JoPo:Marquette fans steamed after MU’s late drama

[petegz28]

http://www.kansascity.com/159/story/1101115.html


Good article as usual by Joe. I find it funny that after the lopsided calls of the game Marquette fans found more room to cry. Oh well. It isn't like MU did anything illegal.

[gblowfish]

I'm just glad they didn't get Tyus Edney'ed...that's what CBS really wanted.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

I was mad about that call, bit I think the worst one was the continuation call after the Marquette player took two steps after the whistle blew, made the shot, and the refs counted it.

Was that the blatant travel or the one where they called the foul on Lyons on the breakaway where the guy basically tripped over his own feet and slid? The kid never even left his feet whent he whistle blew and they still called it a shooting foul.

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by gblowfish

I'm just glad they didn't get Tyus Edney'ed...that's what CBS really wanted.

Bob Dole was having horrible flashbacks.

[Al Bundy]

I saw Marquette get away with a lot of hand checking, they did drive quite a bit but the rules of the game don't allow the hand checking.

[petegz28]

And as Mr. Phisherman pointed out to me....HTF did their coach not get at least 1 if not 2 technicals in the last minute?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Yea, it was amazing how the announcers never once questioned a call except the one that Carroll got away with.

I think if I had to pick one call that displayed how bad of an officiating job it was, it would be the one where Carroll and the Marquette guy were fighting over the ball and should have been called a tie up, instead it was called a foul on MU. I think that one blew the minds of several people.

I think people need to lay off the refs a bit.

There were two crucial calls in the last few seconds, one of which required replay to get right. And the end, they got both calls right.

It sucks to be Marquette, but they just got outplayed at the end of the game. Period.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by Metrolike

Only KU fans cry about the refs.

riiiiiiiiiiight

[gblowfish]

Here's the lead Sports story from the Milwaukee Journal (Marquette's home newspaper). What a bunch of whiners. That foul on Tiller could have been called as intentional. And whose fault is it their player stepped over the baseline on the inbounds? That's just good defense.

Missteps, strange twists trip up Eagles
By Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Mar. 22, 2009

Everything had fallen into place. Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews regained their strokes. The ball security was there, save for a short spell in the first half. The defense, especially in the halfcourt, was ferocious.

And still, it wasn’t enough.

Done in by an inability to score down the stretch and then some strange circumstances in crunch time, the Marquette Golden Eagles lost to the Missouri Tigers, 83-79, in a second-round NCAA tournament nail biter Sunday afternoon at Taco Bell Arena that featured the return of Dominic James from a broken left foot.

It was the second heartbreaker in as many second-round games for the sixth-seeded Golden Eagles (25-10). One year ago to the day, they’d lost to the Stanford Cardinal, 82-81, on Brook Lopez’s crazy behind-the-backboard prayer in the waning seconds in Anaheim, Calif.

“It’s just, like, I don’t know, why us?” junior forward Lazar Hayward said in a somber locker room afterward. “We go through so much stuff during the course of the year. I don’t get it. It’s just a crazy feeling.”

Added McNeal “We weren’t able to go out the way we all wanted to go out. It’s disappointing. But the guys in this locker room, we just never stop fighting.”

McNeal was superb down the stretch, matching a personal high with 30 points, and Matthews equally great with 24 points and seven rebounds. But neither one could get anything to go over the final 3 minutes 31 seconds until McNeal split a pair of free throws with 38.3 seconds left that knotted the score at 79-79.

And that’s when things got strange.

On the ensuing possession, third-seeded Missouri (30-6) brought the ball up court and ran the clock down to 19.0 seconds before coach Mike Anderson called a timeout to set up a final play. Coming out of the huddle, the Tigers got the ball to defensive specialist J.T. Tiller, who after some dribbling found a clear lane to the basket.

He drove and was hammered near the rim by McNeal. Tiller went down hard and came up holding his right wrist. After some delay, Anderson chose to pull the right-handed Tiller from the game and insert freshman guard Kim English off the bench, as the rules allow, to shoot the free throws.

At first glance, it was a strange tradeoff. Tiller was at 75.9% from the line this season and English 68.0%. But English was on fire in the first half, and he delivered once again by knocking both freebies down to give the Tigers an 81-79 lead with 5.5 seconds left.

“It was obvious he was hurt,” Anderson said.

“Nothing was ever explained to me,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “I had to call a timeout to get an explanation.”

Tiller tried to check back into the game after the free throws but was denied by the officials. It was a move that was soundly booed by most of the 12,184 in attendance, who had slid over to MU’s side during its comeback attempt.

Then, on the ensuing inbounds play, Hayward was whistled for stepping over the baseline after he double-clutched when McNeal and Matthews were unable to get open.

“I was trying to get it to Wes or Jerel down there,” Hayward said. “I’ve got to be a lot smarter than that. I’m more intelligent than that. I just didn’t want to throw the ball away, and that’s why I kind of jerked.”

