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Post by FunDmentals on Mar 10, 2014 7:44:49 GMT -6
It was hard to deal with that loss. The whole ride home was pretty painful.
On the game: The Phoenix weren't ready for the moment. That first half was abismal. I give this team a ton of credit for the comeback in the 2nd half, but when it came down to crunch time Milwaukee was more clutch than GB.
My biggest issue of the game was Brown taking a 3 with 40 seconds to go in the game and about 20 seconds on the shot clock. It wasn't so much the shot, but the timing of it. Even if you miss, make Milwaukee come down the court with under 20 to play and have to at least rush the shot. Instead they let Aaron dribble around and figure out what he wanted to do. I also would have liked to see a timeout on the last possession. Wardle had drawn up some great plays out of timeouts in the 2nd half, and I think an iso with Sykes/Brown would have been a better option than what they ran.
Fouse missed a crucial layup in the 2nd half. As a whole, his offensive game makes me cringe. He did an admirable job guarding Aaron, but he looks uncomfortable with the basketball.
The refs were terrible. Don't get me wrong, the loss should be owned by the Phoenix, but that was JV quality reffing on a big stage. Jordan Aaron pushed off at least 4 times (never called), and the blocking was getting called differently depending on the end of the floor they were on. That's not acceptable. The bald ref was probably the worst D1 official I have seen in a long time.
The crowd was great except for the three old guys sitting behind us. My friend stood up on a defensive possession with 3 minutes to go, and one of them said, "sit the hell down". Not sure why you would even bother attending the game.
On the impact: I'd love to be as optimistic as some of you, but I believe there is a 0% chance at the NCAA. It's bad for the program because they had a chance to be one of two Wisconsin teams in the tourney and get a lot of statewide attention. Also, with the style of play (and Keifer Sykes), I truly believe they were one tournament win away from becoming the darlings of the NCAA tournament. They have the flash of FGCU, without the blatant marketing.
I also don't see the value in the NIT. No recruit thinks to themselves, "Yeah, I'd really like to go to GB so I can be on ESPN on a Tuesday at 11pm."
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Mar 10, 2014 9:19:36 GMT -6
1. Injuries were a factor. Alec got hurt on opening tip? Keifer had Knee injury and then ankle during game. He was limping just bringing up the ball. 2. After 2 previous games no answer for Aarons. Put a guy with a ankle & knee injury to guard him most of the game. 3. Officials should be fired and never work above middle or grade school games again. They were equaly horrible for both sides. But seemed worse for us. 4. As much as I hate to say it we were out Coached. As much as I've defended Coach Wardle in the past with the game tied and 12.5 seconds left you call a time out to set up a play after you get it accross the half court line. Horrible nonmove and lead to a desperate try to win the game. 2 timeouts left and what are you saving them for OT. Well that was a good idea! 1 for 8 in OT? 5. We played 3/8's of a game. We know we have to play 2 halves but we consistly have a bad half. 2nd half was good but not good enough and OT just sucked. 6. I waited 2 days to post because this was the worst loss/played game I've seen (outside of Valpo game when we looked totally disoriented) and after felt like I wasted my time! It set GB basketball back along way. I've been a season ticket holder since early 90's and if they asked me today I would say no. I'm sure with more time I'll mellow but right now I'm still bitter! 7. Nit is only for another chance to play more games, but for what 69th best in the nation? I wouldn't hold my breath for a NCAA bid these people have eyes too.
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 10, 2014 17:20:04 GMT -6
Soul crushing. A cruel joke by the basketball gods to stomp the team with this litany of injuries all at once in a game who's result trumps an entire seasons body of work. This feels more like an injury disqualification than a loss. A chance to show the world how good they are was pulled out from underneath them.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 10, 2014 17:45:56 GMT -6
The crowd was great except for the three old guys sitting behind us. My friend stood up on a defensive possession with 3 minutes to go, and one of them said, "sit the hell down". Not sure why you would even bother attending the game. What a coincidence. This happened to me at the game in Milwaukee earlier this year with 9 seconds left in regulation. Old codgers I tell ya...
