MBB Game 4: Towson Tigers CC Loser Round - 7 pm ESPNU

[DCDeac]

The fundamentals weren't really the problem nor did I think we were too out of position on a lot of the boards honestly. It sounds as dumb as it looked, but we were there boxing out, the ball was coming to where we were positioned, and we on multiple occasions simply did not go grab the ball. I mean maybe that's "fundamentals" but I largely thought we were where we were supposed to be and where you're "taught" to be and just didn't get the ball. Two or three times Cam had his body on his guy and was still engaged with him when the guy he boxed out caught the rebound because Cam flat out didn't try and get the basketball.

Some say he's still boxing his man out to this day...

This. I thought Towson got away with a lot of nonsense inside. Honestly it was a great strategy to just throw shoulders straight into the chests of our guys and just bowl their way towards the bucket - they had 3 or 4 guys over 230 pounds. And when nothing was ever called on the pushes and physical play (just an occasional travel), that became the norm. Most of the time Keller and Carr were in pretty good position, they were just giving up 70 pounds to the guys they were battling with. We finally got a couple over-the-back calls in the 2nd half, but they weren't even getting up to grab boards cleanly most of the time. Forbes was right that our guards needed to get in the mix and knock out rebounds, but it was a mess inside. They started one guard, their starters made zero threes on the night. Weird situation. Side note, compared to the Utah game - they went zone and Sallis immediately nailed a 3. We went zone and got consecutive outside misses. Much better than the Utah effort on both sides.

LSU lost to Nicholls. At home. Their "skilled 7 footer" scored 2 points. Nicholls lost to whatever school SIUE is so they're not having some outlier season. LSU's front court was easily held in check by guys much smaller than Carr. Kenpom might have us ranked right next to them but this is a game we should win handily, even without Marsh/Reid/Monsanto.

 

[BeachBumDeac]

I was not following the game thread but did anyone else note that Towson was hooking on 90% of their moves to the basket? It was obvious on TV, can’t believe they never called it

 

[Demonwolverine]

I didn't notice them doing it, but I also didn't notice it when apparently Carr and Boopie did it either.

 

[wakelaw13]

I’m fine with a physical game if it’s called both ways. It was not called both ways against Utah.

 

[BacktoBack]

I was not following the game thread but did anyone else note that Towson was hooking on 90% of their moves to the basket? It was obvious on TV, can’t believe they never called it

Yeah. One of their guys Jones - every time he chicken winged. It's a huge advantage to let guys get away with that.

 

[DCDeac]

I was not following the game thread but did anyone else note that Towson was hooking on 90% of their moves to the basket? It was obvious on TV, can’t believe they never called it

Bunch of hooks, bunch of times when arms got fully extended making space on pushes, lots of shoulders straight into our guys. Zero calls on any of them.

I feel like I've seen this across a lot of games where someone "flops" like Carr did early and doesn't get a call, because there's the whole anti-flopping things going on with refs. And while I hate flopping as much as anyone, players have been taught for decades to get in position, square up, take contact (not flop with zero contact), and go down. So now the "go down" part means a no-call unless you really get trucked, but there can be legit contact that's a clear offensive foul that doesn't knock a guy over. Seems like that middle ground is allowing way more physical play and some games turn into brawls inside. Weird juxtaposition with the "freedom of movement" effort for guards.

Just another poorly thought out, poorly implemented effort by the NCAA imho.