(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  My thoughts on the game:

I was surprised at how few people for CMU showed up. There were almost no fans there for their team.

I was STUNNED that CMU didn't bother to come out for the national anthem. I find that terribly disrespectful. Makes the team and the school look really bad. The coach should have better sense than that.

The refs were the best I have seen all season. They were far from perfect, but way better than what I am accustomed to.

The Rockets did not play like they wanted to win. They were lethargic, played poor defense, poor offense, and just didn't have that fire in their bellies. It almost seemed like they were bored. And I cannot believe that ALL of our shooters were cold on the same day.

This is a huge disappointment. I just knew we were going to win and win at least one game in the NCAA. I don't even give a damn about the WNIT this year. Too much of a let down.

Most of what you saw regarding poor offense was the consequence of Central's good defense. The poor defense reflects that the Central players are bigger and stronger and present matchup problems for the Toledo guards and for Lecretia Smith. Shooting has been a problem most of the year. Among the starting five only Naama and Inma are pure shooters and Naama had her worst FG % this year. And there was no one who could come off the bench and provide consistent scoring.

they need to figure out how the refs missed all those calls...and how cmu beat them with less players.....



thirdly, i HOPE toledo gets a bid to the big dance, but u know NCAA rules....if ur a "smaller school" you get the NIT tourney unless you win ur conference title which sucks.


this could be the kick in the butt the rockets need to bulldoze everyone in the ncaa tourney. GO ROCKETS!!

Refs didn't miss many calls. But then, we're Toledo fans so the refs are always terrible

(03-15-2013 12:54 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Outside chance for an at large bid to the NCAA. Need for Green Bay, Delaware, St Joe, and Creighton to win in their tourneys. Then Rockets have a small chance at an at large bid. But most likely back to the NIT.

Outside chance = slim and none and it looks as if slim has left the building

Hope you are right, but I sure don't see it.

(03-15-2013 12:55 PM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  If Cullop was taking all of these teams to the NCAA's, she wouldn't be here. Silver lining.

Agree:

here is a break down of Coach Cullop's W-L record at Toledo:

All regular season games 113-46
All regular season MAC 65-15
All WNIT games 10-2
All MAC Tourney games 5-5

(03-15-2013 02:06 PM)rockytop Wrote:  Probably catch some heat for this, but I think CMU is a very good team and deserved the win. Their post player held her own with Yo, and Bradford is an athlete who is hard for us to play against. We need to recruit better if we are going to compete outside the MAC. I thought the refs were good for MAC quality refs.

CMU is inconsistent but when their game is on I agree that they are a very good team and they were certainly the better team today.

Still, I was fully convinced that the senior leadership and experience was going to win this game for UT and I felt that all the way up until the final meltdown in the last 34 seconds.

I am astounded that the overall best UT player on the floor today was not a senior but a sophomore (Inma) although Smith did her usual yeoman work on the boards and although she only shot 4 times (all under the basket), she made three of them.

CMU had on warm up tee shirts that read: "WE WANT IT ALL" so they came to Cleveland and took it---the "all" is still one game away for them. Toledo brought the fans, but CMU brought the team that wanted it more.

CMU is a young team and I hope they don't own us for the next two years the way Tevelyn James et al. at EMU did for the two years preceding this one.

Just finished watching the game on DVR. Terribly disappointing way to end the season ... again.

Honestly, I thought they played well enough to win. Killed them on the boards. D held CMU to well below their season average. Naama didn't shoot well, even though she had a lot of open looks, especially in the first half, and Yo missed way too many inside shots that she usually nails. A few of those shots go the other way, and it's a different story... but that's not the way it played out today. CMU is a really good team, and they had our number ... just like EMU the last 2 years. It sucks.

I pray for an at-large bid, but don't expect to get one. So, I hope for Naama to end her career with another long run in the WNIT.