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Mar 10, 2014 18:02:46 GMT -6
The refs were terrible...The bald ref was probably the worst D1 official I have seen in a long time. That is my guy, Peter Juzenas, I am always harping on him. He is bad but he actually had a good game by his standards which is to say he only sucked as much as the others but not really more! I was at the game in Detroit this season and a hard core Titan fan was sitting next to me. Before the tip he said that guy sucks and is the worst in the league, so he is disliked by a lot of fans. I though Randy Heimerman had a rough game. I am pretty sure he called 3 loose ball fouls that turned out to be big calls. In the first half he called the second foul on both Love and Mays. Since those were the only two guys who were doing anything it really sucked to have them sitting on the bench. Plus they both had moments where they were tentative trying not to pick up more fouls in the second half. Love couldn't be put on Jordan Aaron because he had 4 fouls, I thought he would have given GB a chance to slow Jordan down. Also, Heimerman called a loose ball foul on Al McKinnie that sent Tiby to the line for the bonus in the second half. There was contact on all 3 but he sided with Milwaukee in all cases. The Love and Mays fouls in particular were the same play, one on the Milwaukee end and one on the GB end. It was tough that they were not called consistently.
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Post by PantherU on Mar 10, 2014 18:27:50 GMT -6
Forgetting the basketball gods mentioned by Jay and me, this is what I think made the difference:
I think the Sykes injury was a pretty big deal, but the indirect impact of it was far more important than the direct impact. Sykes was still a great player himself during the game, but after he came back and Jay-O "broke his ankles" on that step back three, Wardle was forced to put the only player he had left that could guard him, and that was Fouse.
Now, Fouse is a great player, but moving him to Aaron put him out of defensive position. He wasn't fast enough to play against Aaron, so Jay-O just torched the defense down the stretch by driving to the basket. If Sykes had been healthy Aaron would have had someone who could stay in front of him defending him. This may not have mattered; the way Jordan hit those "FU" threes (to steal from Bill Simmons) the score might have gotten away from GB had he been forced to continue launching from the outside.
I think it affected the defense on Austin Arians as well. Without Fouse guarding him, Arians was able to get backdoor cuts and outside shots against Mays that he wouldn't get against the quicker Fouse. Wardle had no choice but to shuffle the deck and stick Fouse on Aaron; Carrington Love is still a major defensive liability and he is the only player besides Sykes who is as quick as Aaron.
Any way you want to spin it, this was a depth issue for GB. You have to have the players on the roster to get the job done to be a champion. We were having lots of trouble getting it done for much of the year because our best defensive guard, Bobo Niang, has been hurt for pretty much his entire time at MKE. You have to be able to withstand an injury or two to be the runaway champion. I said at the beginning of the year I worried about the depth at guard for GB. Saturday was proof in the pudding. But don't use it as an excuse. I guarantee you Sykes isn't blaming himself for the injury. He's going to get up and get back out there and light up the NIT bracket.
Which isn't a dig, BTW. The NIT has been a stepping stone to bigger and better things the following year. Wichita State and Memphis are two programs that used winning the NIT to springboard to much higher level. I disagree with the fan who said that recruits don't come to GB to play on Tuesdays in March on ESPN. Recruits will look at the program and coach Wardle a lot longer if they have a great showing in the NIT. It would show they took their lumps and moved on.
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Mar 10, 2014 18:57:12 GMT -6
The refs were terrible...The bald ref was probably the worst D1 official I have seen in a long time. That is my guy, Peter Juzenas, I am always harping on him. He is bad but he actually had a good game by his standards which is to say he only sucked as much as the others but not really more! I was at the game in Detroit this season and a hard core Titan fan was sitting next to me. Before the tip he said that guy sucks and is the worst in the league, so he is disliked by a lot of fans. I though Randy Heimerman had a rough game. I am pretty sure he called 3 loose ball fouls that turned out to be big calls. In the first half he called the second foul on both Love and Mays. Since those were the only two guys who were doing anything it really sucked to have them sitting on the bench. Plus they both had moments where they were tentative trying not to pick up more fouls in the second half. Love couldn't be put on Jordan Aaron because he had 4 fouls, I thought he would have given GB a chance to slow Jordan down. Also, Heimerman called a loose ball foul on Al McKinnie that sent Tiby to the line for the bonus in the second half. There was contact on all 3 but he sided with Milwaukee in all cases. The Love and Mays fouls in particular were the same play, one on the Milwaukee end and one on the GB end. It was tough that they were not called consistently. They're the ones I was talking about that should be banned from College Basketball. I would be disappointed so see either of them at a middle school game.
