ndclassbb wrote:Please see my post on Page 5 under State tournament as I'm not prepared to re-type it.
by ndclassbb » Mon Mar 10, 2014 1:02 pm
Gee, I felt sorry for Rugby at the 2013 state tournament last year for the same reason that people are feeling sorry for New Town this year. Almost the identical scenario happened at the end of Rugby's first game last year in the tournament. (look it up if you're interested).
I (and everyone else in proximity of me) was appalled at the reffing of the championship game especially. Rugby typically goes on a lot of runs the 3rd and 4th quarters of any given game and every time that this happened and Rugby was pulling away there were consistent calls on Rugby which allowed OG to then capitalize and makeup for their deficit. OG players were allowed to play freely (many over the back fouls and other types that were simply never called), while Rugby literally couldn't move without something (especially fouls) being called. The fouls that were called on OG were primarily the ones that would potentially allow them to catch up. IE: Several times Heidelbaugh drove and made layups only to meet with a (delayed) foul call if he made the basket at which time it then didn't count. Sadly, at the end of the game, there was a Rugby player with a profusely bloody nose-no foul and no delay of game. Since when is a delay of game not mandatory when someone is bleeding on the court. Please don't tell me that the refs didn't notice this because that is not possible considering their proximity to the player. Rugby coaches had to call a time-out in order to substitute another player. There were only four Panthers on the floor before the time-out for some moments because of this. Granted, Rugby didn't have their best game by far, BUT they were so obviously rattled (not an excuse a fact and obvious to anyone who has followed the team all year) that it didn't even look like the same team. Well, technically speaking, it wasn't the same team as there was already one starter benched several minutes into the game for fouls and three of them benched for fouls by the beginning of the third quarter. Rugby has never even been close to having a situation like this the entire year! How many teams have you ever seen playing over half of their bench by the beginning of the second half in a championship game? I've never seen it. How is it possible to play your best in a any game (and win) with less than half of your starting five? Worst reffing (that's the under-statement of the year) I've seen in 30 plus years of playing/watching BB. Everyone I've spoken with agrees wholeheartedly and considers it shameful. There are many interesting facts that have been exposed since the game was played that are now common knowledge among a lot of people; many of whom are not even from Rugby. Very sad indeed. The Rugby Panthers battled two opponents on Saturday night, didn't have their best game or most of their regular players...and still almost won.
Congrats to the Rugby Panthers on a fantastic season! I'm sure that it was a very disheartening way to close it and I'm sorry for that. There should be some other people out there who are very sorry to.