Saturday, March 20, 2010

Postgame thoughts

First, if you would like to read postgame press conference quotes from all of the tournament sites, check out this link.

Well watching the replays on ESPN as I'm sure you all have, it appears that there was a clear lane violation.....in super slow motion.....by Wendell McKines.....not Troy Gillenwater. Although the correct call, a terrible call that will probably propel the Spartans into the Sweet 16 when the fact is they weren't the most talented team in Spokane this weekend, let alone on the court on Friday night. But Maryland isn't a Sweet 16 team either.

You have read Jahmar Young's comments and most likely seen them on television by now. Here is most of Marvin Menzies' comments on the lane violation.

"There is a lot of judgement and freedom of judgement that is given to officials. In (official Ray Perone) opinion, he felt like it was something he should call at the particular time of the game, whether it happened or not, I don't even know. It was on the other side of the court. And regardless of whether it happened or no, he called it so it's like a foul that you don't think is a foul. Did he call the foul? Yes. If called a foul, then it's in the score book as a foul and it exists as a foul statistically for the rest of history. So did he step in on the lane violation? Because Ray called it? Yes, he stepped in the lane. And it will be engraved in the NCAA stats forever. So it doesn't matter whether it happened or not. And how it affected the game? It's hard to tell.I know we would only have to score two if we would have only needed two we would have had a much different approach to the last few seconds. I would have had something else designed that would have been able to get us to the free throw line at the very least because we had some success penetrating the ball."

Jahmar Young said Kalin Lucas didn't make JY eat his words, but said Lucas was a "great player."

JY also questioned the officials, as he received a technical for what appeared to be words with Delvon Roe that ended up in the two players being T'd up.

"The refs took the air out of the game for me and as a whole, my team felt the same way. Techs for talking to a player? He said, 'good move' and i said 'I know' and he gave techs out. We are men. This is collegiate basketball. The next step is pros. We're happy to be here and so are they. We are putting it all on the line. Just don't take the air out of the ball."

Kalin Lucas is as good as advertised, scoring a career high 25, but except for a flurry from Durrell Summers early on, the Spartans weren't even the best offensive team the Aggies have seen this season. Sparty was 25.9 percent in the first half. A previous poster said, why not go man in the first half? I don't disagree, but it's common to save something for the second half isn't it?

I don't second guess the Aggies there. I would have liked to see them go inside a little more late in the game. JY and Gibson took some quick 3s. Gibson missed one when the Aggies were down 65-63 with under three left and JY missed a quick jumper. Both were good shots, but I believe Rahman was in the game and the Spartans didn't have an answer for him or Gillenwater.

"We shot the ball a little quick. They were feeling it and kind of went away from what we intended to do. Still want to get some reversal and the bigs were playing pretty good on the inside so we talked about getting inside-outside look. We are talking about JY and Gib. Those are your go-to guys."

Jahmar Young on staying on the floor after he picked up his fifth foul.
"I caught an inadvertant elbow. I'm OK. It wasn't nothing, I didn't bleed or nothing, just was trying to get by the elbow and it was just a mistake."

I watched JY for a little bit after he fouled out with 52 seconds left. It was absolutely killing him that he couldn't be in the game but he was encouraging his teammate Gordo. But you have to wonder what it would have been like on their last two possessions had JY been out there since he's good at getting to the line.

"He's money late and I would have probably had something drawn up that would have involved him for sure," Menzies said."We had good looks. No knock on Michigan State, but it wasn't like they did anything that didn't give us opportunity to get a look."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are wrong (so were the announcers of the game). The lane violation was on Troy Gillenwater. Go back and watch the replay. This time watch Troy AND THE REFEREE ON THE BASELINE. About 1 second before the shot is released, Troy puts his right foot in the lane space (then quickly puts in back in his space) that is being occupied by a MSU player. The little marks that separate the opponents are there for a reason. Look at the ref. As soon as Troy moves into MSU's lane space, he puts out his arm indicating that a violation occurred. If the FT had gone in, then no one would have known about the violation. Since it wasn't made, he had to call the violation.

Just thought I would clarify the misconception that is out there. Though not popular, the referee called it correctly.

Anonymous said...

Jahmar is still spewing his drivel. Just play the game, and quit jawing with the other players and to the press. Quit talking about being a man, just BE a man. The game has nothing to do with mouthing off. Period. You win the game and you don't need to say a word. You lose the game and all that talking makes you out to be a fool who doesn't have a clue.