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Post by can opener man on Mar 10, 2014 20:25:02 GMT -6
Bigv doesn't know basketball. He just knows a good pants soiling
For college players who are the top player in the conference it's not uncommon to plat 36 minutes a game. Also he turned an ankle that happens in basketball. It's "shit" luck you know what I'm talking about.
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Mar 10, 2014 20:55:06 GMT -6
Shooting the J! You have disappeared.....maybe your coach let you down? Why have you not given us your breakdown of this loss? I know there where injury issues....have you ever thought that maybe the staff hasn't handled injuries or the physical preparation very well? How long did it take Al M. to recover? This team Was dominant early in the season and ran out of gas. Just another example of poor management. You can play your 5' 8" 150 lb. point guard for so long until he breaks down at some point. What happened to Josh? Where is Vince? Even big Alec got beat up and couldn't produce....he should have dominated. He dominated during the season. With all the talent on this team, top to bottom, this should have never happened. Sorry to pop up when the true colors where presented. I just find it interesting that when the coaches let you down nothing is said. These kids all played their butts off, all season!!!!! It will be interesting to see how they do in the post season and how this staff reacts also.......I would assume the locker room after this loss was very interesting to say the least! Sad ending to a possible great season. As can opener man said you don't know crap about BB. You don't even know Alec redislocated his shoulder trying to hard. What point guard do we have besides maybe Fulto who's 5'8"? If you ever stood next to Keifer you would know he's 5'10-11". If he's 150#'s then you must be 400#'s. I thought most of the TROLLS had left but HE'S BACK.
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Post by can opener man on Mar 10, 2014 21:16:10 GMT -6
Big v
What happen to brows at Concordia. Don't see him on the roster
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 11, 2014 18:08:46 GMT -6
Shooting the J! You have disappeared.....maybe your coach let you down? Why have you not given us your breakdown of this loss? I know there where injury issues....have you ever thought that maybe the staff hasn't handled injuries or the physical preparation very well? How long did it take Al M. to recover? This team Was dominant early in the season and ran out of gas. Just another example of poor management. You can play your 5' 8" 150 lb. point guard for so long until he breaks down at some point. What happened to Josh? Where is Vince? Even big Alec got beat up and couldn't produce....he should have dominated. He dominated during the season. With all the talent on this team, top to bottom, this should have never happened. Sorry to pop up when the true colors where presented. I just find it interesting that when the coaches let you down nothing is said. These kids all played their butts off, all season!!!!! It will be interesting to see how they do in the post season and how this staff reacts also.......I would assume the locker room after this loss was very interesting to say the least! Sad ending to a possible great season. Here I am, didn't realize you hung on my every word. Disappointed in my coach? No, more impressed than ever. Gave a skeleton crew a chance to win. Ran out of gas. Not even close. Did you miss the late season Ohio trip? GB went on the road and trounced YSU by 31. Then 2 days later hammered top 100 RPI CSU. That's a team out of gas? You ask how long did it take Alfonzo to come back from his meniscus surgery? Did you realize the great Derrick Rose is going to miss the entire year with the same injury? The team is well conditioned, but there's no work out for ankles. As others have mentioned, Sykes played less minutes than most top PGs. No overuse there. Seems you're desperate. Since you're here, can I ask what happened this year to your boy Cole Stefan? He put up the worst numbers of his career this year despite facing lowly Big Sky Conference competition. Looks like he really missed coach Wardle. He came to GB a walk-on, and was later gifted a scholarship. He should have thanked the coaching staff up and down on his way out the door.
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Post by can opener man on Mar 11, 2014 19:20:23 GMT -6
Is that big v. I really smell some crap brewing on this board
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2014 16:29:07 GMT -6
If Keifer hurt his knee in practice before the game, why was he dunking during pre-game warmups?
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Post by shooting the J on Mar 13, 2014 17:48:38 GMT -6
If Keifer hurt his knee in practice before the game, why was he dunking during pre-game warmups? So you'd rather he didn't warm up? That would go against what any trainer would recommend.
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Post by lutzow10 on Mar 14, 2014 4:16:42 GMT -6
I dont think he meant " why did he warm up if he hurt it during practice earlier in the day" i think he meant "if he hurt it, why was he risking further injury by doing the dunk line in warm ups." Not sure if dunking really is anymore risky but i think that is what he was going for. Not that he shouldnt warm up.
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