Someone say the silent part out loud for me

[Three4Cy]

Blaming the refs after you lost by 17 is some next level copium.

Blaming the refs when both teams combined for 187 points. There were 66 made field goals in that game, it's not like the refs slowed down the scoring pace. Free throws were 21 for LSU and 20 for Iowa, both teams made 15.

Were they blaming the refs against South Carolina when 38 fouls were called? That is one more than against LSU. Oh wait, they won that game, so fouls don't matter.

 

[Cyrocks]

If the refs are going strictly letter-of-the-law to apply that T then they need to be consistent and go strict letter-of-the-law with other violations that deserve a T. Pulling out a rulebook reference to justify one while you ignore an equally, if not more egregious violation of the rules and don't call the other is the problem.

 

[tm3308]

Blaming the refs when both teams combined for 187 points. There were 66 made field goals in that game, it's not like the refs slowed down the scoring pace. Free throws were 21 for LSU and 20 for Iowa, both teams made 15.

Were they blaming the refs against South Carolina when 38 fouls were called? That is one more than against LSU. Oh wait, they won that game, so fouls don't matter.

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

 

[BCClone]

I tend to not dwell in the fringes of fandom. Irrationally dumb takes are things I usually try to avoid no matter which fanbase we're talking about. Of course you can't avoid it all and at times it's fun for me to read just how delusional some fans are. That being said, I feel like I have a pretty good cross section of rational Iowa fans in my circle and I'm pretty sure all of them have blamed the refs. Obviously that's not a big enough sample to have a sweeping generalization, but it is a bit out of character for the Hawk fans I talk to regularly. I get the anger and frustration though. I'd be pissed too if ISU was that close to a natty and I probably would handle it just like they are.

To your other points, I was actually more impressed with LSU defensively than offensively. They shot a ridiculous percentage yesterday. Some of that was exploiting their advantages over Iowa, some of it was taking advantage of Iowa's defensive strategy, and some of it was straight up luck. I'm not sure LSU ran any plays in the 4th quarter either. Their point guard just dribbled until 10 seconds, drove to 15 feet, and drained a jumper like no one was guarding her. Possession after possession. No passing. No movement.

What LSU did so much better than South Carolina is defend the pick and roll. Clark lived in the lane on Friday and it seemed like South Carolina learned nothing throughout the game. They didn't have the speed to keep up with Clark or whoever was rolling and it was a layup fest. The minute they tried to defend the lane, Clark had too much space and drained threes. LSU basically neutralized the pick and roll game and forced Clark into contested threes. 19 of her 22 attempts against LSU were threes compared to 17 of her 31 against South Carolina. That's a massive difference for so many reasons.

IIRC, SC tried to put a taller girl on CC many times. Mulkey understood where CCs weakness is and put a quicker player on her although not that tall. It kept clark from driving much and they would have her fight over the screens and the post to hedge out on her for a split second and then drop back before the Iowa posts could get behind them. This allowed LSUs guard to catch up to CC to kill the pick and roll. CC did get some 3s off, but they made her work and would deny her when possible. I did recognize that CC really wants to go left or at least be on the left side of the court for her 3s. When she was forced to shoot while going to her right, it was her worst shots. Yes she did score 30 but the killed her pick and roll assists to make Iowa beat them with the deep shot.

 

[Cyrocks]

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

There have been badly officiated games in many NFL, NBA, NCAA title games.

This one was no exception.

One fan base decided to make it racist this time

 

[BCClone]

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

I think a huge reason for the complaints on the refs last night are two reasons. First, the women game refs have been poor in nearly every game I've seen this year and I watched a decent amount of the ISU games. Second, I have a big suspicion that most of the fans hadn't watched more than 1-2 womens games this year and didn't realize over the course of the season, that these refs are close to what the norm has been for women's games this year.

 

[MyNameEhJeff]

You throw the ball off the court, you risk a technical. You wouldn't normally expect it to be called in the title game. So it makes you wonder if some prior things happened or were said that made this act of defiance the final step over the line.

