James Breeding

[NutmegDog]

To all the UConn haters who claim this is sour grapes, because refs always set aside their prior history with coaches and teams when they step on the court, I refer you to Tim Donaghy, an NBA ref who admitted the obvious. Refs very definitely have favorites and pre-conceptions about who will get the benefit of the calls (see also, "the Jordan Rules"). Breeding once tossed Dan for urging the crowd to cheer louder. He clearly hates Dan and should never have been on that court last night.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[Vuce]

Ehhhhh - show me the teams we beat that have an official or two with the history we have with Breeding and maybe I’ll agree. If Cowherd can’t provide that evidence then this is just talk show slop

 

[gtcam]

Please share the evidence of UConn "stealing" the 2011 and 2014 Championships.

Thank you - was going to ask the same - stole them???????????????????????????????
The only possible championship (besides those won by Pitino and The Squid) that possibly could be stolen was last night

 

[upstater]

I'm not saying they got an easy draw (though they did face an 8 seed in the championship game) just that they weren't expected to win it all that year or in 2011. They were a 3 seed in 2011 and a 7-seed in 2014. So it felt to me like we weren't "supposed" to win those years but we did. Something had to break right for us. I'm just saying I felt we stole those championships in the sense we caught everyone by surprise, peaked at the right time, etc. I wasn't implying we didn't earn those championships, they were just unexpected.

2014 you're right but not 2011.

People knew UConn was undefeated outside the BE regular season.

They also saw us streak through the BET.

I remember an article on the ESPN bracket challenge that had UConn as the 2nd most popular pick in 10 million+ brackets despite their 3 seed.

Just yet another example of how BE reffing hurts UConn. You can be the best team in college basketball, you can go 23-0 outside the BE regular season against the best teams in the P4, but you'll go 9-9 inside the BE because Kemba's regular shooting night of 5-11 suddenly becomes 3-13 and he gets to the line only once.

 

[Inyatkin]

What a fascinating contribution to this conversation

 

[gtcam]

this guy doesn't get it at all - I am not complaining about physicality at all , my complaint is that the calls were not even

 

[temery]

Dan was 100% sarcastic when he called them an all-star crew

Diplomatic, not sarcastic. He's learning.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Diplomatic, not sarcastic. He's learning.

He was definitely diplomatic but I don't think the "and James, who we're familiar with" was entirely unintentional.

 

[Donyell 360]

I thought we did a pretty good job defending the paint against a bigger team. Michigan had their way a few times on lobs and put backs that really hurt us but overall I was pleased with our defense. The bigger problem from my perspective was Michigan's rim defense. We got very few easy buckets at the rim. Every shot was contested. Reed did not feast like he had all tournament. They were bigger and we had to find a way to adjust. Hey, we almost did. A few more shots dropping could have made the difference. Mullins missed some mid range shots. Ball couldn't finish at the rim. Ross couldn't dunk on a fast break. Did we have any dunks in that game? Tip your hat, they defended their rim well.

 

[Griggs]

He got a Championship game, unfortunately, his profile has been raised

If any of the championship game officials had any integrity, they should recuse themselves if they had officiated a game involving one of the 2 teams or better yet, not be assigned.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Unbelievable

I could make a case for the first 2 fouls by that guy, not a strong one, but that 3rd one was clearly a steam roll job.

 

[Donyell 360]

Ehhhhh - show me the teams we beat that have an official or two with the history we have with Breeding and maybe I’ll agree. If Cowherd can’t provide that evidence then this is just talk show slop

But it is a dose of reality that no one feels sorry for us. It is a lost cause trying to convince the outside world of a conspiracy or injustice against the most dominate brand in the game. They don't need proof. They want to believe we lost fair and square. Or more likely they just don't care.

 

[jorge34]

Ehhhhh - show me the teams we beat that have an official or two with the history we have with Breeding and maybe I’ll agree. If Cowherd can’t provide that evidence then this is just talk show slop

He’s an idiot

UConn beat Purdue by 15 and SDSU by 17….complete blowouts and he’s claiming fans of the opponents blamed their losses of officiating?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

stop complaining here, someone starts a petition to Val the useless, let's sign them.

Val (the conference as a whole in fact) isn't going to do anything for us. They have no reason to be nice to us because they know that no matter how nice they are, we're taking the first bus out of town the minute second an offer from a P level conference arrives.

The biggest favor the commissioner of the conference can do for the largest part of its membership is make it more difficult for us during conference games.