Missouri got the ball back on the turnover, and MU immediately fouled Leo Lyons. A 75.3% free-throw shooter and 4 for 6 on the day to that point, Lyons calmly drained both to put Missouri up by four.

The Golden Eagles inbounded the ball for one last-ditch effort at scoring, but Maurice Acker’s three-point attempt was well short as he appeared to be fouled well beyond the top of the key. There was no whistle, and that was that.

That MU was even in that position was remarkable, considering the problems it had early on against the long, athletic Tigers.

MU managed just one field goal over the final 12:23 of the first half — a long three by McNeal at the buzzer — and shot just 34.8% to head into intermission trailing, 46-35.

Things didn’t get any better for the Golden Eagles to open the second half, either. Hayward missed three chippies, and after a three-point play by McNeal, MU missed five more in a row.

Even when the Golden Eagles seemed to be getting a lift, such as on Matthews’ thundering baseline dunk, the Tigers immediately responded. In this case, Matt Lawrence beat everyone downcourt for a layup to make it 54-42 with 16:22 left.

But a little less than 8 minutes later Marquette had turned the tables on Missouri. Matthews led the way, scoring 10 points in a 19-9 run that pulled the Golden Eagles to within 63-61 at the 9:08 mark.

Taking care of the basketball, defending in the halfcourt and turning those stops into baskets on the other end, MU was doing it all. And with a free throw by McNeal with 5:36 left, the Golden Eagles had actually clawed their way back into the lead at 68-67.

They’d hold the advantage until just 48.7 seconds remained, when Lyons grabbed his own miss and was fouled, giving the Tigers a 79-78 lead, and setting the stage for McNeal’s tying free throw.

Although James checked in early, at the 17:08 mark, he really didn’t have much of an impact. McNeal, Matthews and Hayward handled most of the ball-handling, and James was more of a pressure release than anything. He didn’t attempt a shot and played 13 of his 17 minutes in the first half.

“Above all else, I wanted him to finish his career in a uniform,” Williams said. “I wanted him to have closure in regards to his basketball career at Marquette. I thought he did a good job.”

Hayward finished with 13 points and 11 boards, and senior Dwight Burke five points and a personal-high 10 boards for MU, which beat Missouri on the glass, 41-30. The Golden Eagles also knocked down 28 of 33 free throws (84.8%).

Lyons led Missouri with 18 points as the Tigers finished at 48.4% from the floor.

The Tigers took their first lead of the game at 9-7 on a three-point play by Lyons, but the Golden Eagles bounced back with a 10-2 run sparked by consecutive threes by McNeal and Matthews to make it 17-11.

Then just as quickly, MU went cold. A couple of turnovers and a couple of missed threes combined with some defensive breakdowns allowed Missouri to explode for an 18-5 run, sparked by English.

The 6-foot-4 freshman was unstoppable, scoring 15 points himself — one short of his personal high — on 3 three-pointers, a couple of layups and a jumper. English’s last three gave the Tigers a 29-22 lead with 7:23 left, and although he finally checked out they didn’t stop there.

Ratcheting up the defensive pressure with its athletic bodies and depth, Missouri smothered MU the rest of the way. Challenging every pass with long arms and closing every lane with quick feet, the Tigers held the Golden Eagles without a field goal for a span of 12:22 down the stretch in the first half.

Although the Golden Eagles got to the free-throw line with regularity, the basket-less drought brought back memories of the scoreless opening 10 minutes they suffered through in their first-round NCAA tournament loss to Michigan State in 2007.

[PastorMikH]

Marquette fans, quit whining, blame your guy for stepping on the inbounds line.

[petegz28]

WTF did their coach say he needed an explanation on why Tiller was pulled? Seriously? Does he not know the rules?

[beer bacon]

Originally Posted by petegz28

WTF did their coach say he needed an explanation on why Tiller was pulled? Seriously? Does he not know the rules?

The guys a jackass. I was afraid he was going to hurt himself at the end of the game.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Listening to Marquette cry about the officials is like listening to a Grand Wizard cry about racism.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by beer bacon

The guys a jackass. I was afraid he was going to hurt himself at the end of the game.

He should have been called for 1 if not 2 TF's at the end. One for running out onto the court crying about there not being a foul. And the other for yelling at the refs with his hands over his face. What a ****ing pussy. We got hosed on calls all game long and not once did you see MA throwing a fit to the refs.

[Hammock Parties]

this is hard for me to admit, but damn, Coach Anderson has his boys playing some damn good ball right now. here's to hoping we meet eachother in the final four!!

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Jayhawkerman2001

this is hard for me to admit, but damn, Coach Anderson has his boys playing some damn good ball right now. here's to hoping we meet eachother in the final four!!

That would be awesome to see KU vs. MU in the final four. I don't think I would even be pissy if MU lost that game. Just too see the two teams reping the Big 12 in the final four would be awesome.