Dear Northwestern Fans

[sittingon50]

Zag fan here. It was a blown call.

For some reason, there has been a lot of Zag hate nationwide for some time, this year because of the long unbeaten streak because "you play in a crappy conference."
In the past I guess it's because the Zag's are a "mid-major" who don't know their place in the "big school, big league" hierarchy.

That said, please know that the Zag program does it the "right way." This year Nigel Williams-Goss became the 3rd Zag in the past 17 yrs. to be a 1st team All-American & a 1st team Academic All-American in the same year (Dan Dickau, Kelly Olynyk).

All that being said, you may remember the Zags trip to Chicago last year. We feel your pain.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangebaske...l_in_syracuse_basketball_win_over_gonzag.html

 

[SmellyCat]

I honestly don't know who hates the Zags (I wonder how many fans think, "my team is correctly respected.") The only thing I've ever had against them was Adam Morrison falling apart before that game was over (legit for him to fall apart that day considering what was at stake and the game he'd just played, I just would've liked to see him finish up before he did).

I thought Gonzaga was terrific yesterday even when it was clear they weren't playing their best game (I like to think NU had something to do with that). I definitely consider them a top 10 team, and although NU has played Wisconsin, Butler, Purdue, and Notre Dame this year, I'd say they're the best team NU has faced all year. Much respect to any successful program that does things without a bunch of yahoos and idiots. Congrats on your success and good luck the rest of way.

 

[scru]

I honestly don't know who hates the Zags (I wonder how many fans think, "my team is correctly respected.") The only thing I've ever had against them was Adam Morrison falling apart before that game was over (legit for him to fall apart that day considering what was at stake and the game he'd just played, I just would've liked to see him finish up before he did).

I thought Gonzaga was terrific yesterday even when it was clear they weren't playing their best game (I like to think NU had something to do with that). I definitely consider them a top 10 team, and although NU has played Wisconsin, Butler, Purdue, and Notre Dame this year, I'd say they're the best team NU has faced all year. Much respect to any successful program that does things without a bunch of yahoos and idiots. Congrats on your success and good luck the rest of way.

I'd put them at about even with Purdue in terms of the teams we played this season. Zags D is better than Purdue, but I think Boilers are a bit more potent offensively... if Mathias is hitting 3s and Haas isn't sleepwalking.

 

[Walker Fan]

Question: Amazing how a basketball program that did not exist before 1981 when John Stockton came to town became a basketball school that players from Poland, France, Denmark and Japan are flocking to. Also, amazing how a team that has never been to the Final 4 picks up three of the top transfers in the nation two years ago: No. 5 leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss an All-Pac-12 pick who led Washington with 15.6 ppg and 5.9 apg and was an academic All-American at Washington first and not Gonzaga, No. 4 Jordan Mathews who was a graduate transfer from California and averaged 13.6 ppg as a junior and No. 5 6'9" Jonathan Williams from Missouri who are 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. It is amazing how all these players were drawn and chose Gonzaga. It must have been the sterling academic institution known as Gonzaga or the economic hub otherwise known as Spokane. If you know about the deep nuances of how sustained success works in NCAA basketball, a reasonable person could say something does not add up right. But maybe everything is on the up and up at Gonzaga. Or it might be that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get to their first Final 4. I think WVU and UofA might have something to say or do about that. But good luck!

 

[FeliSilvestris]

I'd put them at about even with Purdue in terms of the teams we played this season. Zags D is better than Purdue, but I think Boilers are a bit more potent offensively... .

On court results say O/W. PU beat NU twice (including a rout in W.L.) with no apparent "extra help" from refs. GU narrowly beat NU once, but under questionable officiating which almost certainly changed the game result. Wisc went 1-1 against NU but at the BTT won by almost 30.

