To Bison1999 & Other Bucknell Fans

[SteinPizza]

Great game. I can see why you're ranked and have such a good record. You guys outplayed us and outcoached us for a good portion of the game. Your lack of bench may hurt you later on, but you could say the same about us. Good luck in the tourney.

P.S. Your PL refs leave a little to be desired. At least they were inconsistently bad for both sides so it didn't cost either the game.

[DWadle1983]

Yes, the officials missed a few both ways. UNI caught a helluva of a break on the turnover at the end of the first OT.

[Newsbreaker]

The officals were BAD, but not one way over the other. There were some obvious misses, and some sequences in the OT's where they missed several calls in a row.

I have to say, the out of bounds play where the lead offical had to consult with BOTH trails because he couldn't see, that was as bad a job of officiating as I've ever seen.

[Panthers to the Bone]

My two favorite calls (or no calls):

When Stout has his jersey ripped from him as he cuts to the basket. He gets held up, and the ball goes out of bounds...no holding call.

Then, the ball goes out of bounds off a Bucknell player. The ref in position to make the call didn't see who it hit off of...so he checked with the next in position ref (good move btw)...that ref didn't know...so they checked with the guy on the far side of the court...they talk for a second or two, and instead of a jump ball call (which it usually is if the refs don't know), the referee says it was off UNI. It was just one of those nights!

[GoCats05]

My two favorite calls (or no calls):

When Stout has his jersey ripped from him as he cuts to the basket. He gets held up, and the ball goes out of bounds...no holding call.

Then, the ball goes out of bounds off a Bucknell player. The ref in position to make the call didn't see who it hit off of...so he checked with the next in position ref (good move btw)...that ref didn't know...so they checked with the guy on the far side of the court...they talk for a second or two, and instead of a jump ball call (which it usually is if the refs don't know), the referee says it was off UNI. It was just one of those nights!

As much as we complain about our refs, those refs today were horrible! I was wondering if refs from Iowa's bowl game had made the trip for our game. Did you see Mac try to go after one of them during a time-out? How we didn't get a technical called, I don't know. Thank God we got out of there with a win. We were due to win a close one after losing these few games.

[Newsbreaker]

Remember, these were PL officals, and like you'd imagine, officals aim to move up from low-major to mid-major to high-major leagues. These guys would probably be hoping to become MVC officals at some point in the future.

We are somewhat lucky, in that we have some officals in the MVC who also do 'high-major' games. A PL type league isn't going to get that type of offical.

I'm not saying this game was beyond them, but they don't see this level of basketball often (as witnessed by Bucknell's skate through their conference.)

[Panthers Win!!]

They missed some calls that's for sure but it looked to me it evened out. I don't know if they are just bad or if they intended to let the players decide the game calling it very loosely. I actually prefer that sort of game. Consistency is more important to me and they seemed that.

[ColoradoPanther]

Ref bashing aside-- again, to the Bucknell fans, good luck the rest of the year, and especially in the NCAA. The Bisons deserve to be there regardless of how the remaining games play out.

And we'll see you in Bison Country next Nov/Dec!

[Pantherpower]

As much as we complain about our refs, those refs today were horrible! I was wondering if refs from Iowa's bowl game had made the trip for our game. Did you see Mac try to go after one of them during a time-out? How we didn't get a technical called, I don't know. Thank God we got out of there with a win. We were due to win a close one after losing these few games.

Funny you said that. Said to my wife "oh man, check it out, Mac's going to get t'd up." Almost thought he was looking for one there to fire his guys up, but who knows.

[Newsbreaker]

Funny you said that. Said to my wife "oh man, check it out, Mac's going to get t'd up." Almost thought he was looking for one there to fire his guys up, but who knows.

The geek behind us said the same thing...in fact, he thought Mac should force the "T" to fire the guys up.

Then again, that same guy thought we "deffinitly weren't an NCAA team" so he can kiss off.

[CF Panther]

The geek behind us said the same thing...in fact, he thought Mac should force the "T" to fire the guys up.

Then again, that same guy thought we "deffinitly weren't an NCAA team" so he can kiss off.

Well seeing as how I am no geek, it could not have been me you are referring to; however, I was definitely hoping Mac would get a T there with about 7 or 8 minutes to go. It would have been a perfect situation to get the guys and the crowd fired up. The officiating this afternoon left a bad taste in my mouth; I could stand to go another 20 odd years without seeing a PL officiating crew work a game...

[KaBullseye15]

i think it wouldve been a bad situation to get t'd, we finally pulled back within one after being down by more so even though it mightve fired up the guys it might have put them in a bigger hole too.

[Newsbreaker]

i think it wouldve been a bad situation to get t'd, we finally pulled back within one after being down by more so even though it mightve fired up the guys it might have put them in a bigger hole too.

I agree. The 'amazing' thing about today's game to me was the fact that both schools found a way to convert on the absolute LAST opportunity to keep themselves alive at each and every turn, well, until the 2nd OT.

[Pantherpower]

The geek behind us said the same thing...in fact, he thought Mac should force the "T" to fire the guys up.

Then again, that same guy thought we "deffinitly weren't an NCAA team" so he can kiss off.

I'm definately a geek, but never said anything about UNI not being a tournament team, so it wasn't me

[GBison89]

PL Refs

Well now you get to see what level of officiating we deal with all the time. Personally I thought they just didn't call much, which is preferable to a whistle every possession. One of the problems our league is facing as we move forward with Scholarship players (remember 2 or 3 of our starters are non-scholarship) is that the level of play improves but the refs haven't caught up yet. Also playing on the East Coast with a high density of games on Wednesday and Saturday, Not paying nearly as much as the bigger "TV" leagues, leaves us getting the "2nd tier" officials. We've had our share of good officials, but like coaches they tend to follow the money. I even remember one of my favorite officials Frank Scagliotta (who I met when I was doing the official score book for Bucknell in the late 80's) moving on to the
Big East and then a FInal Four in the late 90's or early this century.

I'll be interested to see what the calls are like from MVC refs in Lewisburg next year.

Good luck to Panther Nation - It was a hell of game and except for a couple of key plays (as it is always in close games) we might be having another discussion.

GO BISON BEAT LEHIGH!!