A two-minute video analysis that pretty much summarizes UCONN v. UCF

[Lynx23]

 

[JoePgh]

This is worth listening to. As is often the case, I agreed with part of what Megan Culmo said and disagreed strongly with another claim of hers.

First, the disagreement: She criticized the officiating, saying that the officials called too many fouls and took the game away from the players. Definitely the officials called the game tightly, but I suspect that the supervisor of officiating who assigned them to the game warned them of the history of UCF-UConn games in the AAC, and told them that their first priority was to keep control of the game and prevent it from degenerating into a basketball version of the "Slap Shot" movie.

That is why they called all the fouls, tightly on both teams. After the incident where Paige and the UCF player wouldn't let go of the held ball, they warned both teams that any repetition of that would lead to technical fouls being called (per the announcers). And when Paige got knocked to the floor by a UCF player in the third quarter, they spent several minutes reviewing the video before deciding (correctly, in my opinion) that it was only a common foul.

After the players on both teams noticed how tightly the fouls were being called, they decided that "selling" calls by flopping might work -- and it did. (Yes, UConn players did it too.) But the refs were determined to maintain control of the game, even if they went for a few flops. I think that was a justifiable decision from their perspective.

Now, as to Megan's other comment that I agree with: She praised Azzi in particular for maintaining her composure in the game, especially in handling the ball against the UCF pressure. Despite comments on the Boneyard to the commentary, I thought that all of the UConn guards who played in the second half did a very good (not perfect) job of maintaining custody of the ball against a very high level of pressure by UCF. UCF had only 4 steals in the entire game, and the turnover margin was 13-to-20 in UConn's favor. I will bet that is far better than most teams do against UCF's defense.

 

[TeamFirst!]

I agree with Cuomo on the refs. They let the game get out of control. If they made it known from the start that they were going to call fouls it would have been a cleaner game. We missed 10 out of 12 layups? I'm pretty sure there were some fouls on some of those attempts that were not called.

 

[ShmiCO]

Don't know if this guy is on anyone else's radar, small/newish channel. I like the detail in his analyses.

 

[HuskyNan]

This encapsulates the game too. Bad decision by the player, weird reffing (right to call a TO, wrong reason), confused players and announcers

 

[dogpause]

The FT Violation was the only call that ref got right all night. Worst officiated game of the year.

 

[Blakeon18]

The UCF coach clearly said 'they all went in'. Don't know about that... but did Dorka go in at the same time as the UCF player?

 

[Geew1992]

I agree with Cuomo on the refs. They let the game get out of control. If they made it known from the start that they were going to call fouls it would have been a cleaner game. We missed 10 out of 12 layups? I'm pretty sure there were some fouls on some of those attempts that were not called.

Wide open layups were missed. Def no one was fouled

 

[Bald Husky]

The UCF coach clearly said 'they all went in'. Don't know about that... but did Dorka go in at the same time as the UCF player?

It doesn't matter who went in first, double clutching is a violation.

 

[HuskyNan]

The UCF coach clearly said 'they all went in'. Don't know about that... but did Dorka go in at the same time as the UCF player?

You can’t fake a free throw. That‘s the violation

 

[hoopsfan22]

Paige came running in so fast to tell the ref.

 

[cferraro04]

Double clutch the free throw? Who does that? My question is based on her total lack of expression after the fact...did she do it on purpose? Either way, it was the right call...negate the free throw, give possession to UCONN.

 

[Oracle9]

Double clutch the free throw? Who does that? My question is based on her total lack of expression after the fact...did she do it on purpose? Either way, it was the right call...negate the free throw, give possession to UCONN.

I suspect she was trying the old okey doke it did move players but fortunately the ref caught it...or was it that eagle eyed PG.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I was on Twitter a lot that night. I follow a lot of the men's bball fans, since I watch both, and I follow a lot of sports reporting accounts. Every single one of the said it was the worst officiated game they'd seen all season bar none. The officials completely took that game away from the players, and I agree w/Meg, disrupted any kind of flow for either team. Let's hope there's a better crew in Bridgeport.

Let's be honest too, we all knew what kind of game it was going to be. If there was any doubt about that it was eliminated after the first tie up. And yes, UConn missed a ton of layups that can't continue if they are to advance.

I think people that thought it was a great game to watch were most likely just fans of the sport vs. fans who root for either UConn or UCF.

