Good observations. I’m wondering if someone hurt Barrett’s feelings somewhere that he came out acting the way he did? lol
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Femme, big thank you to Cam from me for tossing Barrett to the ground where he belongs. Also, good to see Cam using the glass down low and nailing his free throws! We needed a guy last night to match SMC’s aggressiveness and we’re lucky to have Cam.
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On the acting job on the “punch”. KTVU Channel 2 news sports segment said as much when they showed highlights of the game. He deserved an Oscar.
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The best thing about last night was that the boys showed they are willing to fight to get a win, and that’s what it takes.
You could tell Herb was livid that the game was physical in the first half… news flash the majority of the best teams in the country are physical, and generally great at knowing where, when, and how to foul (takes notes Herb). They foul often and are seldom whistled. It’s an art, and if you are practicing it, it’s going to bite you over and over.
Finally Herb gave the boys something they could work with in the second half and hence the high scoring (this SCU team has tons of offensive talent). On D they at least cut off the drive with physical play in the second half, which Herb has never previously allowed.
If this squad plays with that same agression and fire in their belly then they can win the WCC tourney… Ensminger and Tongue are infectious. They have shortcomings sure, but at least one of them needs to be in the game at pretty much all times, and I’m certainly not opposed to having them both on the floor together. To not see that is just ridiculous.
Benjamin’s jab in my day was 50/50 whether it would even be called a simple foul… I did worse things to guys when I was boxing out the free thrower after the first shot of a 2 shot foul, pretending I thought it was 1 and 1. My how things have changed. As I near the half century mark I am cognizant that I’m closer to the finish line than the starting point.
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If he hadn’t closed his hand into a fist, I don’t think it would’ve been called. But the big galute must be an international soccer fan, because he sold it
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Now THIS is a real punch on the court (happened tonight): NMSU's Robert Carpenter ejected from game for punching Liberty player - ESPN Video
The WCC’s own Doug Christie (Pepperdine) delivering my favorite in-game punch above.
Those great Kings teams were coached by Rick Adelman (LMU) and are now coached by Mike Brown (U of San Diego)… Go Kings, go Broncos.
My sole commentary on this game - man, I hate Saint Mary’s.
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I don’t think the St Mary’s guy should try out for the UFC. Also the guy Cam pushed with one hand and went flying 10 feet, self-propelled, in my opinion. Cam is super strong but flopping is flopping. I watched the final minutes of the game and there were three calls that the announcers questioned (they don’t usually do that unless it was clearly a bad call) that all went in favor of St Marys. I think those kept us from winning. The momentum was ours. Brilliant second half by the Broncos. The toughness we have all been hoping for is there and I don’t think it is going away. Jake and Cam really brought it. Now we might need to get some eye exams for our WCC referees who obviously did not want St Mary’s to lose.
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I could not agree with this sentiment anymore! EVERY one of the “controversial calls” went in St Mary’s favor that night. Spot on observations! You are correct, Cam does not have superhuman strength to launch a guy who weighs the same - 10 ft into the air.
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The St Marys guys are experts at provoking/eliciting responses fouls that then get called on the other team, like the guy hanging all over Cam until Cam pushed him away and he faked a Mac truck hitting him. The refs have normalized St Mary’ play as “aggressive” and responses to it as fouls. We had one player long ago who did this, and I must say, with great effect: Drew Zurek. At a game with Illinois State I was at in Chicago, in the final minutes of a close game, Drew said to the guy guarding him something like : “Hey, look in the mirror. You are coming off the bench. You average almost no points, You are nothing” The guy went ballistic, got a technical, and those points got us over the top. I am not advocating dirty play but there is a place for being intense in a way that the other player loses his cool and gets called for a foul. St Marys needs to be get some of its own medicine and I think they did in the second half of that game.
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So, what’s better for us (and the conference) on Saturday? Do we prefer SMC beating Gonzaga? Or do we prefer Gonzaga taking a notch out of SMC? Tough call, but I’d lean toward SMC beating Gonzaga, running the table, and hopefully pushing Gonzaga into a 3/4 seed to force them to play on Saturday instead of showing up Monday for the WCC tourney.
I could envision a situation where SMC sweeps the conference, and SCU/USF/Gonzaga all end up with the exact same conference record and 1-1 splits vs. each other (I guess that would be 12-4 each?) What would the tie breaker be at that point? SOS vs. non-conference? Or would they defer to NET ranking?
Not certain but I suspect the tie-breaker in your scenario would be NET.
That said it’s a long shot scenario…either SMC will lose to either USF or GU and/or one ofGU/USF/SCU loses to one of the bottom 5, in which case the probability of a 3 way tie diminishes and even if it does occur it’s less likely all 3 split against each other.
Per last years tiebreakers:
- Head-to-head record
- Record against the top-seeded team not involved in the tie, going down through the standings until the tie is broken
- NET rating after the final regular-season conference games 25
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I was travelling last week out of country on business so only was able to watch the SMC game and after a horrid start and nice rebound in the 2nd half. Everything has been mentioned about this game but only that I will add I really enjoyed the ESPN+ commentators for that game. They let the action take center stage especially since the first 2/3rds of the game was a blowout and refrained from speaking too much or mentioning every dripping detail on each play. It was a nice change. Too many times TV broadcast commentators feel the need to speak during 100 percent of the broadcast instead of just allowing the viewer to absorb the game and provide more short commentary nuggets. Something that Jim Nantz and Tony Romo should learn in their NFL broadcasts!