Thanks for another exciting season Lady Rockets!

this is why i dont like conference tourneys.........



the crappiest team can win even if they have a worse record than the 1 seed.

just take the best #1 from every conference and put em in with no tourney per conference and then everyone else is "at large". there i made sense, now pay me, NCAA

(03-15-2013 04:39 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  Refs didn't miss many calls. But then, we're Toledo fans so the refs are always terrible

well this goes back a LONG way.......like when chester taylor was tackled at the glass bowl and didnt leave his feet. instead kept moving with both feet and one arm with other arm guarding the ball and the ref ruled him down.

(03-15-2013 03:37 PM)temoxley Wrote:  Most of what you saw regarding poor offense was the consequence of Central's good defense. The poor defense reflects that the Central players are bigger and stronger and present matchup problems for the Toledo guards and for Lecretia Smith. Shooting has been a problem most of the year. Among the starting five only Naama and Inma are pure shooters and Naama had her worst FG % this year. And there was no one who could come off the bench and provide consistent scoring.

I think your analysis is pretty much right on the mark---I thought that the CMU defense was very effective in blocking shots and causing turnovers. However, if you eliminate all of the missed shots right under the basket (often uncontested) then UT would have shot about 45% which is not that bad for them because, as you indicate, they have not been a strong team on offense most of the year.

(03-15-2013 06:31 PM)crusher38 Wrote:  

(03-15-2013 04:39 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  Refs didn't miss many calls. But then, we're Toledo fans so the refs are always terrible

If you want to apologize for that BIG EAST ref who blew the call on the kick at Syracuse even with instant replay go for it.


well this goes back a LONG way.......like when chester taylor was tackled at the glass bowl and didnt leave his feet. instead kept moving with both feet and one arm with other arm guarding the ball and the ref ruled him down.

Actually, I thought that the refs missed a lot of calls and some very badly; however, there were misses that favored both sides, so I am not accusing them winning the game for CMU-----CMU did that on their own.

In spite of all the poor offense comments, and it didn't look great at times, we nearly scored our season average, so it really wasn't all that bad. Especially considering we only had 7 free throw attempts. I think we just missed too many open shot, especially underneath.

I also thought the refs were pretty good today. There were only 3 "non-calls" that I didn't like. When the CMU coach stomped 15 feet onto the court yelling that the refs, that should have been an automatic T - no question. Also, Naama got fouled intentionally twice. Once when Digulio grabbed her after a steal, and one where Schroll stalked her down the court and body blocked her without making any attempt to even appear like she tried to avoid the hit. But, I can't really blame the refs for not calling those intentional, because they don't want to be chastised in the press for changing the outcome of the game.

Not sure what to think of an NIT run again...getting old in regards to the regular season of 27 wins and nothing to show for it...banners are nice but they have to mean something of substance...go back to early years of our dominace and we won MAC and NCAA apperances...that is what we need...also toughness has to ramp up...one thing Bill F had was a toughness in practice and games that some players will tell you they did not like but it made them better able to win games like today's...We might be better next year then we think as some of the younger kids seem to have a tougher mental attitude than our softer older players IMO...Coach C might have been out matched today...we had no answer for our bigs poor output all game...surprised that Kyle Baumgartener was not used much...Oh well lets hope we catch a break with the NCAA...isnt the BGSU AD on the selection committe still?

(03-15-2013 04:39 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  Refs didn't miss many calls. But then, we're Toledo fans so the refs are always terrible

Refs missed a ton of calls but it appeared to be a consistent effort. Fouls had to be pretty egregious. I'll say they were even-handed but a lot of very obvious contact went unchecked.

(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  My thoughts on the game:

I was surprised at how few people for CMU showed up. There were almost no fans there for their team.

Toledo is 2 hours away and CMU is closer to 5 hours away---besides UT has an enormous fan base compared to most of the MAC and it has a lot more retirees who can go to a 12 noon Friday game.
Toledo brought the fans but CMU brought the hungrier team--which is unfortunately what counts in the end.

(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  I was STUNNED that CMU didn't bother to come out for the national anthem. I find that terribly disrespectful. Makes the team and the school look really bad. The coach should have better sense than that.

