[duncan_idaho]

Thoughts on the game:

1) I have a golden tongue. Speaking mongrel Spanish, I managed to convince the sports director of my resort in Mexico to open up the Dance Club early and play the game on the big screen.

2) How big of a bitch is Jeff Withey? He got shut down by a 6-5 shooting guard. He also has some pretty severe Tim Duncan syndrome, apparently (in that the first whistle that goes against him that he agrees with will be the first).

3) Have watched the replay on Taylor/Dixon MULTIPLE times. I have long hated the rule in college basketball player that allows a defender moving backwards to take a charge if they beat a ballhandler to the spot, but that's what happened there. It is not required to be set in the traditional completely motion-less, feet planted shoulder-width apart, vertical arms stance to draw a charge in that situation.

This is a great exhibition of that rule. Still shots in basketball are great for some things (was it a 3, did the ball get off, was someone out of bounds). They are not consistent when it comes to body-to-body contact of D-1 quick-twitch athletes. I don't care what the still of Dixon shows. Watch the replay. He moved diagonally, beating Taylor to the spot. Taylor then initiates contact with his forearm into the chest of the defender. That's pretty close to textbook definition of how a defender can draw a charge there.

4) Have watched the replay on Moore/Robinson multiple times. Don't want to hear anything about that charge call (though it was definitely a close call, it is not the awful call I thought it was when I first saw it). Moore beat Robinson to that spot, and Robinson initiated the contact.

Also, if you want to moan and complain about that call and watch the replay, you'll notice that Robinson violated the jump stop rule on that play (traveling well before the contact was initiated). He gathered the ball, took a skip, jump stopped (which really can be called a travel right there), landing on his LEFT foot first, and then used his RIGHT foot as his pivot foot. That's a travel. When jump stopping, if one foot lands before the other, that foot is the pivot foot.

5) Loved watching Taylor channel Christian Moody on the FTs, almost as watching Conor Teahan get abused by Marcus Denmon (which should remind Conor why he isn't allowed to 'woof' it on the basketball court).