Miller's marvel at defensive or dig at officials?

[Brian Fantana]

I think a lot of it is reputation.
If a team plays so physical on the perimeter with traps, etc...if they play so strong int he post, tons of blocked shots and defensive rebounds....

...as a ref it's hard to call A FOUL at all, no less many fouls....if you call 1, you have tocall fouls ALL DAY LONG...and you "can't do that"

[mtax]

When Sean first made his remarks (he marveled at the "defense with no fouls called" about ten times in his opening remarks) I thought it was a weakly veiled dig at the officiating, veiled just to keep himself out of trouble with the authorities. Shortly thereafter in another response, he clarified that he sincerely did admire their defense. That is the type of defense he would like to have, I'm sure.

Actually, we do pride ourselves on our ability to defend without fouling also. We're just not as big as UCLA is. UCLA did know us pretty well it seemed. They played our personnel well, had a lot of help whenever CJ went inside (why anyone guards CJ beyond eight feet from the basket is beyond me.) They doubled teamed the dribbler just like we do out front.

There were two successive plays in the last ten minutes that didn't go our way just when we were making a run - I think we had cut the lead to 12. The first was the no-foul foul on X on a drive and missed shot which UCLA converted into two free throws. Immediately thereafter was the block call that clearly in slo-mo looked to this unbiased fan as a charge - another two points for UCLA. I don't think we scored after the first bad call. UCLA goes up by 16, instead of still 12 and our ball.

Somewhere someone somehow sometime recently showed the list of five/six Sweet Sixteen OT game winners. All but one lost in the Elite Eight. The one winner beat another team that had played an OT game also.

It was a great run. I thought we had the best chance with UCLA. It wasn't to be.

[sjbrink]

I have read several posters say that UCLA was a better team and that UCLA would have won even if XU had gotten more calls and the officiating had been more fair and consistent. I am not sure if UCLA was actually better or not. I am also not sure what the outcome of the game would have been if the officiating was better. If Kevin Love had picked up a second foul early on in the first half, I think that would have changed the game a lot. And if other UCLA players also picked up some additional fouls, then the same thing, the game changes a lot. XU had a great year this year though, and I'm really happy with how the season turned out.

Grime Time said that this game maybe "will help us decide to recruit some guys with some size." I agree that this is a good idea, but every school in the country wants a player like Kevin Love or David West that has size, is tall, is strong, is skillful, plays hard and smart, etc. I think the problem though is that there aren't that many players like this, and the players with these attributes usually end up somewhere like Kentucky or North Carolina.

Finally, I think playing a very tough non-conference schedule is a great idea. I would love to play teams like UCLA, North Carolina, etc. during the regular season. I think the experience XU gains from playing teams like that is invaluable.

[xuhuh!]

put kevin love on any team, X, Southern Cal, anybody, they're a different team. he's 1 of a kind. X had a better game in them, just not Saturday...

[muskiedude]

I also think that some of the A-10 Refs call so many fouls, the teams play more timid. I think this hurts teams, later when in the tournements as they do have the experience of playing inside and getting off good shots while being pushed around.

I think it was us against Richmond in late Feb, there were like 55 fouls called. If those refs call the UCLA game. We would have won by default, the whole team would have fould out. ( ha)

I also prefer a game that allows some physical play in the paint. Other wise how tough is to dunk when your 6-9 and have no one that can guard you without fouling.

[Bmuskie]

wonder if we play 'clean' bball compared to watching other teams beasts PUSHING OUR PLAYERS OFF THE FLOOR WITH TWO HANDS!!!

There comes a time though when you are down 20 in the second half where you have to say to yourself as a player, I may be playing clean ball but it is time to get down and dirty like the other players. At that point you have nothing to lose. Do whatever possible to get the ball. If you foul out so be it but at least make UCLA think "Man I wish we had never played Xavier".

[Biggernlife]

A few times since the game I have heard that XU would have lost to UCLA 9 out of ten times. While I think UCLA was better that night, I will argue that things could have been quite different. If we play better D in that game and come out and hit several shots early, a different tone would have been set. Hellsbells, we couldn't hardly even buy a foul shot!

I know its over, but I hated losing not playing our best. Kudos to all the guys on the team as well as the coaches,it really was a great year. But, I felt like the team was happy prior to the game getting to the elite eight game. Not that they didn't want to win,I know they did,but wished they would have had the attitude we aren't done yet. They looked a little like deer in the headlight look when they went up against UCLA.

Even if we didn't play our best we tried our hardest and in the big picture thats all we can ask!! Having said that I really believe we have the potential to be better next year.Already looking forward to that. Good luck seniors and thanks for the memories....
Biggernlife

[thywillbedone]

our team was excellent this year. Ucla was excellent on sat. afternoon. As a basketball fan, I was amazed and broken hearted at the same time. The emotions of my team missing everything in site and getting the opportunity to see that ucla team live and in person was something else. Their defense is something we can watch over and over again and use as a teching tool for our guys. Hopefully CJ watches that many times during the off season if he wants to improve on that end of the floor.