 

[scru]

Question: Amazing how a basketball program that did not exist before 1981 when John Stockton came to town became a basketball school that players from Poland, France, Denmark and Japan are flocking to. Also, amazing how a team that has never been to the Final 4 picks up three of the top transfers in the nation two years ago: No. 5 leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss an All-Pac-12 pick who led Washington with 15.6 ppg and 5.9 apg and was an academic All-American at Washington first and not Gonzaga, No. 4 Jordan Mathews who was a graduate transfer from California and averaged 13.6 ppg as a junior and No. 5 6'9" Jonathan Williams from Missouri who are 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. It is amazing how all these players were drawn and chose Gonzaga. It must have been the sterling academic institution known as Gonzaga or the economic hub otherwise known as Spokane. If you know about the deep nuances of how sustained success works in NCAA basketball, a reasonable person could say something does not add up right. But maybe everything is on the up and up at Gonzaga. Or it might be that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get to their first Final 4. I think WVU and UofA might have something to say or do about that. But good luck!

That was an awesome Trump-esque post, throwing around allegations. Thanks for a hearty laugh!

If Collins fills up our roster with top tier transfers this offseason, knowing that we have a tourney ready team, will you also suspect our program of improprieties? I hope not!

Gonzaga has had regular success... it's not hard to understand why a kid might want to play there. They are also a bit like the Notre Dame of the West in terms of Catholic connection. Factor that in too.

 

[D_C_B]

In other words, welcome to Baylorville once anybody pokes around under the hood at all or starts tracing money.

I've been wondering the same thing.

 

[Williesfan]

Zag fan here. It was a blown call.

For some reason, there has been a lot of Zag hate nationwide for some time, this year because of the long unbeaten streak because "you play in a crappy conference."
In the past I guess it's because the Zag's are a "mid-major" who don't know their place in the "big school, big league" hierarchy.

That said, please know that the Zag program does it the "right way." This year Nigel Williams-Goss became the 3rd Zag in the past 17 yrs. to be a 1st team All-American & a 1st team Academic All-American in the same year (Dan Dickau, Kelly Olynyk).

All that being said, you may remember the Zags trip to Chicago last year. We feel your pain.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangebaske...l_in_syracuse_basketball_win_over_gonzag.html

I never disliked Gonzaga either nor do I now. My issue is the situation with the officials swinging the momentum. Had they officials took the opportunity to make it right. There was still ample time for both teams to determine the outcome of the game.

 

[Walker Fan]

Agree with D_C_B. Look up Baylor and look up Mississippi in football for recent teams who have had their consistent football success and then the stone was uncovered to find out who they achieved success. As for basketball, google UNC basketball and fake curriculum. Maybe then you will uncover and learn some realities of college basketball and football factory schools. As for Trump, the truth will come out on him soon enough.

 

[EagerFan]

I have no animosity towards the Zags. I'm sad they didn't have the opportunity to beat us on their own, but I don't blame them for the refs giving them the game.

 

[GlideCat]

I have no animosity towards the Zags. I'm sad they didn't have the opportunity to beat us on their own, but I don't blame them for the refs giving them the game.

This is a post that I would expect from an SEC fan. If we did not want to be in a position where one bad call would decide the game, then we should have had a better first half. We control our own destiny. Bad calls happen. No whining. It was a great second half, a great season, and a great team.

Go Cats.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

If we did not want to be in a position where one bad call would decide the game, then we should have had a better first half. We control our own destiny. Bad calls happen. No whining. It was a great second half, a great season, and a great team.

You seem confused. Did you watch the game?
It was NOT one bad call (although one was particularly outrageous)...or 2, or 3, or...There was a definite tendency of calls that favored the Zags. I'd suggest you (re)watch the game paying particular attention to officiating.
Of course NU should have played better in the first half. But that is no excuse for the refs not to do their job right.

 

[GlideCat]

You seem confused. Did you watch the game?
It was NOT one bad call (although one was particularly outrageous)...or 2, or 3, or...There was a definite tendency of calls that favored the Zags. I'd suggest you (re)watch the game paying particular attention to officiating.
Of course NU should have played better in the first half. But that is no excuse for the refs not to do their job right.

The refs sucked. But I have long been proud of the fact that our fans whine much less than other (read that - SEC) fan bases. My home is in Nashville and it is my opinion that Vandy fans would rather lose a game that they could whine about than to win. Tennessee fans turn on their players and coaches at a whim. While we have our few whiners, NU fans are just not like that. And I enjoy the view from up here.

