Bob Huggins

[Chiefdaddy]

We played this style in high school and the refs dictate how you play. If they are letting you play really physical, you get real physical. If they are calling all the little touch fouls, you don't get physical. You knew going into WV with the rowdy crowd that they were going to play like that. You have to adjust and make sure your team knows. I personally didn't think we responded well to the physicality in the first half. Also, Lon needs to take the ball and punt it in the stands when his star player is getting groped on every possession. A T in the first half would have calmed it down a bit in my opinion. You noticed it calmed down in the second half after Lon chewed on the refs at halftime.

 

[j2d2]

Blame huggins all you want but our defense needs to be quite a bit batter. Look at the scores of our opponents. We got beaten by 13 points because we didnt play good defense. Rebounding was OK but the defense was mediocre at best.

 

[Northbase]

I respectfully disagree. He seems like kind of a dbag personally, but he coaches a tough and fairly unique brand of basketball. It’s not dirty. They play very physical and put the onus on the refs to decide what to call. I actually think we’ve gotten a fine amount of whistles thus far. TY is actually getting away with some push-offs. WVU plays an annoying style to go up against. It’s frustrsting. But well within the rules and Huggins is really good at it.

This

 

[sanguinetti]

Kelvin's teams were always going to have a tough night if refs were calling hand checks 25-30 feet from the basket. that happened in a lot of his NCAA losses.

OU was then a team that really tried to get you out of your rhythm starting the offense and getting behind the (longer) shot clock by disrupting your guards.

that Big XII with Kelvin, Eddie, RMK, and Rick Barnes was such a physical league. it wasn't pretty basketball but OU, OSU, KU, UT were all Final Four teams.....Missouri made the Elite 8, ATM and Tech made the Sweet 16 a couple times.

 

[DenverSooner]

I didn't see any dirty play in that game. WVU fouls a lot but they were not cheap shots just aggressive defense.

 

[SoonerSpock]

disagree...

I've talked to a college ref...he just said we can't call them all. So they are fouling but instead of the refs telling huggins to cut the **** out they let him dictate the game. Total bs.

Now, I will agree, TY has gotten away with push-offs the first 12 games. I figured it would be in Lawrence where the officials starting calling it...guess here they aren't calling it but not calling wv either.

You might not be able to call them all but you can call everyone you see and it will not take long for the players to adjust to how the game is being called. At that point amazingly there will be much fewer fouls to call. It is really quite simple call the game according to how the rule book is written. If you do not like that game of basketball then change the rules. But the rule book is there for a reason. Use it!!!

The problem begins with the TV networks and the fans wanting an upscale high scoring games which sells product and tickets. However rather than change the rules to accommodate the desired style of play the administrators place the onus on the refs to call the game loosely to promote more offense which allows each ref interprets slightly differently and results in an inconsistency in how a game is called one game versus the next. Sometimes a drastic difference in how the games are called.

If administrators would rewrite the rules to accommodate the game they, the networks and the fans want played and then demand the refs call the game to the letter of the rules you would see much more consistency in how games were called over the course of the season. That would make for better basketball for both the players and the fans.

 

[DenverSooner]

You might not be able to call them all but you can call everyone you see and it will not take long for the players to adjust to how the game is being called. At that point amazingly there will be much fewer fouls to call. It is really quite simple call the game according to how the rule book is written. If you do not like that game of basketball then change the rules. But the rule book is there for a reason. Use it!!!

Exactly. And more importantly be consistent. If you are letting contact go for WVU don't call that foul where Trae is touching Carter,s jersey during a shot.

 

[inoref]

I may be wrong but didn't OU have more trips to the FT line than WVU? The loss was on OU
other players not name Trae and that WVU is a very good team.

 

[steverocks35]

I may be wrong but didn't OU have more trips to the FT line than WVU? The loss was on OU
other players not name Trae and that WVU is a very good team.

Of course we had more free throws, but that doesn’t mean the game was called fairly. Trae Young should have had twice as many free throws and Carter should have fouled out in the first half.

 

[Darwin]

It occurred to me again when I saw some replays, I have noticed it before, they foul on the off arm like a religion.

 

[Darwin]

What makes his team so much better this year is they have offense. They will be going deep in March.

 

[SoonerinNC]

I didn't think the defense was so bad except for our usual weakness inside and WV didn't exploit that a lot. But they hit an awful lot of well contested shots. Seemed like in the second half everything they threw up went in including free shots. They also did a good job of controlling the tempo.

Huggins is one of several who starts the game trying to intimidate the officials and there are officials who are intimidated. I have experienced it as a coach. Gary Blair was a classic. He screamed at every adverse call and sometimes the officials backed off and quit calling a lot of fouls. Huggins has taken it to an art form and seems to have educated the fans.

Kruger is probably too nice a guy. He should have gone vesuvius early in the game and picked up a T. Particularly when Young was grabbed around the chest and they called it a tie ball because the WV player also grabbed the ball. How many times have you heard the color guy say well he got all ball but made contact with the body and that is why the foul was called. Not the way the game was called last night.

 

[sdcloud9]

They challenge the opposition and the officials.

Huggins knows they are going to get fouls called on them, they act like they don't ever foul to plant seeds with the officials.

They called plenty of fouls in the second half, OU didn't make them pay at the line.

I agree, this WV team is better than most because they can score the ball better.

 

[22dupree]

It's one thing to get fouls called on them.
It's another to convert those fouls into points from the line.
Our FT shooting must improve. Missed a bunch that would've changed the game last night.

 

[coolm]

It's one thing to get fouls called on them.
It's another to convert those fouls into points from the line.
Our FT shooting must improve. Missed a bunch that would've changed the game last night.

most definitely. you don't step onto a top-10 teams' home court and expect to sneak away with a "W" shooting FT's like that.

We didnt play well enough in certain areas to win. Too many turnovers, too many points left at the line, way too many lost rebounds. I thought Doolittle came ready for battle and that was about it. The rest were more than a bit timid.

 

[chuckb]

It's one thing to get fouls called on them.
It's another to convert those fouls into points from the line.
Our FT shooting must improve. Missed a bunch that would've changed the game last night.

The team shot 68% from the line. I think we would all agree (or we should) that 75% is really good. Shooting 75% yesterday would've meant 2 additional points. The team didn't lose The game from the line.

 

[SoonerinNC]

You have to add that West Virginia shot 10% better than their season average at the free throw line.

Also a lot has to do when we missed the shots. At crucial points in the second half and I think at least two were the front end of one and ones.

 

[sperry]

The team shot 68% from the line. I think we would all agree (or we should) that 75% is really good. Shooting 75% yesterday would've meant 2 additional points. The team didn't lose The game from the line.

We missed the front end of several 1-and-1s, so the two points thing isn't really accurate.

 

[chuckb]

We missed the front end of several 1-and-1s, so the two points thing isn't really accurate.

That happened twice. At a 75% rate, we end up with about 3 more points. Still not even close to being the difference in the game.

 

[jaymOU]

I didn't see any dirty play in that game. WVU fouls a lot but they were not cheap shots just aggressive defense.

Agree for the most part, but right before half when there was a shot clock snafu, after the whistle, Trae is sort of half-heartedly driving to the bucket when West gives him a forearm to the side. Uncalled for when the game is going on and "dirty" after the whistle. But, aside from this, WVU played hard, not dirty.