EDIT: Someone posted in another thread that it was the second time Iowa caused a delay of game. They had knocked the ball into the fans after a made basket and got warned earlier in the game. So Clark tossing the ball out of bounds was the 2nd delay of game, thus the technical. Mystery solved!

Not only that, but there was a potential missed call against LSU on the other end the play before. So I’m sure Clark was upset about them blowing the whistle on the next series.

 

[iahawks]

IIRC, SC tried to put a taller girl on CC many times. Mulkey understood where CCs weakness is and put a quicker player on her although not that tall. It kept clark from driving much and they would have her fight over the screens and the post to hedge out on her for a split second and then drop back before the Iowa posts could get behind them. This allowed LSUs guard to catch up to CC to kill the pick and roll. CC did get some 3s off, but they made her work and would deny her when possible. I did recognize that CC really wants to go left or at least be on the left side of the court for her 3s. When she was forced to shoot while going to her right, it was her worst shots. Yes she did score 30 but the killed her pick and roll assists to make Iowa beat them with the deep shot.

But Iowa scored more points against LSU than they did SC.

 

[BCClone]

But Iowa scored more points against LSU than they did SC.

Transitive properties are great in sports. Because you know, each team plays identical every night.

 

[Three4Cy]

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

You missed the point, Iowa fans had no issues against South Carolina when more fouls were called, Czinano, Warnock, and Clark were all in foul trouble on Friday, yet since you won, everything was great.

I've been an ISU women's basketball season ticket holder since 1998, I've seen plenty of poor officiating, and this was nowhere near the worst game I've seen. Every game has some head-scratchers and this one was no different.

The reason for all the "outrage" was the hype by the media, had this game been between LSU and South Carolina, all the "experts" on social media wouldn't have been so outraged that the current star in women's college basketball got called for shoving off to create space, which is something she has gotten away with all year. The technical was cheap, but they had been warned, and that on the players to know that and not even put themselves in a situation to force the ref's hands to make that call.

 

[tm3308]

You missed the point, Iowa fans had no issues against South Carolina when more fouls were called, Czinano, Warnock, and Clark were all in foul trouble on Friday, yet since you won, everything was great.

I've been an ISU women's basketball season ticket holder since 1998, I've seen plenty of poor officiating, and this was nowhere near the worst game I've seen. Every game has some head-scratchers and this one was no different.

The reason for all the "outrage" was the hype by the media, had this game been between LSU and South Carolina, all the "experts" on social media wouldn't have been so outraged that the current star in women's college basketball got called for shoving off to create space, which is something she has gotten away with all year. The technical was cheap, but they had been warned, and that on the players to know that and not even put themselves in a situation to force the ref's hands to make that call.

Sabrina Ionescu, Elena Delle Donne, noted Iowa fans who weren't watching WBB before last weekend.

I'm not arguing that there aren't plenty of Iowa fans out there saying the refs were the reason for the loss. There are morons who make that argument in every fanbase, including this one. But there are also a lot of people who aren't Iowa fans who thought the officiating was terrible, and not just people who weren't paying attention until this past weekend. If you really don't believe that's true, then the Iowa fans you're referring to aren't the only ones wearing blinders here.

 

[tm3308]

There have been badly officiated games in many NFL, NBA, NCAA title games.

This one was no exception.

One fan base decided to make it racist this time

And the ones who did that are pieces of ****. But that has nothing to do with the point I was making.

 

[MeowingCows]

But Iowa scored more points against LSU than they did SC.

What was the points per possession for each game? That would tell us better info there.

 

[MJ271]

What was the points per possession for each game? That would tell us better info there.

Iowa's offensive rating against South Carolina was 106.9 and was 109 against LSU. So Iowa was a bit better against LSU, but that pretty much was a result of much better shooting from three (47% against LSU vs. 30% against SC). From two, Iowa shot 62% against South Carolina, 54% against LSU and Iowa shot a larger percentage of their shots from two against South Carolina.

Iowa-LSU: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/2023-04-02-15-iowa_w.html
Iowa-SC: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/2023-03-31-01-iowa_w.html

 

[AuH2O]

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

Here's the problem. In both men's and women's games people are complaining about how the over the top physicality and restriction of freedom of movement is hurting the game. And that's probably an accurate criticism.