Insulting the Zags effort by saying that they were given the game is not who we are. That is SEC stuff. Their team kicked our butts in the first half. They held on after "The Call" in the second half. What we saw were two evenly matched teams playing their hearts out. No need to insult the Zags for the refs' screw-up.

We had bad refs. We have been NU for a long time. If we have not gotten used to the refs subconsciously assuming that we were going to lose and calling the game thusly by this time, we are not going to. If we are going to ascend to the next level, that is just another hurdle to overcome. In this case, we have an entire nation that knows the refs jobbed us. That does not change the outcome of this game but maybe it impacts the future just a little.

Great heart by the team. Great second half. Great season.

And yet again... Go Cats.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

The refs sucked. But I have long been proud of the fact that our fans whine much less than other (read that - SEC) fan bases. My home is in Nashville and it is my opinion that Vandy fans would rather lose a game that they could whine about than to win. Tennessee fans turn on their players and coaches at a whim. While we have our few whiners, NU fans are just not like that. And I enjoy the view from up here.

Insulting the Zags effort by saying that they were given the game is not who we are. That is SEC stuff. Their team kicked our butts in the first half. They held on after "The Call" in the second half.

You are entitled to your opinion. But making a FAIR complaint is NOT the same as whining...at least not in my book. First-half or not, both teams were separated by only 6 pts in the final score. And if it can be FAIRLY argued that the sum total of bad calls were worth more than six points against NU then the refs DID TRULY cost NU the game. That should NOT have happened, irrespective of how the first half was played.

The Zags kicked the Wildcats butt in the 1H? Maybe. But since in the final score (after all refs screw ups) only 6 pts separated both teams, then it FOLLOWS that the Cats kicked the Zags butt equally badly (just about) in H2. Right??

So, the butt kicking didn't decide the game in either direction.

The refs did.

That is extremely unfortunate.

 

[GlideCat]

That is extremely unfortunate.

Yes. But it is not the fault of the Zags. They played their hearts out and were given nothing. I believe as you do that the momentum deflation of "The Call" had an impact on the game. I also believe that our team deserved to win. The refs deserve all of the abuse they get. But the opposing team did nothing other than play to their best ability in a hard-fought game. Trash the refs but do not accuse the opposing team of being "given" the game. They fought for it and deserve some element of respect for their effort.

I had this exact same fight against the Vandy fans when we won in football in Nashville a few years ago. I had a very similar battle with Vandy fans about how their player had "given" us the first round game a few days ago.

I am going to hold us to the same standard to which I am holding them.

 

[NJCat]

The Zags kicked the Wildcats butt in the 1H? Maybe. .

No "MAYBE" about it. An old fashioned ass kicking in 1H. Which makes the second half comeback all the more impressive.

 

[EvanstonCat]

This is a post that I would expect from an SEC fan. If we did not want to be in a position where one bad call would decide the game, then we should have had a better first half. We control our own destiny. Bad calls happen. No whining. It was a great second half, a great season, and a great team.

Go Cats.

It's not whining. Sure, we should have played so the blown call wouldn't have changed the outcome. But, we didn't. And the blown call would have changed the outcome. Chris Collins believe it. I believe it. If you don't want to believe it then that's your business. We're not from the SEC. We don't cheat.

 

[FeliSilvestris]

No "MAYBE" about it. An old fashioned ass kicking in 1H. Which makes the second half comeback all the more impressive.

Again, since the game ended virtually even (even w/o considering the officiating issue) the butt kicking was completely reversed in H2. Nether team gains an advantage in that regard.

 

[GlideCat]

It's not whining. Sure, we should have played so the blown call wouldn't have changed the outcome. But, we didn't. And the blown call would have changed the outcome. Chris Collins believe it. I believe it. If you don't want to believe it then that's your business. We're not from the SEC. We don't cheat.

I have no problem with believing that the refs blown call impacted the outcome of the game.

It is when we start disparaging our opponents' victory by saying that they were "given" the game that I believe we are moving into whining territory. Abuse the refs not the opposing team.

