They did play a game tonight, didn't they?

[judas_priest]

I know so because I have seen the score posted. It's been over for a while. But there's nothing but the score on the internet. Can't someone let us know what happened in a bit more detail? Won't someone ease my pain? (Actually, since the pain results from having been rear-ended in an accident tonight, I'm not sure what good this would do, but it's worth the effort.)

[ThickLobo]

I know so because I have seen the score posted. It's been over for a while. But there's nothing but the score on the internet. Can't someone let us know what happened in a bit more detail? Won't someone ease my pain? (Actually, since the pain results from having been rear-ended in an accident tonight, I'm not sure what good this would do, but it's worth the effort.)

For you and only you (wink) I'll post the column I just completed and sent to RPS for adding to the board in the morning.

Strange Game, Happy Result

The Lady Lobos started their game against the Dayton Flyers on fire and early on, it appeared that they might run away with an easy victory. However, the scrappy Flyers had different ideas and clawed (literally) their way back into the game (more on that later).

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how the Lobos lost their momentum and easy control of the game. Though none of the players in the main rotation turned in outstanding performances, neither did any of them play badly. The team shot around 50% from the field and had a good percentage from beyond the arc. The Lobos looked to be in control of the contest except toward the end of the game when their cushion diminished and remained below ten points until the final buzzer.

During crunch time, seniors Dionne Marsh and Brandi Kimball along with sophomore point guard Amy Beggin nailed crucial free throws to salt away the contest. The Lobos did what good teams do on an off night – they found a way to win.

Dayton was an extremely physical team – especially so after it fell behind by nearly 20 points. That physicality was accompanied by many elbows and pushing that in my opinion did not result in enough called fouls. In fact, it appeared to this observer that the officiating crew began “handicapping” the game about midway through the first half. By that, I mean that the referees were attempting to even out the fouls even though that approach was not warranted by how the teams were playing. Again, this is my opinion and others might disagree.

Dayton is a well-coached team but without the advantage it gained by the officiating of fouls, I think that the Lobos would have run away with the game. That is not to say that the Lobos themselves did not play a significant role in giving up too many easy buckets, but it is hard to fault a defender for surrendering a lay up when the offensive player creates space with a push off or a well-placed elbow. The referees only caught a couple of those infractions among many committed by Dayton players.

As a result, the Lobos lost a lot of momentum. In fact, a wide disparity of second half called fouls made it difficult for UNM to mount any kind of run to pull away. Not until the final minutes of the game when the Flyers were fouling intentionally did the second half foul count even up.

I mentioned that Dayton is well coached which is evident in the way that it runs its offense and its relatively tenacious defense. However, I do not think that the players are particularly fundamentally sound. They committed numerous walks, carries, blocks and over-the-backs, but only about as many as were called on them as on the Lobos. You might guess from the tone of this commentary that I believe that most of the Lobos violations were called while that was not the case with Dayton’s violations. Thus, that aspect of the officiating was at best uneven from my perspective (which I admit may be obscured by the Cherry Red glasses I was wearing).

Over the years it has become evident (at least to this fan) that Flanagan trains players to be fundamentally sound and that his teams possess better fundamentals, for the most part, than most of their competitors. I will comment on this subject in a later column, but suffice it to say that if a fundamentally sound team is called for an equal number of violations as its less fundamentally sound opponents, it creates a disadvantage from the get go.

Though the aforementioned disadvantage can be frustrating because it favors athleticism over skills, I would still prefer to watch players who execute the game the way that Naismith intended. It is a thing of beauty when a play is run to perfection and results in an open jumper or an easy lay up. Brute force has a place in the game, but not at the expense of fundamentals.

As the athleticism of the players in the UNM program continues to increase, it is a pleasure to see those women use their strength and jumping ability in combination with proper fundamentals. If only it was not such a drawback to be so good relative to the manner in which women’s college basketball is currently officiated.

Just a few observations from ThickLobo

[judas_priest]

Thanks

[ThickLobo]

No problem. Based on the report in the Journal this morning, comments made by the coach and players, and what folks in the stands were saying about the officiating, I guess my opinon on the officiating might not be off base at all.

[Bloo]

Great job once again, Thick! Thanks for that article which was not intended for my eyes and which I did not actually see.

[RedPitSea]

Awesome Thick!

[Dr.M]

Very nice, Thick. I missed the game, so your observations are quite helpful. Flanagan did say that Northwestern is less physical, which I'll see for myself this afternoon.

