Post-game comment by Cal's coach

Baylor was getting the same calls yesterday too...it was very hard to watch the mugging. Which begs the question, if Stanford, Baylor, ND, and UCONN make it to the final four, has Geno considered plan "B" based on the 1994 Finals mugging we got. I suspect Geno is already thinking about this, and hance is playing and coaching Banks, the slasher, to take the ball to the hoop more and more, to prepare her to counter ND at their own game. If Diggens and Novosel are getting away with it, why not have Hayes and Banks do it right back, creating a win/win for Geno. If the refs lay off, we can play the same slash and score all day long. If they start calling offensive fouls, I will take an even exchange of Diggens or Novosel for Banks, since we are far deeper than ND in Offense with Banks, Hayes, KML, and Bria. Just a thought....

Because somehow the call seems only available on one end of the court. If Geno sees it happening he will respond strongly and quickly like he did in the Big East tourney. That put an end to it in a hurry. I still think he should invite the Archbishop to sit behind the UConn bench.

JMHO:
the best thing to do with Diggins is to rotate some good defenders on her the entire game, never leave her, and get chippy....she's got an attitude, and she pouts. At times you see it impact her team.

I'm looking for lots of pouting. That is actually rather unseemly for the "face" of WCBB.

Exactly this. I understand that officiating is prone to human error, and that it's part of the game, blah blah blah. That's fine. But if you're going to bad, be consistently bad. My general take on officiating discussions is that fan frustration results more from the blatant inconsistency that currently plagues the sport. If both teams are getting calls or neither team is getting any, then it's tough to complain as much.

FWIW, I can recall a love fest between Uconn and The Vols where somewhere around 58 fouls were called. Don't know if it was ncaa's or regular season but it was extremely badly officiated both ways.

Excellent Point, different defenders, different attacks , hence she cannot get into a rhythm with any one person. Full court pressure from the first whistle and use a large bench to give plenty of rest.

This gave me a good visual (I can see the bishop now waving his finger back and forth to the refs on Geno’s head nod) made me laugh......

Not to be lost in all this is that Cal. turned out to be a very good team. All season, I'd sort of been pooh-pooh'ing Stanford's record because it was 'only" playing Pac12 teams. I think Cal showed (and Gonzaga is showing) that there are some good teams out west, though (as I should have realized, from living in the SF Bay area for 30 years) not much on the radar of East Coasters. Muffet predicts Cal. to be a top 10 team next season. Their coach seems pretty classy.

The complaints about referees' inconsistency (in re ND) seem misplaced. It seems to me that they were remarkably consistent in the Cal-ND game. They consistently gave Novosel all the calls and kept her at the FT line throughout the game.That is just bad and biased officiating, but not inconsistent.

Someone suggested more Jewish referees. Bad idea. The game would take forever to play because the three refs would have to huddle-up after almost every call to argue with one another about it.

I would think Muffet encourages it; she'd be crazy not to. Good things happen when Notre Dame's big guards get in to the lane: a made basket, a foul or both. ND's guards are certainly capable perimeter shooters, but most coaches would prefer to force ND into taking perimeter shots. ND scores more points and gets opponents in foul trouble when Diggins, Novasel etc get in to the lane and create contact and shots (+ fouls) for themselves or for Peters. Give ND's guards credit for being willing to get into the lane and accept the physical contact. There aren't a lot of guards who have the body or the will to do that. It's up to opponents to figure out ways to keep them out of the lane, take charges or not commit fouls. Opposing coaches also need to raise the issue with the media before playing ND (like Geno has done).

Interestingly enough Sue Blauch was one of the refs in our game against ND at the RAC and the game was called differently. Novasel was called for 2 charges right off the bat, only scored 6 points and one of those was a 3 pt. shot. She only got to the foul line once. I think the home court is often a big influence on the refs. ND was able to adapt in that game, they shot more 3's and did not get to the line significantly more than RU, but might not be able to do so against a team like UConn. I think that is some of what we saw in the Big East Championship game, which was essentially a home game for UConn (no offense intended by that statement) and was called more evenly.

This is exactly correct. One cannot wait until the game one must place it in the officials' minds from the get go.

My concern would be is she already training the next generation of body throwers ie., McBride and Turner or does it end with Novosel and Diggins. The whole strategy reminds me of my little league coach telling me when I was ten years old to step in front of the ball so I could take a base for being hit with the ball. You also have to watch Peters who has gotten quite adept at flopping. Touch her with any part of your body and she flies through the air and lands on the floor...it is ridiculous. I understand gamesmanship and selling the foul but some of her flops are legendary and take the art to a whole new level. When Geno said he had some surprises to show in the last game of the Big East Tourney when we played ND for the third time...I actually thought he had told the team to flop everytime they were touched...he didn't but it was in my mind.

The opponent still has to be disciplined enough to not foul so that the ref has the option of not calling the foul. Notre Dame's guards were flailing around, but Cal wasn't playing disciplined enough to avoid the falls. There were plenty of times where Cal was a step slow or hacked late with just enough contact to create foul calls. The other team has to help the refs too.

It's hard not to 'foul' when the opposing player is launching herself into you. The ND players don't accept contact, they too often initiate the contact.

Don't worry, cohen, not all your people keep kosher. BTW, I live in Mifllintown, PA where along with the rabbi we goyim produce Empire Kosher chickens.

Ice - You gots to spell Kosher correctly. And 2 comments, don't tell the rabbi, but some of us Cohanim even watch hoops on Shabbos and that he should try to get the damn price down on them there Empire birds. They must feed them Arabian oil.

No, its spelled like those watches you buy in downtown NYC. You knows the Roleks.

Won't work against ND. They go straight to the Vatican.