That kind of surprised me too but I don't consider it to be as awful as you do. They came with their "We Want It All" tee shirts on and I suspect their coach wanted them to maintain their focus rather than come out early to contemplate the large UT crowd-----but maybe not, after all they also won in front of a big UT crowd in Savage.

(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  The refs were the best I have seen all season. They were far from perfect, but way better than what I am accustomed to.

I thought the refs missed a ton of calls ---but at least---the calls went both ways.

(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  The Rockets did not play like they wanted to win. They were lethargic, played poor defense, poor offense, and just didn't have that fire in their bellies. It almost seemed like they were bored. And I cannot believe that ALL of our shooters were cold on the same day.

I pretty much agree----I thought our seniors would be really hungry for this--and with the possible exception of Smith, I don't think that was the case

[quote='djsfw' pid='9098081' dateline='1363378629']
This is a huge disappointment. I just knew we were going to win and win at least one game in the NCAA.

I agree totally---there was absolutely no doubt whatsoever in my mind until the last 34 seconds but what they were going to pull this out by sheer senior determination------degree of disappointment is measured by the result compared to the expectation, so with sky high expectations this was a super disappointment---still the players and coaches must be at least 10 times as disappointed as we fans are because, unlike us, they had it within their power to determine the outcome.

(03-15-2013 03:17 PM)djsfw Wrote:  I don't even give a damn about the WNIT this year. Too much of a let down.

If the players can regroup and focus on the WNIT rather than mourning the loss of yet another NCAA opportunity, then it would be a pleasure to see them play a few games (particularly at Savage)----otherwise I agree with you.

(03-15-2013 06:45 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(03-15-2013 06:31 PM)crusher38 Wrote:  

(03-15-2013 04:39 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  Refs didn't miss many calls. But then, we're Toledo fans so the refs are always terrible

If you want to apologize for that BIG EAST ref who blew the call on the kick at Syracuse even with instant replay go for it.


well this goes back a LONG way.......like when chester taylor was tackled at the glass bowl and didnt leave his feet. instead kept moving with both feet and one arm with other arm guarding the ball and the ref ruled him down.

Actually, I thought that the refs missed a lot of calls and some very badly; however, there were misses that favored both sides, so I am not accusing them winning the game for CMU-----CMU did that on their own.

never said ya did. just stating my case, thats all

dont meant to come off like im arguing with u.

(03-15-2013 06:53 PM)northcoastRocket Wrote:  I also thought the refs were pretty good today. There were only 3 "non-calls" that I didn't like. When the CMU coach stomped 15 feet onto the court yelling that the refs, that should have been an automatic T - no question. Also, Naama got fouled intentionally twice. Once when Digulio grabbed her after a steal, and one where Schroll stalked her down the court and body blocked her without making any attempt to even appear like she tried to avoid the hit. But, I can't really blame the refs for not calling those intentional, because they don't want to be chastised in the press for changing the outcome of the game.

seems like this week is a bad one for refs.....kobe bryant wasnt injured on a non call which in the rules states you cannot prohibit a player from landing back on the court.



also.....who made the rule that u need "experience" to move up as a ref? the older u get, the worse ur eyes are and that makes no sense seeing as all refs are like 50 and up

I have been of the opinion since the middle of the season that Inma was the most valuable player on the team. She had developed a complete game this year. She plays excellent defense, has become a scorer, and is a force on the boards. As good as Naama is, she is somehwat limited by her size and lack of power. I have mentioned on the blog that she should have been second team all MAC.

(03-15-2013 08:18 PM)temoxley Wrote:  I have been of the opinion since the middle of the season that Inma was the most valuable player on the team. She had developed a complete game this year. She plays excellent defense, has become a scorer, and is a force on the boards. As good as Naama is, she is somehwat limited by her size and lack of power. I have mentioned on the blog that she should have been second team all MAC.

naama will be going to the wnba for sure.