Illinois Sucks when Using Womens Basketball

Illinois Men's Basketball Team Plays Better Basketball When Using A Men's Basketball

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Originally Posted by Knownothing

Illinois Men's Basketball Team Plays Better Basketball When Using A Men's Basketball

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Wow, that's an embarrassing mistake to make at that level.

I was officiating a high school doubleheader once and they forgot to switch the girls game ball for the boys ball between games. Luckily my buddy went over to check the bounce prior to tip and realized right away something was wrong.

Yeah, we used to play pickup after school and the girl's basketball coach would play, always insisted on using the women's sized ball which definitely takes some getting used to.

How do you even touch the ball once and not tell a difference let alone get that far in to a game.

I'm pretty sure there was a Div I WBB game a year or two ago where they used a men's ball for most of the game before realizing it.

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Originally Posted by mred

I'm pretty sure there was a Div I WBB game a year or two ago where they used a men's ball for most of the game before realizing it.

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Found it:

argusleader.com | Sioux Falls PluckPersona | Argus Leader

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There might have be an underlying reason why the highly regarded SDSU women’s basketball team shot a season-low 32 percent Thursday in a 63-41 win over Centenary at Frost Arena: The game was played using a men’s-sized basketball.

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They discovered it midway through the second half, and oddly the officials decided to continue play with that ball instead of switching.

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Originally Posted by mred

Found it:

argusleader.com | Sioux Falls PluckPersona | Argus Leader



They discovered it midway through the second half, and oddly the officials decided to continue play with that ball instead of switching.

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In a weird way, this makes sense to me- I played against our girls squad at the school that I used to teach at, and after 20min, I adjusted to the weight and took a little off my shot. Surely college ballers would make the adjustments either way, but I think the officials wanted to be consistent.

It kind of blows your mind that when you're playing sports, even the smallest changes in the equipment or facilities used can totally throw off your game. Your body gets so used certain things, that even a few ounces or an inch can affect your throw, your passes, etc.

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Originally Posted by mred

I'm pretty sure there was a Div I WBB game a year or two ago where they used a men's ball for most of the game before realizing it.

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We had this happen at Coe last year or the year before. We were down by 11 before they realized it. The score was even the rest of the way after the ball switch. Really weird.

So how do these players spend 60 mins warming up w regulation ball and not immediately notice game ball is different?

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Originally Posted by BigBake

So how do these players spend 60 mins warming up w regulation ball and not immediately notice game ball is different?

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Perhaps they did. But what are they going to do - go up to the refs and keep complaining that they've got the wrong ball? They might be right, but until the ref figures it out for him/herself they're probably just going to tell them to shut up and play the game.

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Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Perhaps they did. But what are they going to do - go up to the refs and keep complaining that they've got the wrong ball? They might be right, but until the ref figures it out for him/herself they're probably just going to tell them to shut up and play the game.

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That trick play only works once.

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Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Perhaps they did. But what are they going to do - go up to the refs and keep complaining that they've got the wrong ball? They might be right, but until the ref figures it out for him/herself they're probably just going to tell them to shut up and play the game.

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Chicago Tribune article on the game

Illinois basketball: Illinois survives small-ball game 74-63 - chicagotribune.com

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Originally Posted by simply1

Yeah, we used to play pickup after school and the girl's basketball coach would play, always insisted on using the women's sized ball which definitely takes some getting used to.

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I'd have to insist that they wore a skit then.

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Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

Perhaps they did. But what are they going to do - go up to the refs and keep complaining that they've got the wrong ball? They might be right, but until the ref figures it out for him/herself they're probably just going to tell them to shut up and play the game.

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Problem with this is the officials don't touch the ball all that often. It finally took both coaching staffs to stop play for the officials to review the ball when it happened at our game.