Normally I do not get caught up in the zebras determining an outcome of a game. Of course they have influence in each game, but by and large they seem to let the players play and determine the ultimate outcomes.
This game could be different. Washington is a free throw shooting machine of a team....as in free throw shooting attempts. They have attempted an incredible 855 shots from the charity stripe this year....MU has attempted 645. To give you some perspective, last year's Marquette team went to the line last year (prior to the NCAA tournament) 862 times. The 2008-09 MU squad was one of the most proficient in MU history at getting to the line and this Washington Huskies squad visits the charity stripe with near equal frequency.
The flip side to this issue is the fouling itself. MU only fouled opponents 560 times while Washington was whistled 711 times. UW takes more foul shots but they also foul more.
How tight the zebras call this game will be critical for Marquette. The Huskies love to get to the foul line while Marquette has a short bench not capable of giving up many fouls. If this game is called tightly, MU could be in real trouble. UW also fouls If this game is called in a manner that lets them play, MU should be ok.
So how are games called in the Big East vs the Pacific Ten conference? Using the eyeball test, I'd say the Pac Ten officials call a much tighter game after watching games out west for the last 30 years. I'm sure there is some data out there that could state in a more scientific fashion if one conference is more foul prone than the other.
The wildcard? What type of officials will we see? The Pacific Ten variety or the Big East variety?
Go Warriors
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
One man's opinion - this will come down to how tight the game is called by the zebras
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4 comments:
NICE! Good job of finding out these facts, i feel better informed now and hope the squad can see this/NOT FOUL any husky player. Good Article
One thing's for certain, if a Pac-10 crew is calling the game, look for terrible, mind-numbing, jaw-dropping calls for the entire 40 minutes.
Yes, that's my concern exactly. I hope the zebras let them play.
UW fan here,
Pac-10 officials are horrible. They are extremely inconsistent. Who knows who will be calling the game, but I know Isaiah and Quincy will be looking to get to the line out of the gate. We run 10 deep, so foul trouble isn't a huge problem, one of the reasons we press so much.
Can't wait for tomorrow! Best of luck.
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