At the same time in a game when there are a ton of fouls called people freak out about how officials are deciding games. Now, in all games there are also some odd ticky tack fouls that get called, yesterday's Iowa-LSU game is no exception.

This isn't necessarily aimed at Iowa fan during yesterday's game, but a general observation. Obviously step one is consistency, but the problem with that certainly with the men's game is even called consistently within a game, the way a game is called can pretty much determine the winner depending on style. And you can be rolling along with a style and suddenly you get a crew that calls a game in a way that doesn't suit you and you're screwed.

An example for ISU was the UAB loss in the tournament. It was reasonably evenly officiated, but grabbing, hand-checking and almost anything short of tackling off the ball was allowed, and it turned into a muckfest. ISU couldn't play well that way. Call that game by the strict letter of the law and ISU probably shoots 50 FTs. Conversely, if the last two years' ISU teams had some of their wins officiated strictly to the letter of the law, they probably lose those games.

College basketball leagues need to decide how they want games officiated. Consistency in-game is great. But it's still way too varied from game to game.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

It's not like Iowa fans were the only ones upset about the officiating last night. There's almost never anything even resembling unanimous support of any idea in sports, but virtually everyone was talking about how the officiating was ruining the game last night, from fans of both schools, the media, and some of the biggest names in the professional game. It didn't cause Iowa to lose by any stretch (they were losing last night regardless of the officiating), even if I think it did prevent the game from being more compelling throughout.

Obviously, Iowa fans are biased and more likely to blame the officiating for the loss outright. But it was near universally-agreed that the refs were awful and distracted from what should have been an outstanding game. And in 2023, that level of consensus is noteworthy.

I saw basically three buckets:

*Unaffiliated observers saying the officials sucked generally
*Non-Iowa observers tuning in to root for Clark who said the officials sucked and wanted Clark (and Iowa) to win, with their takes biased as such
*Iowa fans saying the officials favored LSU

It was not a unanimous "The officials are screwing Iowa" chorus - that was coming from the Hawkeye contingent. I think the only exception was a single technical foul.

 

[tm3308]

I saw basically three buckets:

*Unaffiliated observers saying the officials sucked generally
*Non-Iowa observers tuning in to root for Clark who said the officials sucked and wanted Clark (and Iowa) to win, with their takes biased as such
*Iowa fans saying the officials favored LSU

It was not a unanimous "The officials are screwing Iowa" chorus - that was coming from the Hawkeye contingent. I think the only exception was a single technical foul.

I never said it was a unanimous "the officials are screwing Iowa" chorus. I said it was a near unanimous belief that the officials inserted themselves and negatively impacted the game. There's a big, big difference between those two statements. Even with Iowa fans' bias, they still thought the refs inserted themselves into the game in a way that had a negative impact on the game, even if they thought LSU was being favored. LSU fans were saying the opposite. And people with no horse in the race thought it sucked all around. You'll never get closer to a unanimous opinion in sports than that.

 

[clonedude]

Personally I love it that Hawk fans are not talking about the great accomplishment these ladies had.... and instead looking like sore losers on the national stage. Blaming refs all day... being racist all day.... and not saying how awesome these women on the team were.

Of course they deserve more from their fans..... but they aren't going to get that playing at Iowa. It's just all whining and racism all day. It's all I heard at work today here in eastern Iowa. Not one person grateful for all the entertainment and excitement this team gave them. Really sad, but to be expected from this fanbase.

 

[clonehome]

I think more fouls occur when you have physical mismatches like that. Iowa is smaller and not as quick so they have to play really physical to have a chance. And because LSU has those advantages they try to get every rebound so they’re on Iowa’s back all night. Also, because Clark is so skilled her opponents will bump and grab to stay with her. That’s one of the reasons Clark is so good with the chicken wing/push off with her off hand, she has to do it to keep defenders off her. Unfortunately she got called for it twice last night which you never see.

 

[brett108]

LSU is much more balanced offensively than SC.

As weird as she is Mulkey is the best coach in women’s bball.