 

[EvanstonCat]

The refs sucked. But I have long been proud of the fact that our fans whine much less than other (read that - SEC) fan bases. My home is in Nashville and it is my opinion that Vandy fans would rather lose a game that they could whine about than to win. Tennessee fans turn on their players and coaches at a whim. While we have our few whiners, NU fans are just not like that. And I enjoy the view from up here.

Insulting the Zags effort by saying that they were given the game is not who we are. That is SEC stuff. Their team kicked our butts in the first half. They held on after "The Call" in the second half. What we saw were two evenly matched teams playing their hearts out. No need to insult the Zags for the refs' screw-up.

We had bad refs. We have been NU for a long time. If we have not gotten used to the refs subconsciously assuming that we were going to lose and calling the game thusly by this time, we are not going to. If we are going to ascend to the next level, that is just another hurdle to overcome. In this case, we have an entire nation that knows the refs jobbed us. That does not change the outcome of this game but maybe it impacts the future just a little.

Great heart by the team. Great second half. Great season.

And yet again... Go Cats.

Sure, they held onto the game after "the call." But, that's the point. Without "the call." It's a three point game. They don't "hold on." It's a different game altogether. The momentum is not shifted entirely. We don't play to make up a 7 point deficit. We play to make up 3. And the Zags are a bit more on their heels. IF you don't get that, not sure what's wrong with you.

Sure, it's another hurdle to overcome, and yes, if we are going to ascend to the next level, we will have to overcome these adversities. We aren't at that level yet. That doesn't mean we weren't jobbed, the Zags didn't get lucky as hell, and in my heart of hearts (and CCC's) we know that we would have most probably won if the call had been correctly made. Saying it doesn't make us whiny. And most certainly doesn't make us SEC (if you must know the difference, cheating and exploiting student athletes like Southerners have been known through history to treat humans as chattel would make us SEC).

Zags win. We lose. Nothing is going to change that.

Good luck with the rest of the tourney, Gonzaga. But, you were definitely given a big fat gift by the zebras. No fault of your own and no one blames you or resents you for it. Simply calling it like it is. But, that's life, and we do have to live with it as you will have to live with the asterisk that comes with such things.

 

[EvanstonCat]

No "MAYBE" about it. An old fashioned ass kicking in 1H. Which makes the second half comeback all the more impressive.

No maybes about it. They kicked our ass in the 1H. We kicked their ass in the second half. The only thing that saved them was "the call."

 

[EvanstonCat]

Yes. But it is not the fault of the Zags. They played their hearts out and were given nothing. I believe as you do that the momentum deflation of "The Call" had an impact on the game. I also believe that our team deserved to win. The refs deserve all of the abuse they get. But the opposing team did nothing other than play to their best ability in a hard-fought game. Trash the refs but do not accuse the opposing team of being "given" the game. They fought for it and deserve some element of respect for their effort.

I had this exact same fight against the Vandy fans when we won in football in Nashville a few years ago. I had a very similar battle with Vandy fans about how their player had "given" us the first round game a few days ago.

I am going to hold us to the same standard to which I am holding them.

No one's blaming Gonzaga. All the blame goes to the refs. Why do you think any of us is blaming Gonzaga for it?

And the Vandy fan IS being a whiny little bitch. Their player making a mistake and letting us win it at the line, instead of on the floor (as I believe we would have anyways) isn't anything close to this. Was it helpful? Sure. But it wasn't as game altering like this busted call. And it's as helpful as a player making a mistake by failing to play help D, or putting up an ill advised 3 (that stupid last shot by Vandy was just as much a gift as the foul). But, when a player (someone who is responsible for the outcome of the game) makes mistakes, it's not the same as a ref, someone who isn't supposed to have an impact on the outcome of the game, making the mistake.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I have no problem with believing that the refs blown call impacted the outcome of the game.

It is when we start disparaging our opponents' victory by saying that they were "given" the game that I believe we are moving into whining territory. Abuse the refs not the opposing team.

Now you're just dancing. No one is saying anything except what you said in your first sentence. The refs blown call impacted the outcome the game. We are not abusing Gonzaga. Not their fault. The refs blew it. They impacted the outcome of the game. Period. Glad we can agree on that.

