Williams & Blum: The Big 12’s officiating problem, Iowa State No. 9 in first seeding

[Aiden Wyatt]

Chris Williams & Brent Blum dive into Iowa State’s 81-70 victory over Cincinnati. The Cyclones are No. 9 in the NCAA Tournament’s first seeding release. What does that mean going forward? Plus, the guys dive into what appears to be a real issue in the Big 12 this season – a hodgepodge of officials that lacks overall consistency. Presented as always by our friends at Mechdyne.

Williams & Blum: The Big 12's officiating problem, Iowa State No. 9 in first seeding

Chris Williams & Brent Blum dive into Iowa State's 81-70 victory over Cincinnati. The Cyclones are No. 9 in the NCAA Tournament's first seeding release. What does that mean going forward? Plus, the guys dive into what appears to be a real issue in the Big 12 this season - a hodgepodge of officia

cyclonefanatic.com

 

[Urbandale2013]

Chris Williams & Brent Blum dive into Iowa State’s 81-70 victory over Cincinnati. The Cyclones are No. 9 in the NCAA Tournament’s first seeding release. What does that mean going forward? Plus, the guys dive into what appears to be a real issue in the Big 12 this season – a hodgepodge of officials that lacks overall consistency. Presented as always by our friends at Mechdyne.

Williams & Blum: The Big 12's officiating problem, Iowa State No. 9 in first seeding

Chris Williams & Brent Blum dive into Iowa State's 81-70 victory over Cincinnati. The Cyclones are No. 9 in the NCAA Tournament's first seeding release. What does that mean going forward? Plus, the guys dive into what appears to be a real issue in the Big 12 this season - a hodgepodge of officia

cyclonefanatic.com

I will have to go back and rewatch the game but not sure I saw Iowa State get a really favorable whistle in the second half. I felt like the officiating went from extremely pro Cincinnati to just bad in the second half. Yeah we shot a ton of free throws but we drove the lane and they didn’t.

 

[rosshm16]

I've been chuckling all day at "You come near Eric Heft, it's your ass"

I loved CW's comment on Keshon. Maybe sometimes he doesn't make great decisions with the ball, and maybe on some days his "best" isn't great, but on other days his best is All-American level, and he's only got one speed, all-gas-no-brakes. Gotta love him!

 

[rosshm16]

I will have to go back and rewatch the game but not sure I saw Iowa State get a really favorable whistle in the second half. I felt like the officiating went from extremely pro Cincinnati to just bad in the second half. Yeah we shot a ton of free throws but we drove the lane and they didn’t.

We were definitely playing "physical" and probably got away with some stuff, but the difference to me was, Dishon for example was just throwing dudes around in the post, but he got in foul trouble and didn't play all that much. Cincinnati's guys got in foul trouble but kept playing big minutes (and got more fouls). If we'd played Dishon and Chat 30+ minutes, I'm sure they'd have fouled out of that game.

 

[brentblum]

I will have to go back and rewatch the game but not sure I saw Iowa State get a really favorable whistle in the second half. I felt like the officiating went from extremely pro Cincinnati to just bad in the second half. Yeah we shot a ton of free throws but we drove the lane and they didn’t.

Fair point for sure. They still had to call those fouls though and often those aren’t called in the Big 12, so in that way it was helpful for Iowa State to shoot 22 free throws in one half.

 

[ScottyP]

When watching the highlights, It looked like Cincinnati was making really tough shots that were well defended. I didn't see too many defensive breakdowns.

 

[madguy30]

I will have to go back and rewatch the game but not sure I saw Iowa State get a really favorable whistle in the second half. I felt like the officiating went from extremely pro Cincinnati to just bad in the second half. Yeah we shot a ton of free throws but we drove the lane and they didn’t.

Unless the camera angle wasn't very good or didn't catch it I thought one of James's last two fouls was a bad call. Credit to him for not really reacting to it.

The other fouls seemed like ISU did a better job of getting Cincy off balance a bit too to where they had to reach.

 

[Raiders70]

Unless the camera angle wasn't very good or didn't catch it I thought one of James's last two fouls was a bad call. Credit to him for not really reacting to it.

The other fouls seemed like ISU did a better job of getting Cincy off balance a bit too to where they had to reach.

If I was a Cinci fan I would have been enraged with the 4th foul called on James. No coincidence ISU broke open a tight game shortly after he had to go to the bench. Not sure what he was supposed to do on that play from a defensive standpoint.

 

[cyclones500]

@brentblum, I think you're incorrect regarding 1999-2000 date for 20th win. Feb. 9 instead of Feb. 16.

Interesting side note: 2000 team got to 20 wins in 22nd game, 2001 in 23rd, even though calendar-wise 2000-01 was earlier.

