilding mode. That's why I think that 3 weeks of practice for AT, WE, AW, SM, etc. are GREAT!

I don't care if we win this tournament because it's completely insignificant IMO. I just want us to keep winning because I feel that the extra practice and playing time will pay dividends in the future. I hope that clarifies what I'm trying to say.

[VeveJones007]

So you'd rather be in the finals of the CBI than win the Valley regular season and tournament, be ranked in the top 25 much of the season and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament?

I think my other post cleared up my point, but just in case I'll explain here. I'm looking forward to next year and trying to win the Valley regular season and tournament and get a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. I just can't think of a better way to get there than to keep playing, practicing, trying to get better.

[Weatherdemon]

Hey gold...there's a waiting period to post on your board, so I can't post this there. I see someone posted they need more people to sign up for the bus to Peoria or there won't be a bus. Are Bradley fans from Tulsa welcome?

You're not one the people I talked to when I was walking up with 2 boys are you?

There isn't a waiting list on tulsa.rivals.com that I am aware of and I have been a mod since we moved to rivals.

For the bus ride, I'm sure you would be welcome. Just call and reserve your spot.

[IheartBU]

Dude.

Even the players refer to it as a third-tier tournament.

BUT

We're still playing basketball. We get another home game tomorrow night. A kid who's meant a lot to a lot of us, JC, gets to put on that jersey again. Some of the newbies have gotten some playing time against teams (or types of teams) they wouldn't see normally.

How is this a bad thing?

And as long as we're playing basketball, we might as well end the season with a win.

[J Money]

Veve I think you're a little off here, as WE and TCS have played less than 4 minutes combined since this tournament started. I think you're intentions are on target but those guys are getting no benefits. Will came in against Ohio and promptly jacked a three from the corner in transition so he apparently still needs to learn he isn't a 2 guard.

It has been a great help to SM and definitely to DC. It's amazing how much the sentiments towards DC have changed on this board since the CBI started.