Xavier’s Studs of the game

[MerrittsMustache]

If X lost by 1, think they'd be upset about the no-call on Macura's drive to the hoop at the end of the first half? For the most part, "bad" calls even out over the course of a game. Fans typically don't see it that way, particularly when their team loses.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

If X lost by 1, think they'd be upset about the no-call on Macura's drive to the hoop at the end of the first half? For the most part, "bad" calls even out over the course of a game. Fans typically don't see it that way, particularly when their team loses.

Yes,  fans of both teams tend to walk away thinking they got the short end of the reffing stick. One of them is usually right. More games end with uneven reffing than with perfectly balanced reffing. Part of the game.

Last night I'm confident that we got the short end. But not by as much as some seem to think

[Silkk the Shaka]

The refs were bad, but not one-sided in my opinion.  We were bumping and bodying drivers hard, especially in the first half, and getting away with it.  I thought the Hauser block was clean, but it would have been Xavier's ball under the basket if it was not called a foul, and the way they were scoring regularly I doubt it made much difference.  Bottom line is there were bad call both ways. 

Biggest difference in the fame is that we had a few stretches where we walked the ball up and ran poor offense. Rowsey and Howard have to always, always remember that we are at our best when we are moving the ball.  Trying to force dribble through three guys rarely works.  Contested 3s early in the shot clock are never a good idea.  We have to waste as few possessions as possible because our defense just isn't that good.

Agreed. Too much ball stopping later in the 2H with no-pass or few-pass possessions. Hauser needs to touch the ball on almost every possession in crunch time, even if he's not in position to score. The guy's so smart he won't force anything if it's not there, and it gets the defense moving.

[Lennys Tap]

So over the course of a game with only ten calls, an 8-2 difference in bad calls (which in a 50/50 coin flip would be only 1 out of every 22 game or so) would be six points.  Not much of a factor really.

But of course it is nowhere near random so a 8-2 margin is rarely if ever going to happen.  (Refs aren't *that* bad.)  It's probably more like 5-5 or 6-4.  Not much of a factor at all.

Of course whether a bad call is made for or against you is random, unless you want to tilt the scales slightly in the direction of the home team.

A 5-5 or 6-4 split will occur 2/3 of the the time. 1/3 of the time the distribution will fall between 7-3 and 10-0. So saying that in close games unevenly poor officiating can be the difference is true and it's not even debatable. It's also true (and not debatable) that complaining about it won't change anything.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Marquette held Xavier, one of the best offensive teams in the country, to under its season's average for FG%, 3P%, and eFG%. The defense was actually pretty great last night.

Biggest reason for the loss last night was Xavier's ability to get to the line and our inability to get there. Some of that's on the refs but most of it is on us.

2nd biggest reason was Howard's offensive play IMHO. Not just the missed shots, but he was avoiding contact on his drives which factored into reason #1 why we lost.

I think the 3rd biggest reason is a defensive one but from specific players. Heldt and John got owned in the post. Jones made Matt look silly in the first 5 minutes and the rest of the game they were consistently beaten by drivers and other post players. Thought the perimeter defenders did pretty well considering they were up against an All American and the serial flopper.

TAMU, I usually agree with you, and when I don't it is only partial disagreement. But, on the bolded above, I can only assume you have been day drinking. There is nothing great about Wojo's defense.  In fact, not only is it the worst defense in the Big East, it would be the last or the lowest 2-3 in just about every major P5 conference. It is also the worst defense I have ever seen at Marquette (no hyperbole needed). It is below the Mendoza Line.

As I stated earlier, 73% of X's points came in the paint or on FTM. In the 2nd half, X was 13-18 on twos. MU plays defense like a sieve which is also a reason for its foul troubles as well. Wojo promised last year the defense will be improved. The team practiced defense exclusively in the pre-season. If, as Sultan says, Wojo won't adjust his scheme, then MU will continue to lose these close games and we can continually have these pissing matches about bad calls and missed free throws.

In the end, if MU gets some stops building a defense from the baseline out, this team could be dangerous. If it finds itself on the outside of the bubble, there is only one place to point a finger.

[4everwarriors]

Evil Man, wee ain’t got know rim protector. And, I don’t meen a Trojan, hey?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Dr B,

I grant that pretty great was probably too strong, should have added the qualifier "for us."And if this was a game against Georgetown or Butler,  I would agree with you. We held a top 5 offense to under their season averages on FG%, 3P%, and eFG%. Anytime you can do that,  your defense has done enough to give the offense a chance to win. You gotta take the quality of the opponents offense into account.

The FTR is a good point though. That's on the defense and I didn't purposely take that into account. I'd need to watch but a lot of that disparity was due to intentional fouls and bad calls (which I believe you agreed that the officiating made several bad ones).

I think the defense is better than last year (eye test,  not checking numbers).  And I've actually been encouraged that it's been improving since the Wisconsin game.

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

Here is my main beefs, mainly with Clougherty. Maybe the game wasn’t on yet on FS1. Harry gets in the game and grabs a rebound to start a fast break. The Xavier player on the ground has a hold of Harry’s leg for 10 seconds preventing his breakout.  It was a clear technical right in front of him.  No call. Blatant.  Yet X keeps pulling their chippy crap on Harry all night because he didn’t have the nads to make the right call.

He was late on the Markus breakaway/trip no call. Was late on the Sam block. Same guy.

Fast forward to Harry’s technical as he protects his teammate, and all of a sudden he brings out his T whistle.  That was the turning point.

Brutal, just brutal.  Low rated, hated in many major conferences.  Not a BE quality official.

Any one see Mack go at Driscoll for a good five minutes after the horn at half?  They swallowed their whistle on the last drive to the hoop at half. He was going hard after them.

The play where Froling is tied up from getting up for at least 5 seconds by the X player and nothing was called is mind boggling!

[Newsdreams]

The play where Froling is tied up from getting up for at least 5 seconds by the X player and nothing was called is mind boggling!

There was a play were Markus was trip unintentionally, still a foul, and nothing was called.