JB in locker room after the game

[4evaOrange]

I was not there ... but here is a firsthand paraphrased report from someone who was there during the closed-door players-only session immediately after the game and before the presser......

Before the season, I (JB) said I thought Ohio State was one of the best teams in the country. I still believe that. They are are a great team that has all the ingredients to be great.

People are saying that the officiating was terrible tonight. Let them say it. I will not comment on it, and I hope you (the players) do not comment on it. We lost to a great team.

Jim then went around the room and individually thanked every player for his contributions to the season. It was done calmly and emotionally and with great affection. He emphasized how everyone on the team had risen up to deal with all kinds of adversity and distractions. He told them how much he loved each of them.

Jim, Kris and Scoop then went to the press conference (which I assume all of you saw ... but which I have not seen).

Someone (another person) who was in the media room during halftime also told me that the only subject among the media then was how bad the officiating was in the first half. I hope the media reflected that in the coverage. Because that is what they were saying among themselves.

I am so disappointed that we are not going to New Orleans. But from everything I heard after the game tonight, it seems like the team was a total class act in dealing with the officiating and the game's outcome.

Thinking about this just makes me so emotional, also the picture of Scoop crying, it is hard to take. Just knowing that both of their careers are over is crazy.

Much love...to the seniors.

 

[SWC75]

This entire tournament has been an exercise in incompetent officiating.
There hasn't been a single game where the officials haven't blown numerous calls at critical junctures.
My point is that we've been able to overcome the bad officiating, but this one time that we don't, then the focus shouldn't remain on only that aspect of the game. I mean, ask UNC-Asheville how much the officials impacted their game against us. Yet because we won that game, we moved on rather quickly although we all agreed the officiating was bad. Its different when you lose, however.
Complaining about officials is like whining about taxes- bitch & moan all you want, but you still have to pay.

In a close game, everything matters.

 

[SBU72]

The presser on TV was great, Joyce. Not sure what else has been posted elsewhere, but here's my take of what I saw.

JB looked drained, and a bit resigned. One reporter flat out asked him about the officiating and he simply replied, "no comment". He had praise for Sullinger and other OSU players, but not much for Craft, who I thought pretty much got away with mauling Scoop. Was, I thought, fairly dismissive of Craft.

Scoop, and even more so Kris Joseph, were almost incapable of speech. Their answers were classy and respectful, but when the topic of this having been their final game came up, each was clearly emotional and choked up. Kris was unable to speak for long moments before answering questions.

Heartbreaking loss. Ohio State IS good, but I can't even stand the sight of them for some reason.

Where can I find a link to the presser?

 

[Ghost]

Our game was the lead on SportsCenter and they brought up the refs. The anchor commented on how many fouls were called, and Gottlieb said it was too tightly called, but OSU adjusted to it better than we did. He also said this was not a FF caliber crew, and it should have been.

Good for Gottlieb. Except how to you adjust to being called for fouls where there is no contact?

Scoop foul #2, and foul #3 - no contact, but he was called.

Rak - That turnaround by Sully, absolutely no contact, but it was called.

Keita - No contact on 3 of those, but they were called.

Unless the adjustment was just refusing to come down court and play defense there was no adjustment to be made.

 

[RMH44]

Raf said the defender didn't have his second foot planted. The replay showed that as well as the defender noving to the right while Brandon was in the air.

...and his heel was inside the arch.

 

[orangecuse]

Where can I find a link to the presser?

Go to SUathletics.com. It's there in the video section...where it says free...

 

[SBU72]

I love how that one call somehow in your mind equals out the abomination of a game the refs displayed against us.

You know what equals out Sullinger being on the bench for most the first half? Dion being on the bench with 4 fouls (2 phantom) for most the second half.

Keita as a prerequisite, was whistled for a foul everytime Sullinger touched the ball, no matter if Keita never touched him or Sully tripped over his own feet.

OSU shot 42 free throws and we are a team that has hardly ever had foul trouble this year, yet somehow we had 4 players with 4 fouls at the 12 minute mark.

4 point swing in the first half with game tied when Triche had an And1 taken away by an official standing in perfect position to make the call signaling a charge when the OSU player was a) moving and b) in the restricted area.

We are a team that usually has one or two big spurts a game and likes to run. You cant do that when they call a foul every time OSU has the ball regardless of there actually being a foul committed or not.

To be fair, before the parade to the foul line over the last couple of minutes NECESSARY to try and pull even, they flashed a stat that showed OSU had 28 foul shots to SU's 20. SU had made a better % going like 16 or 18 0f 20 versus 16 or 18 of 28. Of course as soon as they spoke of it, Kris missed a 2nd shot of a 2 shot foul. OSU's last 13 points came from the line caused by the necessary fouls.