 

[GoZags1]

Agree with D_C_B. Look up Baylor and look up Mississippi in football for recent teams who have had their consistent football success and then the stone was uncovered to find out who they achieved success. As for basketball, google UNC basketball and fake curriculum. Maybe then you will uncover and learn some realities of college basketball and football factory schools. As for Trump, the truth will come out on him soon enough.

"If you know about the deep nuances of how sustained success works in NCAA basketball, a reasonable person could say something does not add up right. But maybe everything is on the up and up at Gonzaga. Or it might be that they are willing to do whatever it takes ..."
-------
A couple things, Walker Fan .... as you've made a couple of posts now "alluding" that something "may" be amiss in the way things are done at Gonzaga. The fact of the matter is this .... when this "cute little run" began in 1999, Gonzaga was on a 4 year NCAA probation. No scholarships were lost as the NCAA deemed that GU's transgressions did not create a competitive advantage. The AD (and basketball coach at the time) had created a secondary checking account and that's where he put things like parking revenue. At the time, Gonzaga's recruiting budget ($8,000 a year) ranked dead last in the WCC .... and the "slush" money went toward things like buying a beater car in the Bay Area so coaches wouldn't have to rent a car while recruiting (they often slept in the car to "stretch" things).

When Mark Few was hired as a GU Grad Assistant in 1989/90 he was pulled aside by the campus elders and told the following: "You will never finish first in this league, and that's okay. Just don't finish last. Last place isn't tolerated around here." Those were his marching orders. Few, Dan Monson and fellow assistant Billy Grier sought to change that paradigm. They were roommates (Few slept on the couch ... and also slept in the car in the East Bay).

Those were the "humble" beginnings of this cute little run ... a low budget operation with some guys working hard to change things. BTW it wasn't until after the 3rd of the back to back to back Sweet 16's (and beyond) '99 - '01 that GU finally purchased a high speed video machine for scouting purposes. Those cost $25k and the old fashioned VCR worked just fine.

You mentioned GU's success with transfers .... which have always been a "part" of the Gonzaga story ... i.e. high profile kids who went to the big boys .... weren't happy and found GU. But it was a regular Zag ... perimeter player Kelly Olynyk who chose to redshirt after his sophomore year to get stronger and improve. The program put in place is now known as the "Olynyk Clinic" and transformed Kelly from a 6ppg outside shooter to an NBA lottery pick. Kyle Wiltjer followed (is now with the Houston Rockets).

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...aga-university-bulldogs-kelly-olynyk/1905893/

Few has stuck around Gonzaga. His dad was a minister at the same church in Oregon for 53 years .... so he knows something about loyalty. He also saw how Monson got chewed up at Minnesota and how Monson's dad had a horrible ending after leaving Idaho for Oregon.

Here's the bottom line. You can look under every rock you want. You'll find a family atmosphere that does things the right way. Is Gonzaga perfect? No way .... but they try ....
http://www.gozags.com/genrel/041316aaa.html

As for the last part of your 2nd post .... I agree .... the truth WILL come out.

 

[PURPLECAT88]

This is a post that I would expect from an SEC fan. If we did not want to be in a position where one bad call would decide the game, then we should have had a better first half. We control our own destiny. Bad calls happen. No whining. It was a great second half, a great season, and a great team.

Go Cats.

This is my least favorite argument in sports. It's saying that fair play and a level playing field don't matter. Sure we should have played better, We should always have the best players always playing at their best every game. But that's not what sports is. Many times you struggle. Many times you don't play your best. Even so, it is perfectly reasonable to expect a fairly officiated game to give you a chance to overcome a slow start. It is perfectly reasonable to comment when we don't get it.

 

[willycat]

The refs sucked. But I have long been proud of the fact that our fans whine much less than other (read that - SEC) fan bases. My home is in Nashville and it is my opinion that Vandy fans would rather lose a game that they could whine about than to win. Tennessee fans turn on their players and coaches at a whim. While we have our few whiners, NU fans are just not like that. And I enjoy the view from up here.

