Dead Dog Alley

I was sitting behind the Missouri bench one time in the late 90s. Norm was getting worked up with the refs, and the Sit Down Norm cheer got going. Norm turned around to face the crowd, and struck a pose and started waving his arms like a conductor to lead the cheer. Say what you want about him, but damn that was funny.

Sorry, but they sure as hell can affect turnover margin and shooting percentage. If raking the arm isn't called and getting bumped on the way to the rim isn't called, among other things, it directly affects those stats. Not that this was necessarily a factor last night - although to my biased eye it was - but I've seen officiating decide more than a few games in my lifetime.

These refs suck. But they always seem to.

If Wisconsin finishes in the top four next year they should rename the coach of the year award as the Greg Gard award. That said, I'd give it 50-50 odds that they do.

Ok, I'll bite on the original subject. Starters: Jordy Tshimanga, 6-11, 275, So. Michael Jacobson, 6-9, 245, Jr. Jeriah Horne, 6-7, 225, So. Nana Akenten, 6-6, 205, Fr. Evan Taylor, 6-5, 210, Sr. Bench: Jack McVeigh, 6-8, 215, Jr. Anton Gill, 6-3, 200, Sr. Nick Fuller, 6-7, 215, Sr. Tanner Borchardt, 6-8, 275, So. Justin Costello, 6-2, 175, Fr. This is assuming that the five most likely starters are out, which would be Ed Morrow, 6-7, 235, Jr. Isaac Copeland, 6-9, 225, Jr. Isaiah Roby, 6-9, 220, So. James Palmer, 6-6, 215, Jr. Glynn Watson, 6-0, 175, Jr. This is assuming that Roby is healthy and improves quite a bit - I definitely wouldn't consider him or Palmer as a lock to start. I don't know that Ed and Jordy will play a lot at the same time, Ed's minutes might be limited due to his foot issues and I think you want at least one of them on the floor as much as possible. This lineup would be pretty athletic, have decent size except at the one and the five, and should rebound and defend and handle the ball well enough - but 3 point shooting might be a question. There would be plenty of size to bring off the bench in Jordy and Jacobson, a good defender at the 1, 2, or 3 in Taylor, and a lot of scoring options in Anton, Jack, Jeriah, and Nana that any scoring droughts should be inexcusable. If this is the roster there are still some limitations, with only one guy over 6'10" and no true PG besides Watson. And keeping everybody perfectly happy with regards to minutes probably won't be possible. But varying the rotation based on match ups and on who is playing well wouldn't be the worst thing ever - make the opponents work on scouting how to stop Horne, Jack, Nana, Gill, Roby, Palmer, and Copeland on the wing.

Judge for yourself, he guarded both 3s and 4s here.

A few more five year rebuilding efforts and a lot of us will literally be too dead to see any positive results.

Agreed, but they'd better be damn sure that he was interested. The worst decision in the history of this program was to fire Danny Nee with the intention of getting Bill Self, and ending up with Barry Collier.

Conversely, if you'd told me in May that Andrew White the Turd was going to transfer, Roby was going to have lingering injury issues and average 3 points, Morrow would miss every game after the first week of January, and Gill would miss the whole conference season, I'd had thought we were looking at 9-22 or 10-21 as a final record. As an aside, everyone who was excited about us getting down to the magic number of an eight man rotation after Gill got injured should remember, be careful what you wish for (the 8 man rotation, that is). Did logging too many minutes contribute to the Morrow and Watson injuries? More than likely. Would Webster be more effective right now if he'd had been playing 32 minutes instead of 39? More than likely.

Hope Eades is a slow healer. As in I would sure like to never see that worthless bastard again.

Tom Wald was the only one who could match up with Jose Ramos, apparently. Quite the run of backup point guards...

No, he was playing for Oklahoma State. I kept yelling at him to shoot (because he was dreadful), unfortunately he never did, NU lost and didn't make the tournament even though they went 10-6 in conference and beat Kansas twice.

Next up is mandatory seat belts on all the seats at PBA. Followed by an electrical shock mechanism that every fan must be hooked up to that provides a reminder if they are getting too loud. And yes, I am still bitter about almost getting kicked of a game for heckling Doug Gottlieb.

Since there's been comparisons made to the 91 team, here is a roster matchup. Rich King Jordy Tshimanga Tony Farmer Isaac Copeland DaPreis Owens Ed Morrow Bruce Chubick Michael Jacobson Kelly Lively Nick Fuller Carl Hayes Isaiah Roby Eric Piatkowski Jeriah Horne Beau Reid Jack McVeigh Clifford Scales Glynn Watson Keith Moody Evan Taylor Jose Ramos Anton Gill Chris Cresswell James Palmer JF Hoffman Nana Akenten

We shoot fewer because we are Nebraska. And the Big Ten has no interest in Nebraska being good, and would gain nothing from it. Just as with the Big 12 before that.

Not that we're playing well enough to win anyway, but this officiating is inexplicable. Unless you consider nefarious explanations, anyway.

Tom Eades molests collies.

Except for the fact that MJ was fouled before the block, during the block, and after the block, that is correct.

Horne should get some of Jacobson's minutes even if it means going small.

Refs might not be crooks. They might just be assclowns.

Tom Eades is a terrible human being.

Those were two of the four easiest games left on the schedule. Win number 10 might be a long ways off.

These refs suck

Kelly Pfiefer and crew are an abomination. They're trying harder to win this for Wisconsin than Wisconsin is.

If he hits those numbers, he's probably leaving school to join the WWE.