 

[DoctorBombay]

In a close game, everything matters.

Agreed.
The problem isn't just this one game, just because we happened to lose.
The problem is having a bunch of tired, incompetent old men, trying to keep up with stellar athletes playing a fast-moving sport.
This isn't anything new, and as I pointed out in another post, the only time I saw a crowd revolt against ridiculous officiating was during a FF game a few years ago. The crowd started chanting in unison; "LET THEM PLAY! LET THEM PLAY"!
The finally backed off their whistles & we had a somewhat decent athletic contest.
Fans & schools HAVE TO DEMAND A BETTER PRODUCT FROM THE NCAA RE; OFFICIATING!
Period.:bang:

 

[SBU72]

Dead on. Especially, the Triche bogus charge and second half calls against Keita...Sully clearly was out of control on his spin in the lane, off balance and tripped over his own feet while falling and throwing it up, only to get bailed out by the refs. Just awful.

Like in the K St game when Scoop got a call against him, when a play seems to go dow for no reason, they had to have been pushed. On replay, it di in fact look like Sully began his fall without help. Same call in Loiusville game drew a T on Pitino. Sliva got called for a push when a Florida guy fell on his own.

 

[DomeStranger]

As a coach, if you say anything negative against the officials you get fined. It's in their contract with the NCAA. If you get fined it's just more negative press that they don't need.

Even worse than that, the last thing a team ever needs is to give refs a reason to hold a grudge. Complaining about the calls isn't going to reverse the outcome so it has to be done in private.

I always wonder why instant replay is never a discussion with basketball. Yeah, maybe it's not needed in the regular season but seems like it would be cool to have in post season. Especially when your looking at a single elimination tourneys. Plenty enough money and camera angles to pay an extra ref to be in a booth surrounded by TV's.

I think instant replay also forces refs to step up their game as they know they can be instantly reviewed. It also gives a reason to eat up some of the bloated time outs teams get. 5 TO's a game for basketball is a joke and at least 2 more than is needed.

 

[SBU72]

Go to SUathletics.com. It's there in the video section...where it says free...

Thanks

 

[pfister1]

For all of the handwringing over the officials we missed out on a ton of points with the missed bunnies and layups (mostly first half) and bad turnovers (coming down the stretch in the 2nd half).

 

[pfister1]

I always wonder why instant replay is never a discussion with basketball. Yeah, maybe it's not needed in the regular season but seems like it would be cool to have in post season. Especially when your looking at a single elimination tourneys. Plenty enough money and camera angles to pay an extra ref to be in a booth surrounded by TV's.

I think instant replay also forces refs to step up their game as they know they can be instantly reviewed. It also gives a reason to eat up some of the bloated time outs teams get. 5 TO's a game for basketball is a joke and at least 2 more than is needed.

Instant replay would be an absolute game killer. It already sucks that they use it as such a crutch on the flagrant foul calls and clock adjustments. Like last night when BT banged heads with Smith and there was no foul called, yet Smith was bleeding so they went to the replay to see if they could give someone a flagrant for an elbow they didn't see thrown. I'm ok when you've seen a play made a call clarifying whether an elbow was landed or not. But if no elbow was seen live you shouldn't then be able to go to the replay.

Same with Brandon's points that they took off of the board for the shot clock violation in the UNCA game. That was absolute crap and even with the aid of the monitor they still got the call wrong in that the result was completely 'ed up.

I would absolutely hate if it was put in play for more than it already is. Improve the officiating by improving the officials so they get the calls correct, don't try to improve the officiating by helping them over turn their errors after the fact.

 

[SBU72]

This entire tournament has been an exercise in incompetent officiating.
There hasn't been a single game where the officials haven't blown numerous calls at critical junctures.
My point is that we've been able to overcome the bad officiating, but this one time that we don't, then the focus shouldn't remain on only that aspect of the game. I mean, ask UNC-Asheville how much the officials impacted their game against us. Yet because we won that game, we moved on rather quickly although we all agreed the officiating was bad. Its different when you lose, however.
Complaining about officials is like whining about taxes- bitch & moan all you want, but you still have to pay.

I found it very ironic that previous to the start of the game, the TV announcers announced who the refs were and their pedigree then have to watch them make mistake after mistake! The same happened during the Wisconsin game. Here were guys with numerous FF and RF making obviously bad calls.

 

[orangefan13]

Did Sully charge again against keita in the second half? One of his early second half buckets he clearly dropped alittle elbow again into the body of Keita I thought. Keita fell feet set planted outside of the circle. Was he inside the circle? Or was it just a flop by Keita? Or did I see right on that one?