[sandia mt]

Thick -I totally agree with your assessment. Even the Journal article this morning mentioned the "questionable" officiating. I sit fairly close to the floor and could not believe some of the things they got away with. It would have been ok if they called it the same way on both ends of the floor. Flanagan rarely comments on the officiating, but I thought his comment was interesting. He said the Dayton team adjusted to the officiating better than the Lobos did. Hmmmmm
Bottom line - Lobos win. In the end that's all that matters although the way the game was played kept most of the freshmen on the bench.

[Snu]

The refs turned the game around. That's not what I think; that's what I observed. After 4 or 5 minutes of the second half the two male refs (especially the bald one) decided, with malice aforethought, to even out the game by calling fouls on New Mexico players for every movement they made (with the possible exception of breathing). Maybe a highly persuasive Dayton coach worked on them during halftime; who knows? Moreover, the refs awarded the Dayton post player (#42) an extra step nearly every time she had the ball. We played nearly the whole second half trying to figure out (unsucessfully) what the refs would allow. This led to frustration and frustration led to poor play. When you're frustrated, you forget to block out, you don't get back on defense, and you neglect the main key to your offense—getting the ball into Dionne. Despite all this we kept our cool. It took more maturity than I believe we had just to pull this one out.

[ThickLobo]

Bottom line - Lobos win. In the end that's all that matters although the way the game was played kept most of the freshmen on the bench.

That is exactly what made the game disappointing from the fans' perspective. Not to mention that it was a sloppy game.

BTW, when Flan brought in Christian late in the game a bunch of us commented that he must have had some defensive match-up in mind as the score was tight and she does not have a lot of experience during crunch time. After two quick turnovers, Flan pulled her and put in a frosh (Best). He must be trying to give younger players some meaningful minutes to see which ones he can count on as the season progresses. I think Flan is really enjoying all this talent and intends to use as much of it as he can.

[RedPitSea]

The refs turned the game around. That's not what I think; that's what I observed. After 4 or 5 minutes of the second half the two male refs (especially the bald one) decided, with malice aforethought, to even out the game by calling fouls on New Mexico players for every movement they made (with the possible exception of breathing). Maybe a highly persuasive Dayton coach worked on them during halftime; who knows? Moreover, the refs awarded the Dayton post player (#42) an extra step nearly every time she had the ball. We played nearly the whole second half trying to figure out (unsucessfully) what the refs would allow. This led to frustration and frustration led to poor play. When you're frustrated, you forget to block out, you don't get back on defense, and you neglect the main key to your offense—getting the ball into Dionne. Despite all this we kept our cool. It took more maturity than I believe we had just to pull this one out.

Welcome to the site Snu!

[ThickLobo]

Welcome to the site Snu!

Snu scours the internet for interesting articles on women's basketball and he has some interesting takes on the game as well as the Lady Lobos. Welcome, Snu!

[RedPitSea]

Snu scours the internet for interesting articles on women's basketball and he has some interesting takes on the game as well as the Lady Lobos. Welcome, Snu!
Sounds like a great addition to YOUR womens board!! :D

[sandia mt]

Just you wait RPS - When Autumn gets a little older you might just develop an interest in women's basketball.

[RedPitSea]

Just you wait RPS - When Autumn gets a little older you might just develop an interest in women's basketball.

I hope she does! Its just too hard for me on the mens side. I cant attend all games because of the little one and the one I do pick are the mens since my ties are with that team in one way or another. I haven't followed the team long enough to try to fake knowledge about a team I know little about. Its not fair to anyone. The last time I followed the team was the Miranda Sanchez days to be honest but I want to try to get out to more of the games. I do always attend their tourney games in Vegas and Denver but its hard for one guy to do everything.

[ThickLobo]

http://golobos.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2007-2008/ud-nm.html

[yooperlobo]

The officiating had a HUGE impact on how the game was played. Especially Connie "I don't have a clue" Perdu and Robert "I just want to be like Bobby Diabler" Strong. Robert and Bobby are (and were) actually pretty good officials, but you never want to get them at home because they are more intersted in proving they are not intimidated by the crowd than calling a fair and balanced (consistent) game.:horn)

[ThickLobo]

The officiating had a HUGE impact on how the game was played. Especially Connie "I don't have a clue" Perdu and Robert "I just want to be like Bobby Diabler" Strong. Robert and Bobby are (and were) actually pretty good officials, but you never want to get them at home because they are more intersted in proving they are not intimidated by the crowd than calling a fair and balanced (consistent) game.:horn)

My cousin mentioned that he thought that Robert had a P.O.'ed look on his face and my cousin surmised that the ref was teaching the crowd a lesson by stubbornly calling bogus fouls and violations.