A real conference would demand those lagging (which sadly is 70% of the BE) put a legitimate effort into being competitive. Here they put in partial efforts, let us do the heavy lifting, then claim they are competitive with us when the games are reffed to keep us close to them.

 

[UCFan1513]

Dan was 100% sarcastic when he called them an all-star crew

He 1000% was saying what he knew would please the powers that be and keep him out of the headlines. I’d pay many pennies for his private thoughts

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[Kolumbo]

Diplomatic, not sarcastic. He's learning.

diplomatic implies some level of truth. Dan in no way considers those refs worthy of anything. It was outright sarcasm, but yes, he has learned to keep the truth to himself.

 

[Vuce]

But it is a dose of reality that no one feels sorry for us. It is a lost cause trying to convince the outside world of a conspiracy or injustice against the most dominate brand in the game. They don't need proof. They want to believe we lost fair and square. Or more likely they just don't care.

The Michigan fans we were talking to before the game couldn’t believe Breeding was on the game based on the history. They brought it back to football of course and said they would lose it if that happened to them in a championship game. I don’t think they care after the result and we weren’t trying to convince anyone, just telling them before the fact and it played out exactly as we described

 

[DogMania]

This is literally what happened to us all season, when everyone was saying “we just foul too much.”

Don't agree. Just about every game there are some dumb fouls they commit and some that result in either poor defensive execution or trying to cover more athletic opponents.

With that said, they improved some as the season went on, and last night although some fouls were dumb, there were so many bad calls and non-calls that likely impacted the outcome.

 

[SwampYankee]

Val (the conference as a whole in fact) isn't going to do anything for us. They have no reason to be nice to us because they know that no matter how nice they are, we're taking the first bus out of town the minute second an offer from a P level conference arrives.

This is 100% correct and it's becoming a real issue for us. The BE brass will not waste an ounce of capital on us (despite UConn being its most marketable brand) as we openly look for power conference suitors. I don't how anything changes.

 

[temery]

diplomatic implies some level of truth. Dan in no way considers those refs worthy of anything. It was outright sarcasm, but yes, he has learned to keep the truth to himself.

He was far more proud of his team and his own efforts then he was disappointed or pissed off about the refs. That's what he showed in that interview.

 

[Leebo]

I was at the game. Did the tv announcers call out the bad calls?

I was pretty shocked when Raftery was saying he didn't see a travel on the trap near the end... His feet were sliding all over the place.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Meanwhile McKenney and others body check our ball handlers at half court and it literally was called once on Morez when it was so obvious it had to be called.

I think I made it to post 84 before someone brought up McKenney. Thank you for doing so. There was a 2nd half sequence where he committed 3 fouls during the same possession. In one replay, I swear he took our guy's wallet. Ridiculous amount of hand checking and mugging.

 

[SportsFan88]

Yep as soon as I saw Breeding I knew he's a problem .... Univ. of Louisville's own, who somehow is allowed to games for Pitino too, even when he worked with him as a prof, at the same school....the guys always had issues vs. Uconn and it's coaches, no matter which one, over the years.

Is he the one that ejected Ollie in that Louisville game at gampel?

 

[Improviser]

27-2 without Breeding.

7-4 with Breeding.

How on earth did we get 11 games with this dude? Also, I stole the numbers from John Silver so they might be wrong.

Anyway.

So, Breeding affected our seeding.

 

[mpclinton22]

Breeding would never work another game. He seems almost universally despised.

And the problem is....?

 

[1999GoodSon]

I've never respected Hurley more. Bluntly. Very early in the game I said they were baiting Dan. How he withstood some those calls without his head exploding is beyond me. There's no other explanation. Last night was payback.

 

[Hurlees4hed]

For me, it's just sinking in just how terrible the officiating was last night. We really outplayed them. Just wish the ball bounced differently a few times. And that Breeding was not near the court. It didn't feel fair. God damn Hurley built a monster. I hate the AK era ended this way.

Our window is nowhere near closed, but there's going to be a visible adjustment without AK. I expect some bumps in the road. Wish the staff had some time to recharge after that heartbreaker but gotta hit the portal hard. We have work to do.

Just hope this is motivation to go on another tear and Hurley gets his 3rd, 4th, 5th titles...

 

[temery]

diplomatic implies some level of truth. Dan in no way considers those refs worthy of anything. It was outright sarcasm, but yes, he has learned to keep the truth to himself.

The truth is, he would look like a whiny little bitch if his first press conference was to complain about refs. Hurley is learning.