The last two games against USF were both gut-wrenching losses. The previous one knocked us out of the WCC tournament and ended damn near at midnight (triple OT?), and losing a 7-point lead in the final minute and a half tonight was too much.
1 Like
I hope the USF revenge will be epic as well. Ejecting three SCU players over a spat caused by a Don…I went down some Noob-like conspiratorial thinking on that one.
SCU just needs to hit the rest of the season with a real chip on their collective shoulder. Santa Clara is better than that USF squad. Prove it in Leavey.
4 Likes
When Ensminger fell or when I think O Neil was CLOCKED on the inbound. I think it was O Neil.
The one that put mogbo at the line
1 Like
The Mogbo fouls didn’t strike me as called badly–it could have been a no call but I don’t hate that they gave it to him. He’s good at drawing fouls.
What got me was the sequence of the Ensminger and O’Neil turnovers, both of which could have been called as USF fouls. Then Mogbo gets two soft-ish shooting fouls. That’s quite a string in USF’s favor.
And look, I’m not blaming this on the refs. Like 92 said, 17 TOs and a ton of missed free throws killed the Broncos. Claw a couple of those back, and SCU wins by 5 or more even without Bal, Marshall, Tilly, Benjamin, and Knapper to close out.
6 Likes
Thanks for the clarification… there were zero replays the entire game at war memorial.
Disappointing ending but our guys fought hard.
Just a gut wrenching feeling being up 17 in the first half, but kinda felt it coming the whole time
6 Likes
I hate to blame the officials but it was bad. I was five rows behind the Bronco bench. So many bail out calls on USF possessions in the second half. Sucks for the kids they played hard. Also I don’t think Herb deserved a T gerlufsen was the punk.
2 Likes
Good effort by the Broncos. But the inexperience showed in the final 90 seconds to 2 min. Turnovers continue to be an issue and free throws reared its ugly head. Despite shooting well and rebounding well, tough loss but the team should be proud of the max effort.
3 Likes
In Hammond’s defense, Beasley has gotten a lot more minutes (21 min per game). And Beasley still went only 1-5 from the floor with three fouls. But he knocked down his FTs reliably which is what USF needed.
I think the talent is there with Hammond, but he has only played very sparingly so far without time to work out the kinks against D1 competition.
4 Likes
Fair enough…Herb needed to convey to Hammond to become a scoring threat. USF isn’t a talented defensive team. In time, I think Hammond will become a good player, assuming he doesn’t enter the transfer portal. Based on available bodies and scoring options, I wanted to see him more aggressive and attack the basket.
I thnk his mentality was to run the offense and not turn the ball over, which is understandable with his lack of minutes and to your point.
An aside on why the end of this game was especially galling for me:
I live in a rural area and don’t have a streaming service; I attend most home games but for road games I rely on CBS, ESPN, or CSNBayArea. That means there are lots of road games I can’t watch. So, for better or worse, I follow road games on my phone using the ESPN app.
I typically don’t check in until halftime. Then, I’ll refresh every 10 minutes or so. Last night I saw we had a 6-point lead at the 4 minute mark. Solid, but far from secure. I waited 10 minutes and thought the game might be over, but it wasn’t; it showed us leading 70-68 with 0:12 left.
I felt a twinge of nervousness, put the phone down, and waited another two minutes to see what the final was. It read 70-69, Broncos, end second half.
As I understand it, if a team has a lead and the second half is over, they won. I went to check the box score, read the stats, and bask in the afterglow of a win over a heated rival. To my horror, the score showed 70-70, and instead of “end second half” the clock read 0:01.
WTF? I let out a primal scream, something like “Nooooo…not overtime!!
Of course, it got worse, for moments later the screen read 70-71 final.
My imagination went from victory to overtime to loss in a matter of minutes, with each nugget of information worse than the previous.
The only other time I’ve seen a final posted that was erroneous was way back in the 1972 summer Olympics and the gold medal game between the US and USSR (now that was a true cluster****).
Anyway, I hope the people at ESPN responsible for the crappy performance of their app come down with a case of poison oak just below the waist.
7 Likes
Femme…Loved Cam’s hustle on the loose ball last night and getting on the ground and great finish with his left hand. The kids played hard last night despite being so shorthanded.
Did Cam have an update on BK’s injury?
5 Likes
It was good to see the oft-pensive Herb Sendek utterly ecstatic when Cam got on the floor for that one and give him a real atta boy congratulations.
3 Likes
They suspect BK tore his ACL last night will get an MRI tomorrow to confirm.
Crap…that’s what I was worried about. The way Knapper initially tried to get up while the action was live but then collapsed and grabbed the back of his knee.
I’ve never torn an ACL but played various sports with lots of guys who did tear an ACL (or MCL, LCL) and seems they sometimes report different experiences in terms of how it felt and pain. Some feel something happen but aren’t in much pain initially but the injury becomes apparent due to lack of stability or pain comes on after they start to try to move.
Seems Knapper didn’t think anything was wrong when he initially tried to stand up
At this late date in the season an ACL could lead to missing all or most of next season as well.
Praying the initial diagnosis for Knapper is wrong and it’s a less severe injury.
2 Likes
Thank you. Yes. Even Cam was a little pleasantly surprised. .
I am just seeing this. I see it’s been answered. Possible torn ACL.
I’m scratching my head over last night. Carlos Marshall got tripped up by Mogbo who was actually moving. Nothing.
Cam goes high after a deflection and sets a hard screen that Hawthorne comes in fast and hits floor. Offensive foul.
Both scenarios should have been called for the foul. Maybe I’m missing something. But a couple questionable calls when it came to 10. Some I felt were phantom fouls.
Guess I was still getting over shell shock of 55 torpedo into Cam when the ball was dead and everyone was headed back up the floor. In my opinion - that kid should’ve been ONLY one ejected.
2 Likes
The last foul on Mogbo…can’t say it was a phantom call but the contact wasn’t significant and in a wild end of game situation, those plays are often no-calls.
Re: the melee. I feel like the appropriate call would have been a tech and ejection for Williams and a simple T for the other five. Not sure if the rule book and guidance even allows that given the circumstances but if it doesn’t it highlights a flaw in the system.
Cam’s foul was hard and I can understand that USF may have been a little pissed but Williams elevated the situation by coming in well after the play was over and knocking Cam down from behind, both a cheap shot and excessive.
I think the refs were trying to take charge, show they were taking it seriously and discourage any continued flare-ups. But also seems they were trying to make the penalties ‘even’ to quell the home crowd or who knows why. The outcome ended up favoring USF and didn’t really penalize USF for Williams’ action which was worse than everyone else.
6 Likes
Exactly this. It was a “let’s make this even” response to actions that actually deserved to have a lopsided impact on USF.
5 Likes
Yes, unfortunately the ‘let’s make it even’ approach is pervasive at all levels and several sports. Then they let their respective league take further action later if warranted…it doesn’t truly penalize the worst offenders within the game where the action occurred.
I doubt anything will happen but there’s a slight chance the league takes a look at the melee and suspends Williams for a game. But that doesn’t help the Broncos.
4 Likes