Whupped

[GangGreen]

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[GreenBrigadeDebbie]

The refs were HORRIBLE. I am not a basketball buff, but I saw too many botched calls by refs. Our team could have won or maybe lost a heartbreaker, but we should not have lost as much as we did. I am very disappointed in the way the refs called the game. We were robbed of this game from the beginning. What a shame that the Sun Belt is associated with these refs.

But I still love my Mean Green!

[LoveMG]

What a shame that the Sun Belt is associated with these refs. 

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The SunBelt is the shame for hiring refs like these.

[Guest Aquila_Viridis]

Some guys need to get their shooting percentage up.

I had the trifecta of basketball disaster today. I was at the Grizzlies' loss, Virginia of course lost at Duke, and now this.

[ntmeangreen11]

Terrible game for me to go to(first of year)

Ugly game.

[UNTSportsGuy]

Didn't matter who the refs where, the team that played better won last night.

[DeepGreen]

Didn't matter who the refs where, the team that played better won last night.

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Subject closed.

[untgeorge]

the officials made no difference whatsoever. They ain't great, but they did not favor one team over the other. We should forget focusing on the officials and focus on our team's performance.

[OldTimer]

Subject closed.

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I waited for JJ to adjust our offense but he never did, when 2 defensive players run a 2 man half court defense cutting off the ball handler coming up court on the sidelines......that leave one offensive player not being guarded. The only way to handle that half court trap is bring your offensive players closer to the half court and pass the ball to the ungarded player. NT never did this.

I too saw some terrible ref calls.....never saw refs argue so much among themselves on what to do.

On the other hand the women's team played a great game, taking an early 10 point lead which was almost never touched. Some bad calls there also, but were evenly spread between the teams.

Question was there some kind of kid promotion going on....never saw so many children at a game.

[Cooley]

I don't know why we need to try to find excuses for a UNT loss. USA was the better team. They were able to beat U of H when we could not. They now lead the series against us 10-3, 8-3 in Sun Belt games and have defeated us 4 straight times. Our guys played hard, but we are just not talented enough to seriously contend for a Sun Belt title. (Despite playing at home in front of 5,000)

Not necessarily ready to pull the plug on this season, but it aint going to happen this year. I'll continue to come out to support their efforts. JJ has some bigger bodies coming in next year and hopefully Ben Bell is better at the point and Collin Mangrum will be a better consistent dual threat coming off the bench (as a 2 or 3) than what we have now

[class84]

I don't know why we need to try to find excuses for a UNT loss. USA was the better team. They were able to beat U of H when we could not. They now lead the series against us 10-3,  8-3 in Sun Belt games and have defeated us 4 straight times. Our guys played hard, but we are just not talented enough to seriously contend for a Sun Belt title. (Despite playing at home in front of 5,000)

Not necessarily ready to pull the plug on this season, but it aint going to happen this year. I'll continue to come out to support their efforts. JJ has some bigger bodies coming in next year and hopefully Ben Bell is better at the point and Collin Mangrum will be a better consistent dual threat coming off the bench (as a 2 or 3) than what we have now

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Agree with all points. Brown is an OK shooter, but was a turnover machine at point all night and did nothing to get the offense in rhythm. The interior defense was awful. Simpson got the two quick fouls and USA practiced layup drills the rest of the night. The refs weren't great, but they didn't cause a 21 point loss.

I was 9 rows up at mid-court and had the entire row to myself. I'm trying to figure out where 5,000 people were.

[MeanGreenThing]

Did I wander onto the football boards by accident? All this talk of not being strong enough to win conference and pulling the plug on the season. Yeah, it was an ugly ugly loss, but last time I checked, that still puts us at 1/2 game out of 1st and tied for 3rd place overall in conference. Nobody expected this team to do anything this year, they were picked 6th in the division. So why don't you relax and take last night for what it was, a bad stumble that the refs certainly didn't help, but that doesn't mean the guys should just hang up their jerseys from here on out.

On another note, what the heck happened with Sturns's technical? Hanging on the rim when there are guys under you is allowed. Then we get the ball back after the 2 shots? That made no sense at all.

[mwynn05]

The difference in the game was USA had an answer for every UNT run those guys shot lights out they arent that much better.

[Guest e-bone]

Did I wander onto the football boards by accident?  All this talk of not being strong enough to win conference and pulling the plug on the season.  Yeah, it was an ugly ugly loss, but last time I checked, that still puts us at 1/2 game out of 1st and tied for 3rd place overall in conference.  Nobody expected this team to do anything this year, they were picked 6th in the division.  So why don't you relax and take last night for what it was, a bad stumble that the refs certainly didn't help, but that doesn't mean the guys should just hang up their jerseys from here on out.

On another note, what the heck happened with Sturns's technical?  Hanging on the rim when there are guys under you is allowed. Then we get the ball back after the 2 shots?  That made no sense at all.

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Good post. A lot of people don't seem to realize that some nights a team just doesn't play well. Basketball is a sport in which getting into a rhythm is necessary to play good ball. The refs never allowed that with a whistle on basically every possession. USA is a top team in the conference, and while NT is very capable of beating anyone in our league, it is essential that our guys are able to get into a rhythm and play their style of basketball. When they don't, it can get pretty ugly out there.

As for the tech, I have no idea. If the refs are going to take that long to make a call, they need to just pull out the rule book and make sure they get it right rather than make something up, which it seems they did.