Insulting the Zags effort by saying that they were given the game is not who we are. That is SEC stuff. Their team kicked our butts in the first half. They held on after "The Call" in the second half. What we saw were two evenly matched teams playing their hearts out. No need to insult the Zags for the refs' screw-up.

We had bad refs. We have been NU for a long time. If we have not gotten used to the refs subconsciously assuming that we were going to lose and calling the game thusly by this time, we are not going to. If we are going to ascend to the next level, that is just another hurdle to overcome. In this case, we have an entire nation that knows the refs jobbed us. That does not change the outcome of this game but maybe it impacts the future just a little.

Great heart by the team. Great second half. Great season.

And yet again... Go Cats.

First their were a lot more bad calls then the obvious one, including other missed goal tending call. Secondly, NU kicked their butts in the 2nd half. Finally the refs are supposed to be neutral and not assume one team is better then the other. I will agree with a great season.

 

[Artie M.]

Question: Amazing how a basketball program that did not exist before 1981 when John Stockton came to town became a basketball school that players from Poland, France, Denmark and Japan are flocking to. Also, amazing how a team that has never been to the Final 4 picks up three of the top transfers in the nation two years ago: No. 5 leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss an All-Pac-12 pick who led Washington with 15.6 ppg and 5.9 apg and was an academic All-American at Washington first and not Gonzaga, No. 4 Jordan Mathews who was a graduate transfer from California and averaged 13.6 ppg as a junior and No. 5 6'9" Jonathan Williams from Missouri who are 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. It is amazing how all these players were drawn and chose Gonzaga. It must have been the sterling academic institution known as Gonzaga or the economic hub otherwise known as Spokane. If you know about the deep nuances of how sustained success works in NCAA basketball, a reasonable person could say something does not add up right. But maybe everything is on the up and up at Gonzaga. Or it might be that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get to their first Final 4.

If you have specific anecdotes to support what you are insinuating, spit them out. If not, this is the worst kind of scumbag denigration--just like we heard back c. 1995 about how NU must have lowered academic standards for football players.

 

[GoZags1]

If you have specific anecdotes to support what you are insinuating, spit them out. If not, this is the worst kind of scumbag denigration--just like we heard back c. 1995 about how NU must have lowered academic standards for football players.

Walker Fan alluded to the transfers .... here's Nigel Williams-Goss' take, published shortly before the dance began. It's my belief that it's pretty clear how things are done at Gonzaga ...

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/nigel-williams-goss-gonzaga-basketball/

 

[NJCat]

Again, since the game ended virtually even (even w/o considering the officiating issue) the butt kicking was completely reversed in H2. Nether team gains an advantage in that regard.

Dude, the first half was such a beat down that it made the Carmody huggers wet themselves on twitter...

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Dude, the first half was such a beat down that it made the Carmody huggers wet themselves on twitter...

You may be missing the point. Both halves count the same. If a team kicks the other's butt in H1 and the game ends nearly even, that MUST MEAN that the team that did the kicking in H1 had its own butt equally kicked in H2. Both teams took turns kicking each others butts. Both should be equally embarrassed (not only the one who got kicked first). Seems obvious to me.

 

[Pasadena Bound]

Zag fan here. It was a blown call.

For some reason, there has been a lot of Zag hate nationwide for some time, this year because of the long unbeaten streak because "you play in a crappy conference."
In the past I guess it's because the Zag's are a "mid-major" who don't know their place in the "big school, big league" hierarchy.

That said, please know that the Zag program does it the "right way." This year Nigel Williams-Goss became the 3rd Zag in the past 17 yrs. to be a 1st team All-American & a 1st team Academic All-American in the same year (Dan Dickau, Kelly Olynyk).

All that being said, you may remember the Zags trip to Chicago last year. We feel your pain.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangebaske...l_in_syracuse_basketball_win_over_gonzag.html

Thanks for stopping by. The officiating sucked but the fact is that you guys beat us soundly in the first half and it was too much for us to overcome. I am proud of our effort and I think we proved that we "belong".I did not know much about your coach but saw him interviewed on the B10 Channel and he seems like a good guy and I like the fact that he has chosen to stay and build a sound program. Best of luck to the Zags the rest of the way. Go 'Cats.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Dude, the first half was such a beat down that it made the Carmody huggers wet themselves on twitter...

View embedded media

Honestly, these people are sick. CCC takes us to the first NCAA EVER. Our program is at such heights that have never been known, with the future looking even brighter with no limit to our potential and that these people could only dream of (if they were Cat fans). And all they can do is gloat and find glee in something minutely negative. Mystic getting on here and talking about Coach getting a T, when we had a historical season, put NU on the NCAA map, got to the round of 32, and took the #1 seed to the brink (it took a whiffed goal tend call and the subsequent T to save Gonzaga). And this joker has the gall to bitch about the T and call CCC out on a "rookie" mistake. CCC is such a rookie that he is a semi-finalist (and I believe will likely be the winner) for the National Coach of the Year award. Where was he when we beat Michigan? #7 Wisconsin at Kohl? Boatracing Rutgers on a record 32-0 run? Taking out Maryland in the BTT on an essentially a road game? Could have talked about anything regarding that heroic loss to Gonzaga, and he talks about the T. What small, small people these people are.

 

[GlideCat]

This is my least favorite argument in sports. It's saying that fair play and a level playing field don't matter.

In my silly sport, I was All Big 10. I then coached at Vanderbilt for five years. Again, it was a silly sport but a sport dominated by refereeing (directing). The good fencers (yes, fencers) won. They won when they had good directors and bad directors. They won when they had biased directors. I never allowed myself nor when I coached allowed my teams to claim bad or biased directing as an excuse. You obviously disagree with this sentiment but as you can tell it is something to which I strongly adhere.

I associate focusing on excuses to be a losers' mentality. That is why Vanderbilt will never achieve our level of continued football competitiveness. Their entire program is imbued with the loser (lets make excuses) mentality. I have always appreciated that NU does not have that. I ascribe that to Coach Barnett. I have no reason that I trace it back to him but I personally don't recall him ever making excuses after a loss. I could have faulty recollection.

Our guys played a hell of a game after a hell of a season. In this final game, there were bad calls. We did not win. Gonzaga did not cheat and did not play dirty. Their team fought hard against an opponent that I think really rocked them in the second half. It was a dogfight. It was a great exciting game.

Two years ago in football, the Wisconsin fans and most of the media were saying the same thing about a football game. Our kids had played a hell of a game. We had won. Nobody focused on that. They focused on one call. Journalists talked about how badly UW had been screwed by the refs. The refs "gave" us the game. One of our own fans apologized to the UW fans. It was BS. Our team fought like hell and won a hard-fought ball game. They deserved to win and no one "gave" them anything.

This will happen again and when I am telling fans of another team to quit whining, there will not be a post buried back here where I focused on the excuses for why we lost rather than on the effort of both teams in an exciting and hard-fought game.

But that is just me.

 

[Frabjous]

They are also a bit like the Notre Dame of the West in terms of Catholic connection. Factor that in too.[/QUOTE]

You say "Notre Dame of the West" as if that was a good thing.

 

[ColumbusCatFan1]

Question: Amazing how a basketball program that did not exist before 1981 when John Stockton came to town became a basketball school that players from Poland, France, Denmark and Japan are flocking to. Also, amazing how a team that has never been to the Final 4 picks up three of the top transfers in the nation two years ago: No. 5 leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss an All-Pac-12 pick who led Washington with 15.6 ppg and 5.9 apg and was an academic All-American at Washington first and not Gonzaga, No. 4 Jordan Mathews who was a graduate transfer from California and averaged 13.6 ppg as a junior and No. 5 6'9" Jonathan Williams from Missouri who are 11.9 ppg and 7.1 rpg. It is amazing how all these players were drawn and chose Gonzaga. It must have been the sterling academic institution known as Gonzaga or the economic hub otherwise known as Spokane. If you know about the deep nuances of how sustained success works in NCAA basketball, a reasonable person could say something does not add up right. But maybe everything is on the up and up at Gonzaga. Or it might be that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get to their first Final 4. I think WVU and UofA might have something to say or do about that. But good luck!

What a jerky response to a refreshingly respectful visitor.