Could have been a huge momentum changer if it was a charge.

 

[samspann1]

Did Sully charge again against keita in the second half? One of his early second half buckets he clearly dropped alittle elbow again into the body of Keita I thought. Keita fell feet set planted outside of the circle. Was he inside the circle? Or was it just a flop by Keita? Or did I see right on that one?

Could have been a huge momentum changer if it was a charge.

No, it was a charge. That's pretty much Sullinger's signature move.

 

[JoeCollege]

Where can I find a link to the presser?

Sorry, no idea other than trying Google or SU Athletics. Saw it live last night on TW News 10 Now.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Thank you Joyce for your post.

The adversity that the players went through, the toughness and resolve they demonstrated was inspiring to watch this year. However the job that JB did this year was masterful. His faith and consistent support of his players through slumps , the Fab situation etc steadied this team and helped them focus their emotions on lofty team goals. JB's ability to not allow distractions effect him was a great example to the team. Great job to all the players and to the staff for giving us this special season and to share in the dream and even their current heartbreak.

 

[DomeStranger]

Instant replay would be an absolute game killer. It already sucks that they use it as such a crutch on the flagrant foul calls and clock adjustments. Like last night when BT banged heads with Smith and there was no foul called, yet Smith was bleeding so they went to the replay to see if they could give someone a flagrant for an elbow they didn't see thrown. I'm ok when you've seen a play made a call clarifying whether an elbow was landed or not. But if no elbow was seen live you shouldn't then be able to go to the replay.

Same with Brandon's points that they took off of the board for the shot clock violation in the UNCA game. That was absolute crap and even with the aid of the monitor they still got the call wrong in that the result was completely 'ed up.

I would absolutely hate if it was put in play for more than it already is. Improve the officiating by improving the officials so they get the calls correct, don't try to improve the officiating by helping them over turn their errors after the fact.

Well first off you can't have instant replay on those crap 13 inch monitors on the court that would never work, it would have to be in a booth where it could be done quickly and efficiently. Second off, it wouldn't slow the game down at all as a coach would have to spend a TO. Third, improving officials in basketball can't really be done more than it is already, it's the hardest sport to ref because the game move so quickly.

 

[pfister1]

Well first off you can't have instant replay on those crap 13 inch monitors on the court that would never work, it would have to be in a booth where it could be done quickly and efficiently. Second off, it wouldn't slow the game down at all as a coach would have to spend a TO. Third, improving officials in basketball can't really be done more than it is already, it's the hardest sport to ref because the game move so quickly.

I disagree. I think you can improve officiating in a couple of ways. Start with paying them enough that they can make it their full time jobs. Next, eliminate the fat, old drunks from the profession. It's an up and down game, the player need to be able to get up and down the court, so do the referees. Next grade them with penalties for up. Not a blow judgment call, but situations like last year in the BET when they basically ended the game early those sorts of screw ups need repercussions to keep the referees on their toes.

 

[SWC75]

Agreed.
The problem isn't just this one game, just because we happened to lose.
The problem is having a bunch of tired, incompetent old men, trying to keep up with stellar athletes playing a fast-moving sport.
This isn't anything new, and as I pointed out in another post, the only time I saw a crowd revolt against ridiculous officiating was during a FF game a few years ago. The crowd started chanting in unison; "LET THEM PLAY! LET THEM PLAY"!
The finally backed off their whistles & we had a somewhat decent athletic contest.
Fans & schools HAVE TO DEMAND A BETTER PRODUCT FROM THE NCAA RE; OFFICIATING!
Period.:bang:

We happened to lose this game because:

- We were playing a very good team and had to play our best to beat them and we did not.

- We missed at least 5 lay-ups and a co0uple of free throws down the stretch.

- We didn't have Fab Melo, (although the centers we did have performed well), and...

- The refs called far too many fouls and more of them on us, thus disrupting play and limtiti8ng our players in both playign time and what they could do when they were on the court. They also interrupted play constantly and didn't seem to know what call they were making much of the time. The way this game was officiated was in no way comparable to the way any other game we played all year was officiated and it didn't "even things out".

In a close game they all mattered and none should be ignored.

-

 

[RF2044]

For all of the handwringing over the officials we missed out on a ton of points with the missed bunnies and layups (mostly first half) and bad turnovers (coming down the stretch in the 2nd half).

That is very true.

But it doesn't change the fact that the officiating sucked. As I've stated before numerous times, there is a difference between blaming the refs for a loss and pointing out [correctly] that the officiating was a comedy of errors.