m52 wrote:
I heard way to much chirping about Loyola's "rough" and "mugging" style of play that the refs were allowing us to get away with.
The more knowledgeable Valley fans want us to do well in the NCAA because it means more $ for the conference and its schools; but that opinion was dwarfed by feelings of "nice to see you go if you think you're better than us."
From my POV, we are below average in the Valley vis-a-vis physicality and extracurricular, off-the-ball bumping and elbowing. Didn't see any Drake players with a bruise over their eye like Lucas Williamson, or a long scratch along their upper right arm like Norris got. Drake, Bradley, and Missouri State are all way more physical and hard-fouling than we are.
And as for the refs "allowing us to get away" with physical play, it also works the opposite way.... How is it that we average 15 foul calls for 20+ games with a variety of refs from different leagues, but against Drake, Bradley, UNI, and Missouri State ONLY we got called for an average of almost 22 fouls and in the regular season championship game 32 fouls (4 fouls more than we'd ever been called for in any game as a member of the MVC) leading to 42(!!!) free throw attempts by the league's leading free throw percentage team?