fantastic post-game analysis.

what you said about the refs is dead on. i really don’t have anything to add to that. the only thing i will say is that even at the end, it was almost circus-like how we were clearly just trying to play pressure defense and hoping for a turnover, but the refs were whistling it like we were trying to intentionally foul. you could see the look of confusion on our guys’ faces. i was wondering if anyone went over to the refs to have the “we’re not trying to foul yet” conversation. (i actually think i saw cal have this conversation for a brief second, but maybe not.)

i hate the brutal honesty with dorsey, but you’re just being the messenger. dorsey was a messenger yesterday. everyone looking at what happened just has tell the whole story, starting with his comments. the part that breaks my heart is that i get the feeling dorsey spoke out so much yesterday because he really did believe in himself and he felt really good about this team. going into today’s game, his dominance was an indespensible reason for our success in having made it so far. i hate to see it end this way for him.

i was as confused as you were about the decision to play kareem cooper early. i was talking with a friend before the game and telling him that if we had to see kareem cooper again early because of foul trouble, it would be a bad sign. only, in this game, we went to him by choice. my best guess is that cal was trying to buy our big guys more time in the second half by not risking foul trouble - thinking, that if we get into the second half without any foul trouble on dorsey and dozier, we’ll be in a great position to win. which was a great thought, except it ended up not working because of the rate at which our guys were picking up fouls. that is, the time we “gained” (it could be lost, depending on how you look at it) in the first half with cooper on the floor by choice, ended up playing out just as if he had been put in by necessity because our guys ended up being shackled by foul trouble anyways.

mike conley jr. went ballistic against us. the numbers did tell it - by the numbers, jeremy hunt was the superstar today, and he was brilliant. but conley’s brilliance was the reason ohio state played as well as they did. no question, he was the best guard we faced all tournament. yes, acie law iv and marcellus kemp included.

lastly, but pertinently, please read this, this is my take on why the cdr intentional foul was a debacle. i hate to get on cdr for a bad decision. he’s made nothing but great, and i mean great, decisions all tournament. watching the play, i felt like it was a smart decision gone horror-film. his decision to take the foul on the ground was right on, and initially he made a play on the ball. it was clear, it should have been called. but, the ref didn’t call it. however, it appeared that cdr had it in his mind that he was going to foul. so, the ref not blowing the whistle on the contact, cdr had no choice but to think, “what i’ve done isn’t enough, i have to foul him either harder or more blatantly.” you can see it all transpire. because he was just trying to foul, and the foul wasn’t called, oden made a little bit of a move to the basket against an out-of-position defensive player. so, as cdr continued to foul, his grasp on oden became more tenuous, until, with no foul having been called, cdr grabs his waist. as for the continuation on that play: absolutely criminal.

The continuation was a surprise even to Oden and obviously not the correct ruling, but as far as the foul (or fouls) attempted beforehand…you can’t have it both ways. Oden has been getting fouled like that all tournament and the refs just swallow their whistles. It’s the same treatment that Shaquile O’Neil used to get at LSU. He would complain and the refs would say “You’re 7 foot!” It’s a double standard for someone who is penalized for being so much more physically dominating than any other center in the country for this generation. As far as the refs calling more fouls on Memphis…have you ever considered that maybe they fouled more? Despite the conspiracy theories, the refs don’t have a running total of the number of fouls on each team playing in their head and all of a sudden decide to call or not call fouls to even them up. Aggressive teams who drive the ball to the hole get fouled. Jump shooting teams who are afraid to drive the ball to the hole don’t get as many fouls. And with Oden in the game, how many Memphis players felt like going to the hoop? I think the Memphis fans need to look at two things as to why they lost. They shot 16 out of 43 inside the arc and their “Goliath” fired up OSU’s “David” and his teamates and his coaches. I think I remember David winning the last encounter, too!