Cockburn in the lane
- Thread starter jensberg
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Yup - not a single 3 second call on Cockburn all night. On the highlight dunk where Cockburn got Young out of position fronting him high in the lane... I went back and timed it, 5 seconds in the lane. Middle of the lane, not even a foot placed anywhere near the edge.
Which makes you wonder...
- In an empty arena, why are Collins / staff / players / waterboys not consistently barking "3 seconds"? When I played and a big man did this, the bench would count it out, loudly, in unison. You get up to 4 or 5 enough times and the refs get embarrassed and call it. And you'd think the counting would help the big man but more often than not it gets in their head and throws them off.
- They shot 22 free throws to our 8 so.... maybe NU doesn't receive the best treatment from officiating in the Big Ten? I mean this was an improvement because against Indiana at home, IU shot 38 free throws to our 12!!! And we lead that game, there was no intentional fouling within that stat. I'd put money on that being the largest FT discrepancy in a game that close in the Big Ten in... quite a while.
But Jensberg we best not analyze officiating, some folks around here get very offended when the topic is raised, and rather than permit such a discussion to take up valuable message board space, they will try to shut it down. In the end, we should just be glad big bad Pete Nance didn't get a clean block like he did against Iowa, that woulda earned him a tech from a Big Ten crew
Which makes you wonder...
- In an empty arena, why are Collins / staff / players / waterboys not consistently barking "3 seconds"? When I played and a big man did this, the bench would count it out, loudly, in unison. You get up to 4 or 5 enough times and the refs get embarrassed and call it. And you'd think the counting would help the big man but more often than not it gets in their head and throws them off.
- They shot 22 free throws to our 8 so.... maybe NU doesn't receive the best treatment from officiating in the Big Ten? I mean this was an improvement because against Indiana at home, IU shot 38 free throws to our 12!!! And we lead that game, there was no intentional fouling within that stat. I'd put money on that being the largest FT discrepancy in a game that close in the Big Ten in... quite a while.
But Jensberg we best not analyze officiating, some folks around here get very offended when the topic is raised, and rather than permit such a discussion to take up valuable message board space, they will try to shut it down. In the end, we should just be glad big bad Pete Nance didn't get a clean block like he did against Iowa, that woulda earned him a tech from a Big Ten crew
Yup - not a single 3 second call on Cockburn all night. On the highlight dunk where Cockburn got Young out of position fronting him high in the lane... I went back and timed it, 5 seconds in the lane. Middle of the lane, not even a foot placed anywhere near the edge.
Which makes you wonder...
- In an empty arena, why are Collins / staff / players / waterboys not consistently barking "3 seconds"? When I played and a big man did this, the bench would count it out, loudly, in unison. You get up to 4 or 5 enough times and the refs get embarrassed and call it. And you'd think the counting would help the big man but more often than not it gets in their head and throws them off.
- They shot 22 free throws to our 8 so.... maybe NU doesn't receive the best treatment from officiating in the Big Ten? I mean this was an improvement because against Indiana at home, IU shot 38 free throws to our 12!!! And we lead that game, there was no intentional fouling within that stat. I'd put money on that being the largest FT discrepancy in a game that close in the Big Ten in... quite a while.
But Jensberg we best not analyze officiating, some folks around here get very offended when the topic is raised, and rather than permit such a discussion to take up valuable message board space, they will try to shut it down. In the end, we should just be glad big bad Pete Nance didn't get a clean block like he did against Iowa, that woulda earned him a tech from a Big Ten crew
NU is not particularly quick = lots of fouls.
NU is not particularly strong = lots of fouls.
that tech on Nance versus Iowa was an awful call
NU does not get the ball inside much = less fouls for the other team
NU does not penetrate much = less fouls for the other team
Not that we have not had our share of awful calls against us. We did. But there are objective reasons we get the disparity at the foul line we do.
Kopp got hammered when he cut through the lane and it was called a foul, but if it had been against us it would've been a technical. That's how it works.
There have been so many games when I watched the foul disparity over the last few years. It has gotten to the point where I believe its a NU problem (style of play) as much as it is the refs (they don't help). It frustrates me so much more when it happens at home, I expect it on the road.
it hard to get fouls called when you don't attack in the paint and just stay out by the 3 point line.
I know every time free throw disparity in Big Ten games comes up, this is the common retort. Or GatoLouco said a version of the same above.
But here's the thing - in games where a higher percentage of our shots are outside shots, i.e. more 3s, we often get more free throws. Not less.
Look at the Pitt game. This is analogous to a Big Ten game, Pitt's a solid ACC team, currently have a winning record.
Against Pitt HALF of our field goal attempts were 3s. 28 3s attempted, out of 57 shots. And against Pitt we shot 27 free throws.
Against UIUC we shot 25 3s, out of 64 total shots and we shot 8 FTs.
We had a +8 FT differential against Pitt from the ACC. Against Big Ten teams, we've played 15 games, and a I see a grand total of 1 game where we shot more FTs. MSU, Big Ten opener at home, from there on, 14 straight Big Ten games where the opposing team gets more FTs.
It's not playing style. Is playing Pitt very different from playing Penn State? Pitt is better. NU shot a lower percentage of 3s against PSU, 44% of our shot attempts were 3s. However, enter Big Ten refs for the PSU v NU game and... the Big Ten crew gave PSU 26 free throws that game. NU got 12. PSU won by 3.
The numbers back up this same issue with Big Ten officials, season after season. Before anyone says it: I am not alleging any short of a conspiracy, and I don't believe any ref is consciously, specifically "out to get" NU. In short, the explanation for the refs behavior comes down to simple human nature - refs react to incentives, risks, rewards, praise, criticism, their dynamic with the coaches in the game, etc.
Over on the Iowa Rivals Board they have threads where they literally track their record across every Big Ten referee. Obviously Fran McCaffrey is constantly in the refs ears. He's blows up and makes physical contact with them, he's confronted Big Ten refs in the tunnel postgame and berated them and calling them cheating motherf*ckers, and Iowa sites write articles specifically about referees performance vis a vis Iowa.
And it works. McCaffrey's and Iowa's tactics work. They now get so many calls Ron Harper Sr complains.
To use a musical analogy, Iowa's response to poor treatment by Big Ten Refs was basically screaming "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister. They're loud, they do something about it, they get results.
Northwestern's response, on the other hand, is more like a shrugging motion and a whispered version of "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen. Collins rarely works the officials. Media covering NU basketball make zero mention of refereeing. Our fans don't criticize the refs in numbers on social media. We do nothing about it, and nothing changes.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows