KZRider

Happy for them. Hope the have great lives together.

Happy for them. Hope the have great lives together.

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Highlights....

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

Nobody minds if a ref misses an occasional call. We're all imperfect humans and don't expect perfection. AND I think MOST officials WANT to do a good job. But there are ENOUGH bad officials that a way to weed them out needs to be found. Not just in the B1G, referees seem to be deciding how the game is called on the fly. And they seem to LIKE the knock down, drag out brutish kind of play of schools like Illinois. And they seem to cave in to coaches like Underwood and Painter who must scare (?) them as games go on. What can Izzo do to them that Hoiberg can't. I wonder???
 
Conferences need to tell officials to call the game according to the rules! My greatest gripe is how a player driving into the lane INITIATES contact with a defender and yet the defender get called for the foul. A close second is when a defender goes straight up and the offensive player jumps INTO him and yet the defender is whistled. Is that really how the rules are written? In addition, the evaluation process of referees (is there one?) and how they score needs to be PUBLICIZED. Has anyone ever seen a list of how refs grade out? PAY them enough to do the job (if we can hand out million dollar checks to players surely we can figure out a way to pay refs enough!) but make continued employment contingent on how they grade over a season.

Nobody minds if a ref misses an occasional call. We're all imperfect humans and don't expect perfection. AND I think MOST officials WANT to do a good job. But there are ENOUGH bad officials that a way to weed them out needs to be found. Not just in the B1G, referees seem to be deciding how the game is called on the fly. And they seem to LIKE the knock down, drag out brutish kind of play of schools like Illinois. And they seem to cave in to coaches like Underwood and Painter who must scare (?) them as games go on. What can Izzo do to them that Hoiberg can't. I wonder???
 
Conferences need to tell officials to call the game according to the rules! My greatest gripe is how a player driving into the lane INITIATES contact with a defender and yet the defender get called for the foul. A close second is when a defender goes straight up and the offensive player jumps INTO him and yet the defender is whistled. Is that really how the rules are written? In addition, the evaluation process of referees (is there one?) and how they score needs to be PUBLICIZED. Has anyone ever seen a list of how refs grade out? PAY them enough to do the job (if we can hand out million dollar checks to players surely we can figure out a way to pay refs enough!) but make continued employment contingent on how they grade over a season.

Nobody minds if a ref misses an occasional call. We're all imperfect humans and don't expect perfection. AND I think MOST officials WANT to do a good job. But there are ENOUGH bad officials that a way to weed them out needs to be found. Not just in the B1G, referees seem to be deciding how the game is called on the fly. And they seem to LIKE the knock down, drag out brutish kind of play of schools like Illinois. And they seem to cave in to coaches like Underwood and Painter who must scare (?) them as games go on. What can Izzo do to them that Hoiberg can't. I wonder???
 
Conferences need to tell officials to call the game according to the rules! My greatest gripe is how a player driving into the lane INITIATES contact with a defender and yet the defender get called for the foul. A close second is when a defender goes straight up and the offensive player jumps INTO him and yet the defender is whistled. Is that really how the rules are written? In addition, the evaluation process of referees (is there one?) and how they score needs to be PUBLICIZED. Has anyone ever seen a list of how refs grade out? PAY them enough to do the job (if we can hand out million dollar checks to players surely we can figure out a way to pay refs enough!) but make continued employment contingent on how they grade over a season.

It wasn't just us complaining about the Big Ten officiating this year. Other fans did too. And I often wondered if poor officiating in the Big Ten might affect the conference's recruiting. At the very least, I could see it having an impact on player retention and people entering the portal.
 
The gripe wasn't about losing games and blaming the ref. The gripe was about having a level playing field and feeling like you got a fair shake. If you have a rule, but the rule isn't enforced evenly or equally, then you don't really have a rule at all. And if you only apply that rule against me and not against others, then I'm going to feel like the system is unfair.
 
I grant that some of the most contentious areas are judgment calls that can often go either way.  But the problem is when the calls always seem to favor the blue team over the red team.  If the same action is a block whenever I'm on defense and a charge whenever I'm on offense, I'm going to lose faith in the officiating. And I have lost faith in the officiating.
 
The officiating is bullshit, and I don't feel like they're even trying to make it look like they're being even-handed anymore. That's all. That's it. Thanks for letting me vent.

The scholarship is gonzo.  It certainly can be renewed if he comes back; but a return is not a given.  The school can say no go, and the player is left on the outside, looking in.  Or so I have been told.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

I came back after focusing on other things this Easter weekend to find I had created something of a stir. I understand why some took my comments as a statement about players OFF court behavior. I in no way meant this. I don't know any of these players and have no real knowledge of how they behave off the court. They might be model citizens. Any aspersions engendered by my comments were unintended and I regret that.
 
What I intended to convey is how weary I am of how the game is played ON the court. The hacking, pushing, elbowing, shoulder throwing, plowing over defenders, climbing over backs, hand checking, throwing players out of the way to get a rebound, moving screens that knock defenders down, etc. is what I mean by "thugs in sneakers." I have no objection to playing physically tough basketball but I want it to be clean basketball played within the rules. For example, UConn plays REALLY good basketball and is still a physically imposing squad. Illinois does NOT and Terrance Shannon is NOT a very good basketball player. He is an excellent linebacker with a good shooting eye. Shannon and SO MANY like him in the game today are what I mean by thugs in sneakers ON THE COURT. If referees would call the game as the rules are written instead of just making stuff up as they go, basketball would be a lot more fun to watch, IMO.
 
Hope this brings some clarity.

Purdue, yes. Illinois, no. I am weary of thugs in sneakers winning games. For that reason, I was glad to see Duke beat Houston.

Purdue, yes. Illinois, no. I am weary of thugs in sneakers winning games. For that reason, I was glad to see Duke beat Houston.

Purdue, yes. Illinois, no. I am weary of thugs in sneakers winning games. For that reason, I was glad to see Duke beat Houston.