 

[Blakeon18]

Live and learn...thanks folks! I have the sound muted 99% of the time...did not hear any explanation.
Maybe....just maybe....I should rethink that percentage...drop it to Azzi's free throw percentage...that might
lead to furthering my education.

 

[Lynx23]

I thought it was a good video to post because it personally gave me perspective. My first thought following the UCF game was that we were lucky to win, and if this the way we're going to play, we're in a lot of trouble going forward. The truth is, it's easy to sit back and criticize, far removed from the action that is taking place on the court. There were a lot of missed layups and this seems to have been a problem all season, so I can't argue that it's not a problem that needs to be fixed. On the other hand, when you're playing in a very physical game as this is, and the expectation may be that, if you don't take your shot quickly you're going to get hammered into oblivion, I can certainly see that having a psychological as well as a physical impact on performance. I suppose surviving a physical "grind it out" sort of game can be a good thing in the long run but, hopefully, we'll be able to play a bit looser (e.g., play the basketball we're capable of and have more fun) in the games to follow.

 

[Zarathustra]

I learn a lot about Basketball rules, etc. from the BoneYard. Thanks for
the education! Z

 

[nimzovich]

I realize I am in the minority here, but Im not convinced that the violation call was correct, IF she was called for faking the free throw.

It was stated earlier in this thread, that it doesn’t matter whether she double-clutched the free-throw on purpose or not. That would be true in high school, but not in college.

The ncaa womens basketball rulebook clearly states on page 80, in Rule 9, Section 1, Article 1b that it’s a violation if “the free-thrower PURPOSELY fakes a try” (capitalized by me).

http://www.wpwboa.org/app/download/16709631/2021-2023+Rule+Book.pdf

Watching it live and on replay, I can’t see any indication that she purposely faked it, or think of any reason for her doing so.

1. If she is called for faking it, she loses her attempt.
2. If she is not called for faking it, 3 things could have happen:
A. If it results in a UConn violation, all she gets is to try it over if she misses.
B. If it results in a teammate violation, she loses her attempt.
C. If it results in a simultaneous violation, it’s awarded to the team with the arrow, which happened to be UConn.

It’s all a lose-lose situation for her to fake that free throw. It’s much more likely that after missing the first one, she had a bad case of nerves and double-clutched.

However, I think the result of the call was fortunate for the referee who called it. It appears to me that a simultaneous violation occurred and UConn, with the arrow, would have been awarded the ball anyway. That would be 2c in my paragraph above.

Thoughts, any one?

 

[jaydee602]

This is worth listening to. As is often the case, I agreed with part of what Megan Culmo said and disagreed strongly with another claim of hers.

First, the disagreement: She criticized the officiating, saying that the officials called too many fouls and took the game away from the players. Definitely the officials called the game tightly, but I suspect that the supervisor of officiating who assigned them to the game warned them of the history of UCF-UConn games in the AAC, and told them that their first priority was to keep control of the game and prevent it from degenerating into a basketball version of the "Slap Shot" movie.

That is why they called all the fouls, tightly on both teams. After the incident where Paige and the UCF player wouldn't let go of the held ball, they warned both teams that any repetition of that would lead to technical fouls being called (per the announcers). And when Paige got knocked to the floor by a UCF player in the third quarter, they spent several minutes reviewing the video before deciding (correctly, in my opinion) that it was only a common foul.

After the players on both teams noticed how tightly the fouls were being called, they decided that "selling" calls by flopping might work -- and it did. (Yes, UConn players did it too.) But the refs were determined to maintain control of the game, even if they went for a few flops. I think that was a justifiable decision from their perspective.

Now, as to Megan's other comment that I agree with: She praised Azzi in particular for maintaining her composure in the game, especially in handling the ball against the UCF pressure. Despite comments on the Boneyard to the commentary, I thought that all of the UConn guards who played in the second half did a very good (not perfect) job of maintaining custody of the ball against a very high level of pressure by UCF. UCF had only 4 steals in the entire game, and the turnover margin was 13-to-20 in UConn's favor. I will bet that is far better than most teams do against UCF's defense.

Good analysis, Joe! My only slight disagreement is about the officiating.
Both coaches commented that the NCAA assigned a West Coast ref who was not familiar with the physicality of the teams. Benny Luna was widely criticized for his erratic calls. Another ref was a floater with minimal experience.
If the head of officiating was worried about the potential for violence, why not assign veteran refs who officiate these physical games without incident? Instead, the game was inundated with excessive foul calls in a futile attempt to control the game.