Also, the game for the Aggies was lost at the line. For all the young players out there, because it's too late for the current Aggies, free throws are important. Practice them, be good at the fundamentals. Look at what the European players are doing...taking jobs and playing time away from guys who know nothing but street ball.

Jason Groves said...

Anon at 6:33, Troy was certainly whistled for the lane violation, but if he did committ a violation, McKines was much more blatant. I'm not disputing the call. You could call that one every free throw attempt in America. It's like holding on the football field. I think you would agree that officials swallow their whistles in crunch time unless it's a blatant foul. That call didn't decide the game, but the refs clearly took over late in the game

Anonymous said...

The rules are there to prevent one team or player to gain an unfair competitive advantage. In this case, the MSU player wasn't even trying to get the offensive rebound. It was uncontested, a questionable call at best, and clearly unnecessary.

Anonymous said...

Jason the clips on espn dosent show the whole picture. I advise you to get a copy of the film from Menzies and review a violation. The first poster was spot on. Troy was the right guy to call it on he lost his balance and fell up the lane line. It was visable in real time. Troy knows he lost balance. Small but it happened and was a violation of the rules. Just like a person going 37 in a 35. By law the cop can give you a ticket. It happens more than you think. As for JY he was faking a injury and you saw the BS on his face.
How about the Goaltending shot on the spartin player? It didnt look like he touched the ball but the ref called it. The game was played and we lost. Lets hope we can take care of bizz and get there again next year.

Go Aggies!!!

Mac Daddy

Anonymous said...

Troy Gillenwater did not commit a lane violation..it was clearly McKines.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Jason. It's not really the type of call that would be made at the end of a close game...it was pretty obvious to me that the ref was making sure Michigan State won the game. The announcers on CBS, that are far more qualified to give their opinion than you Anon 6:33, said several times that Gillenwater did not commit a lane violation and they said that it was probably McKines that did it...even still, they said it was not a usual call at the end of a game like that.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:37 here you go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiRG91Hu_Y&feature=sub

Hope you have a rule book handy and a pair of glasses. Thc CBS announcers got it wrong too. The clip is near the end. If you tell me troy didnt move up the lane early then your a lie. He viloated the rules and got caught. Troy steped up the lane and pulled his foot back over the hash mark.
Also watch the refs arm on the baseline it goes up as Troy moves not Wendell. The call was on Troy.
Yeah you are right its not a usual call but if you watch enough basketball you know that in close games u dont want to be in that spot where one call can change a game plan. Rules are rules.

jimmy said...

Anon 3:12 got it right. McKines did the exact same move on the ensuing (made) free throw, so the refs didn't say anything to him after the lane violation. Gillenwater got off balance early and had to lift his right foot and put it back down to keep from falling in the lane. That's what caught the ref's attention, not Wendell timing the release of the ball. CBS announcers had a long day. Jimmy doesn't think Troy's movement affected the shooter but the ref lost his head and affected the outcome of the game, unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:26

Wow your ridiculous. Hippocritical comment at the end saying that "u dont want to be in that spot where one call can change a game plan". Im assuming you mean that it was better to have the call than to let the game play out because that could have affected Michigan State. If you watch enough basketball then you should know that calls like that dont get called in that situation. If rules are rules where was the review that Menzies wanted? I dont care if we won or lost, if we missed both threes or if we had made one had time been granted. Dont run your mouth saying that rules are rules when the officials did not adhere to that and granted MSU more power. Im fine with the lane violation because it did happen, I dont think it should have been called but we missed both threes after either way. But the fact that there was more time on the clock and the officials blew Menzies off and did not review it does piss me off. If you already made a questionable decision then allow the team to get the review. They probably wouldnt have made the shot either way but its about doing the right thing. Not giving one team the opportunity to win in the final seconds.

Gsus

Anonymous said...

Gsus,
Your asssuption is wrong but thanks. What i was saying was that as a coach you want your team to make the plays that count(Freethrows, Box outs, taking good shot) no matter how small so that you give your self the best chance of winning because calls like this can (and in this case do)happen. I have played collegit and pro,coached and watched basketball my whole life. I have forgot more about the game than most of these poster know. Rules are rules and thoses that inforce them do so at there discression. My previous post was pointed to the lane violation. Yeah, the time call was blown by the officials but they made bad calls all game both ways. They didnt review the 3 point goaltend for msu. You didng complain about that call did you. There is nothing that they can do now so why keep complaining. Time to move on and think about next year.