[GMoney]

The difference in the game was USA had an answer for every UNT run those guys shot lights out they arent that much better

My thoughts exactly. They had a big bucket every time we started a run or cut the lead to 10. It happens! It's the exact same thing we did to Troy on Thursday. All of these Sun Belt teams are very close and whoever hits the shots at the right time is going to win.

As for the tech, I have no idea. If the refs are going to take that long to make a call, they need to just pull out the rule book and make sure they get it right rather than make something up, which it seems they did.

There was an official sitting behind me watching the game that explained what happened on that play. A player cannot hang on the rim (even to protect himself) if he is not the player with the ball in the act of shooting causing him to hang on the rim (as was the case). This is an automatic technical foul and the ball remains with the team who had the ball at the time of the foul.

The interior defense was awful.

An understatement. You cannot allow players to get the ball on the block and back themselves to the other side of lane and allow access to both sides of the basket. Help defense was no there, at the ball was weak, and even with all the foul calls none of these fouls were hard fouls with the intent to intimidate someone driving the lane.

Teams are going to have games like last night where the other team is hot and the fouls go against you. Great teams overcome those issue and good teams can struggle in those situations. Last night we struggled.

Edited January 29, 2006 by GMoney

[Buford_Julep]

Good analysis by Cooley and G. Money. We probably don't have a championship team, but we have one worthy of our support.

Here is a quote from the USA coach via the Mobile Register:

"We got back to looking like our basketball team a little bit," USA coach John Pelphrey said. "I thought the guys were outstanding tonight. I'm a little taken aback by how much we won by because North Texas is really a good team".

[eulesseagle]

I think USA shot about 70% in the first half and almost 60% for the game. It is hard to beat anyone with that percentage.

Appeared that the refs, in the first half, were split on how to call the game. I could not figure out if they wanted to let the guys play or call it close. The second half the refs tried to call the game really close and got everyone out of their rhythm.

USA had a good press on our guys throughout the game and IMHO took the team out of their ususal "up and down" play.

At least we know that we will be in the SBC tournament and hopefully we can turn Saturday's night lesson into a win next time we play USA.

IMHO, with the team we have now and what we will have next year we are on the cusp of going to the NCAA Tournament. Look for great things with JJ this year and next.

[Black Scholes]

I think USA shot about 70% in the first half and almost 60% for the game.  It is hard to beat anyone with that percentage.

Appeared that the refs, in the first half, were split on how to call the game.  I could not figure out if they wanted to let the guys play or call it close.  The second half the refs tried to call the game really close and got everyone out of their rhythm. 

USA had a good press on our guys throughout the game and IMHO took the team out of their ususal "up and down" play.

At least we know that we will be in the SBC tournament and hopefully we can turn Saturday's night lesson into a win next time we play USA.

IMHO, with the team we have now and what we will have next year we are on the cusp of going to the NCAA Tournament.  Look for great things with JJ this year and next.

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Great post from Someone who was obviously at the game. I'm not ready to throw the towel in on the season. I think we have a talented team that could beat USA in Alabama. Let's wait and see.

I have never seen a team try to milk the clock toward the end of the game and then jack up a 3 point shot right before the shot clock runs and see it go in almost every time. That made me so sick to see those 3's go in.

[Zeke]

I have never seen a team try to milk the clock toward the end of the game and then jack up a 3 point shot right before the shot clock runs and see it go in almost every time.  That made me so sick to see those 3's go in.

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Did you make it to our game against Troy?

[mwynn05]

Good analysis by Cooley and G. Money. We probably don't have a championship team, but we have one worthy of our support.

Here is a quote from the USA coach via the Mobile Register:

"We got back to looking like our basketball team a little bit," USA coach John Pelphrey said. "I thought the guys were outstanding tonight. I'm a little taken aback by how much we won by because North Texas is really a good team".

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I think this team could make it to the big dance if they got hot at the right time. If they did make it maybe the university would really get behind them as it would do a lot more than the joke of a bowl that the football team goes to. Im not trying to knock the football team in any way its beyond their control but the NCAA Tournament is so much more meaningful than the New Orleans Bowl and would give the university a lot more exposure especially if we were to pull an upset

[UNT_92_Fan]

be easy wynn....might piss some football only readers off if they managed to venture to the basketball board...the New ORLEANS Bowl is like the damn Rose Bowl to the Football frenzies....

TAKE AS A JOKE GUYS....Or Flame me your call...

[Black Scholes]

Did you make it to our game against Troy?

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No, I missed it. I'm assuming that happened in that game as well?

[mwynn05]

be easy wynn....might piss some football only readers off if they managed to venture to the basketball board...the New ORLEANS Bowl is like the damn Rose Bowl to the Football frenzies....

TAKE AS A JOKE GUYS....Or Flame me your call...

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Well, they can get mad if they want it's a fact

[Zeke]

No, I missed it.  I'm assuming that happened in that game as well?

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Yeah, but that time it was Kendrick Davis that was the shooter of those last second 3's. One was a fade away as the shot clock expired that was all net and the other was somewhat of a leaner that ended up banking in. Some nights things just go your way.

[Stan R]

Yep, the title "whupped" pretty much sums it up. This wasn't an "off day". Their players were bigger, more talented, faster, better shooters and were better coached. They also shot free throws better. It was an embarrasing loss and JJ should be embarrased by his lack of adjustments and putting that ridiculously prepared team out on the field.