 

[Centerstream]

I realize I am in the minority here, but Im not convinced that the violation call was correct, IF she was called for faking the free throw.

It was stated earlier in this thread, that it doesn’t matter whether she double-clutched the free-throw on purpose or not. That would be true in high school, but not in college.

The ncaa womens basketball rulebook clearly states on page 80, in Rule 9, Section 1, Article 1b that it’s a violation if “the free-thrower PURPOSELY fakes a try” (capitalized by me).

http://www.wpwboa.org/app/download/16709631/2021-2023+Rule+Book.pdf

Watching it live and on replay, I can’t see any indication that she purposely faked it, or think of any reason for her doing so.

1. If she is called for faking it, she loses her attempt.
2. If she is not called for faking it, 3 things could have happen:
A. If it results in a UConn violation, all she gets is to try it over if she misses.
B. If it results in a teammate violation, she loses her attempt.
C. If it results in a simultaneous violation, it’s awarded to the team with the arrow, which happened to be UConn.

It’s all a lose-lose situation for her to fake that free throw. It’s much more likely that after missing the first one, she had a bad case of nerves and double-clutched.

However, I think the result of the call was fortunate for the referee who called it. It appears to me that a simultaneous violation occurred and UConn, with the arrow, would have been awarded the ball anyway. That would be 2c in my paragraph above.

Thoughts, any one?

Um, yeah, she did it on purpose and got caught.

 

[HuskyNan]

Live and learn...thanks folks! I have the sound muted 99% of the time...did not hear any explanation.
Maybe....just maybe....I should rethink that percentage...drop it to Azzi's free throw percentage...that might
lead to furthering my education.

There was no explanation. The commentators were confused and fumbling for a reason for the TO. I guess the Boneyard knows more than the analysts do.

 

[SallyH]

One of the announcers, aside from not calling the game, said she liked it when things got "chippy" I was really upset because when the refs allow the players to "get chippy" you get injuries. Can we get better announcers, please?

 

[OldSchooler]

The FT Violation was the only call that ref got right all night. Worst officiated game of the year.

I don't know what you were watching, but the video makes it clear -- the FT shooter double-clutched but NEVER moved her feet. The only lane violation was by the student bodies of both teams.

 

[nimzovich]

I realize I am in the minority here, but Im not convinced that the violation call was correct, IF she was called for faking the free throw.

It was stated earlier in this thread, that it doesn’t matter whether she double-clutched the free-throw on purpose or not. That would be true in high school, but not in college.

The ncaa womens basketball rulebook clearly states on page 80, in Rule 9, Section 1, Article 1b that it’s a violation if “the free-thrower PURPOSELY fakes a try” (capitalized by me).

http://www.wpwboa.org/app/download/16709631/2021-2023+Rule+Book.pdf

Watching it live and on replay, I can’t see any indication that she purposely faked it, or think of any reason for her doing so.

1. If she is called for faking it, she loses her attempt.
2. If she is not called for faking it, 3 things could have happen:
A. If it results in a UConn violation, all she gets is to try it over if she misses.
B. If it results in a teammate violation, she loses her attempt.
C. If it results in a simultaneous violation, it’s awarded to the team with the arrow, which happened to be UConn.

It’s all a lose-lose situation for her to fake that free throw. It’s much more likely that after missing the first one, she had a bad case of nerves and double-clutched.

However, I think the result of the call was fortunate for the referee who called it. It appears to me that a simultaneous violation occurred and UConn, with the arrow, would have been awarded the ball anyway. That would be 2c in my paragraph above.

Thoughts, any one?

Why?

Um, yeah, she did it on purpose and got caught.

for no reason at all, with nothing to gain, in a 3 point game with 22 seconds left?

 

[ballhawk]

In all the analyses that I've read about why UConn won, one basic fact has been overlooked. UCF shot 21% below its average on free throws. On 20 FT attempts that results in 4 fewer points. UConn shot 9% better than its season average and on 23 attempts that means 2 more points. If both teams had shot their season average UCF would have one more point than UConn. In the end the pressure got to UCF while UConn met the moment. I have to believe that home court advantage had to play a role.