Refs should have called technicals on themselves!

When a football player goes into the sidelines, a couple of refs usually go in near them. In the NC game Monday I never saw so many instances of refs offering a hand to help up a player.

When the momentum of a player crashes him into the stands, scoreboard or in this case the opponents bench, you'd think a ref or two would be right there to help the player out. Good refs can defuse these situations but instead this crew appear to sit on their thumbs.

Absolutely. Even while it was happening I was telling myself "oh, ok they are just separating the guys." But no, they deliberated forever and called technical fouls for a non-fight.

And really, if anything, why didn't Saul get a technical for leaving the Ohio bench? Does that rule not apply to the head coach? That is initially what I thought they might do.

I'm getting a little tired of the complaining about the refs as if they were responsible for the outcome of the game. They're MAC refs. They're always bad, and bad both ways. There were bad calls that went in favor of Ohio last night too. Every team needs to deal with it. Tonight was nothing new. But on that particular play, they may have actually been right. Yes, it's shocking, I know, but if the rules state players can't enter an opponent's bench area, well video clearly shows that three of our guys did exactly that. And just because you aren't aware of the rule doesn't mean that when you commit a foul that it didn't exist. That goes straight back to coaching, and as we have learned from SP himself, he didn't even know either. So it's a teaching moment all the way around.

Listening to SP he almost makes the refs sound like a scapegoat for the loss. They weren't. Take those free throws away and BG very likely still wins, just by a little less. SP also got T-ed up after that, was that gonna help a comeback? BG just kicked OU's tail from the midpoint of the first half on. Period. Everyone is so focused on the play in front of the bench, well what about what happened to set that all up? We fouled a guy making a three. Huge mistake. That put Ohio down 8 with them going to the line with under 4 to go. BG's bench did what any team, including OU, would do if a teammate hit and got fouled on the three at that point in the game. There was no stomping and there was no punching. After the 20 replays they showed, I don't even think BG's bench realized Simmons ended up where he did because Ali went down right there too. OU's guys did nothing malicious going over to help their teammate, other than as we learned, entering an opponent's bench area is not allowed. If that's a rule, it's a rule. Just because SP or guys didn't know about it doesn't mean it shouldn't have been called. You deal with it and move on. SP even said he'll have to teach differently because he clearly wasn't aware of it. Bottom line is OU lost, BG won, and it didn't happen based on a few free throws. Ohio had a 14 point lead on its home floor and lost by 15. A few free throws did not cause that kind of swing.

I don't think anyone is blaming the refs and/or the outcome of the scrum for the loss. I'm sure Saul wouldn't either if you asked him. But something that takes that long to deliberate is going to be asked about in post game presser.

Now, the score was only 71-66 before that play (74-66 if you count the three pointer). But that possession turned into a 10-point possession with all the three and all the foul shots, plus another driving layup, foul and 3 point play. I can see why Saul would think the team was basically dead in the water after that, because that's definitely true.

And I'm not blaming Simmons for that foul starting the scrum and getting the techs. He fouled a shooter. It happens. You don't want or like it to happen but it happens. The refs could have controlled the situation a little better.

I agree with those who don't blame the refs. MAC refs are bad anyway, but BG had momentum the entire 2nd half, while we had poor shot selection and no D. We were headed for a loss; you could feel that midway through the 2nd half. The only problem with the Ts was the timing; coming late in the game it really deflated the balloon. I think there might not have been Ts if the one ref hadn't gotten a bloody nose out of it; they're not going to let something like that go unpunished. Oddly enough, it was likely someone from BG who gave it to him. But, it was Ohio players wading into BG's bench that was the catalyst, so they made Ohio players pay for it.

Something else nobody has really mentioned was the awful turnover before the scrum on a break. Jaaron saw Tony wide open for a dunk/layup which would have cut the lead to 2 at the time. Instead, he threw the pass way too hard at that distance, it goes through Tony's hands, turnover. BG scored on their next possession, and before you know it the lead that could have been down to 2 was back to 7 and the gap could never be closed.

Extra points for the Don Knotts reference.

Thanks for posting the press conference. Coach Phillips impressed me with his comments.

I'm torn between sending in a small donation in honor of those 4 technical fouls (I didn't mind any of them and hoped coach would get another near the end just.... just because) and not sending that small donation because we just got thoroughly dominated at home after taking a big lead. Good grief.

Just watched the coaches news conference and I have 1 observation that I would appreciate an answer on and a number of other concerns as comments of the coach.
Observation:
Whether it's BB or football we can never hear the question being asked? Why? And why can't it be corrected?
Comments on the coach:
It appears to me that he has a difficult time articulating his thoughts and it leaves me thinking negatively about his ability.
I feel that he second guesses himself quite a bit. This leads me to think that he doesn't have a lot of self confidence.
A good coach clearly knows the strengths and weaknesses of his players and sets in motion both a O and D that plays to those aspects. Case in point is with Tony, he has slow feet and therefore should not be attempting to do a lot of switching as he always seems to get to the spot late.

In conclusion Saul could learn a lot from Frank.



GO BOBCATS

Wow. Did we watch the same press conference above? Not my impression at all. Oh well....

See people rocking
Hear people chanting
Feeling hot hot takes
Keep up this spirit
Come on let's do it
Feeling hot hot takes
It's in the air
Saul Phillip's rhyme
Like Geraldo Tweetin'
71's readin' minds

Agree - sadly.