[Husker] Nebraska 76, Iowa State 69

[Knox, Chuck]

I guess this illustrates how the perception of the performance of the
officials depends on which color glasses you have on.  The officiating
in the game was bad, all the way around.  Yes, Nebraska had two big men
in early foul trouble, but the same thing happened to Iowa State.
Staple had his fourth foul at about the same time, and Clark picked up
his fourth shortly after.  Both teams finished with 25 fouls.  Iowa
State had two players foul out, and two others with four.  I saw plenty
of "phantom" calls go the other way.

Nebraska won the game, in my estimation, because of three factors: Iowa
State could not make a basket; Nebraska absolutely killed on the boards;
Nebraska had significantly more depth.  The last factor, the depth, had
me recalling some of the complaints earlier in the season on this list
about playing freshman rather than upper classmen.  As an ISU fan, I
would kill to have that kind of depth.

So please enjoy the victory -- it was a great effort by the Huskers --
without the "despite the bad officiating" claims.

Chuck Knox
Pella, IA



-----Original Message-----
From: NUStLNorris at aol.com [mailto:NUStLNorris at aol.com] 
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 5:03 PM
To: husker at tssi.com
Subject: Fwd: [Husker] Nebraska 76, Iowa State 69

In a message dated 2/27/05 4:51:08 PM Central Standard Time,
gzimmerman at everestkc.net writes:

> ______________________________________________
> 
> An understatement IMHO. Is there a current basketball referee on the 
> list who can answer why when the offensive player initiates contact, 
> lowers their shoulder and bowls over the defender it is almost always 
> called a defensive foul?

It was meant to be an understatement, actually.  Since Nebraska won, it
makes it easier to say now.  The officiating was absolutely horrendous.
The play that Greg mentioned was one of many ... how about the NBA
"continuation" call in the first half?  Seven calls against Nebraska in
the first 2 minutes of the second half ... many of which were of the
"phantom" variety.  NU won this game despite their big men, Turek and
Maric, both picking up their fourth foul with 18 minutes yet to play in
the game!!

Great job by NU playing in a tough environment (sellout partisan crowd)
and having a lot of calls go against them ... great job of playing above
and through the elements.

Dave Norris