[NU Sports] Not the refs

[Beamsley, Jeff]

First, by way of disclosure, I didn't see the same.  Started too late for me.

Whether or not the refs had a part in the outcome of this game, looking at the results in the tournament so far, there is another factor that seems to have a higher correlation to the game results.  The lower seed has only won 8 of the 28 games played.  The higher seeds also won all four of the quarter final games. I haven't taken the time to do the same analysis on the NCAA tourney, but I suspect that the results aren't as biased to the upper seed there.

I think that the reason it is so difficult for a lower seed to win, particularly in the quarter round, is because it’s a home game for the higher seed.  As close as this game was, I think we would likely all agree that if it had been played in WR rather than the west coast, NU would be heading to MSG.  

So hats off to our guys for being one of the very small number of lower seeds to win a game on the higher seed's home court.  Clearly there are any number of different things that could have happened through this season that could have produced a different set of results at the end of the season.  None of those really matter in the larger scheme of things.  What really matters is that this team played the hand they were dealt.  They grew both as a team and individuals through the season.  They were playing their best basketball at the end of the season, and they never gave up.  NU basketball took an important step forward this year and this team broke new post season ground.  They have every right to be proud of their accomplishments and we should be too.

Jeff



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From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Dennis W. Brandt
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2011 9:18 AM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: [NU Sports] Not the refs

The guys in the purple shirts, not the zebra shirts, lost this game.  The 
WSU defense had some success making Juice a marked man.  Although he 
responded well, there were turnovers and bad shots as a result, and Shurna 
arriving with icicles on his finger tips was a mortal blow.  Then there was 
a play near the end of the first half that, at the time it happened, I said 
to myself (fortunately my wife was in bed and could not hear me talking to 
myself - as if that should matter after 41 years), "That play is going to 
cost us the game."  (Been there before, don't you know.)  Capocci, I think 
it was, was fouled on a three-point attempt that rattled around the rim 
before bouncing out.  Bad luck, but he still has three free throws coming. 
He made one.  He makes two, we win, and the rest of the team didn't shoot 
100% at the stripe either.  And while we did get an unusually high 
percentage of rebounds for us, the inside defense was porous as always.  It 
put us in an early 14-point hole, and we only outscored them by 14 from 
there through the end of regulation.

Perhaps those returnering next season got a lot out of this experience. 
It's a shame that Cobb couldn't have had more playing time. 

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