 

[brentblum]

@brentblum, I think you're incorrect regarding 1999-2000 date for 20th win. Feb. 9 instead of Feb. 16.

You’re correct! The Ken Pom site didn’t count the Simon Fraser win as they weren’t a Division 1 team. Thus the mix up. Thanks!

 

[cyclones500]

You’re correct! The Ken Pom site didn’t count the Simon Fraser win as they weren’t a Division 1 team. Thus the mix up. Thanks!

Ah, that makes sense! I didn't even think of that aspect.

It's retro-amusing that ISU played Simon Fraser in a regular season game.

 

[CyCrazy]

Fair point for sure. They still had to call those fouls though and often those aren’t called in the Big 12, so in that way it was helpful for Iowa State to shoot 22 free throws in one half.

I thought they called the game different than any other B12 games. Its usually a rugby match that they dont call. Which I am fine with, let em play.

 

[dafarmer]

If I was a Cinci fan I would have been enraged with the 4th foul called on James. No coincidence ISU broke open a tight game shortly after he had to go to the bench. Not sure what he was supposed to do on that play from a defensive standpoint.

He could try the “ole” defense that Iowa uses.

 

[HarryClone]

You’re correct! The Ken Pom site didn’t count the Simon Fraser win as they weren’t a Division 1 team. Thus the mix up. Thanks!

Running up the score on Simon Fraser really helped the Cyclones' metrics that year!

 

[cyclones500]

Running up the score on Simon Fraser really helped the Cyclones' metrics that year!

Heh!

That got me rabbit-hole curious, so I had to look. Here's the game recap from cyclones.com

Men's Basketball Downs Simon Frazer, 79-54 - Iowa State University Athletics

AMES, Iowa (AP) - Marcus Fizer scored 24 points to lead Iowa State to a 79-54 season-opening victory against Simon Fraser on Monday.

cyclones.com

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Heh!

That got me rabbit-hole curious, so I had to look. Here's the game recap from cyclones.com

Men's Basketball Downs Simon Frazer, 79-54 - Iowa State University Athletics

AMES, Iowa (AP) - Marcus Fizer scored 24 points to lead Iowa State to a 79-54 season-opening victory against Simon Fraser on Monday.

cyclones.com

Can you imagine the reaction on here if Iowa State only beat an NAIA school by 25 this season?

 

[rosshm16]

When watching the highlights, It looked like Cincinnati was making really tough shots that were well defended. I didn't see too many defensive breakdowns.

Their main offense was put a shoulder into the defender and shoot a step-back three. If you can hit a bunch of them, it’s effective I guess.

Shoving the defender away from you seems like it has to be really egregious to be a foul call this seaosn.

 

[clonehome]

I've been chuckling all day at "You come near Eric Heft, it's your ass"

I loved CW's comment on Keshon. Maybe sometimes he doesn't make great decisions with the ball, and maybe on some days his "best" isn't great, but on other days his best is All-American level, and he's only got one speed, all-gas-no-brakes. Gotta love him!

My best HS buddy went to Marquette so I’m friends with a whole pack of MU grads and I’m on their group text every season. One of the basketball junkies in that group described Keshon as “pure naked aggression” during that game. I think he nailed it.

 

[not-the-manager]

I thought they called the game different than any other B12 games. Its usually a rugby match that they dont call. Which I am fine with, let em play.

IMO officials need to call more hip checks and moving screens, even in these fist fight games. Lipsey and Gilbert had Cincinnati guards literally on their hips for about the first 22:00. Gilbert’s behavior is unacceptable—what’s he going to do in, say, a tournament game if the officials are “letting ‘em play”?—but you can see why he was more frustrated than in some other games. It’s one thing to square a guy up and stay with him on defense. It’s another to start directing him backwards while he’s dribbling.

I bring this up because almost every game an announcer will mention the push to increase freedom of movement in the college game. The only time I see this is ISU getting called for a cylinder foul almost every time they trap. If that’s crossing the line of freedom-of-movement, fine, but ISU’s guards are often similarly restricted on drives, yet officials often wait to see if there’s a body foul on the shot before calling anything. I think it’d be better for game flow if officials set the tone early that you can’t hug ball handlers, regardless of what’s happening around the rim. (ISU is certainly guilty of this at times, too, but they have a pseudo strategy of trying to get away with as much as is being allowed on a given day, then adjusting.) So, to counter this physicality in the back court, turn on any P4 game and you’ll see bigs setting what were moving screens not that long ago in order to give ball handlers a sliver of space. This seems like kind of a street ball remedy for a bigger problem, and doesn’t really improve the quality of play either

 

[Cyballzz]

Can you imagine the reaction on here if Iowa State only beat an NAIA school by 25 this season?

I mean the next year an NAIA team took us to OT.