From: lac@hal.com (Allen Chambers)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college
Subject: Re: Texas Horns !  News, please, Austin folks !
Date: 9 Jan 93 03:03:32 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: HaL Computer Systems, Inc.

In article <2B4CD264.3691@news.service.uci.edu> jayakris@translab.its.uci.edu (R. Jayakrishnan) writes:
>
>  Why are you guys from Austin so silent about the horns ?  Please,
>  there are some of us displaced fans, who like to hear some news !

>  I saw the UT_Rice game on Tuesday (UT-87, Rice-92) and cried.  BJ Tyler is
>  out for the year ?..  Come on guys, somebody please tell us such news when
>  it happens.  I know, this season is going down the drain, but we would
>  like to know how and why.

I just knew that someone would eventually start this thread.  Well, I
think there's a couple of reasons for the silence here in Austin.  First,
the University is still out on break.  Second, I fear that the fans are
somewhat disappointed in the showing by the team so far; the losses to
North Carolina and Utah were blow outs and the team seems to have no
offensive plan.  I think it's going to be a long season for the Horns,
especially with BJ Tyler probably out for the season (though in the
Statesman this morning Penders did seem to hold out some faint hope
that BJ would be back).  I picked them to finish 3rd in the conference
behind Houston and Rice before the season started and the loss to
Rice seems to bear that out.  Before I get into this any further, I'll
say that I'm a fan of both teams, having attended Rice as an undergrad
and UT for law school.  I tend to feel a stronger allegiance towards Rice
than UT, but I've been a big UT fan over the years and have attended
at least 3 or 4 home games a year since I've been back in Austin.  Also,
I had seen Rice play once (on ESPN, against Michigan) and UT twice (both
on TV, against North Carolina and Utah).  So, I feel that I've seen both
teams and have fairly neutral feelings.

>  About the Rice game.. I don't want any Owls ever complaining that
>  they don't get support from the officials. They decided this game,
>  and that's it !    Three intentional fouls on Texas ?.. Come on..
>  Can't blame Penders for blowing his lid and getting rejected. 
>  (This one reminded me so much about the UT-Baylor football game !)
>  Hats off to the Texas players to hang in there and come back from
>  a 22 pt deficit at 9 minutes to within 5 at 2 minutes. That too 
>  with their point guard/leader out !   They would have had a chance to
>  even win the game had the official called intentional on Rice for
>  lifting and dropping Terrence Rencher at the 2 min mark (come on,
>  give me a break..call *one* at least on them. let us be fair here..).

Well, I went to the game and watched the replay on HSE/Prime.  My opinion
about the officiating changed after watching the replay.  At the game I
felt that the officiating was pretty inconsistent, but with a few more
bad calls going against Texas, though not all that many; indeed later
in the game, after the crowd got into it, the referees seemed quite
intimidated and allowed *much* more physical play, which obviously worked to
Texas' advantage.  After watching the replay, I was surprised to find that
my opinion of the officiating improved, at least until the referees became
so intimidated by the crowd (more on that in a minute).  I felt that
the officiating was actually pretty consistent; in the early part of
the game Rice was called for 4 or 5 more fouls than Texas, but they
seemed to adjust to the way the game was being called;  Texas started
out tentatively, but began turning up the defensive pressure as
the game went on.  Unfortunately for Texas, they didn't adjust to the
way the game was being officiated.  The refs didn't seem to want a
really physical game, and that was apparent from the start.  Rice almost
had to adjust, as it seems that they have been in serious foul trouble in
all of their losses, other than Michigan.  And Texas couldn't have wanted
a closely called game, with their reliance on close defense and forcing
alot of turnovers.

Here's the statistical bottom line.  Both teams were over the 10 foul limit
in both halves.  I'm unsure of the exact numbers, but I think Texas was
called for 8 more fouls for the game than Rice (I think Texas had 31 and
Rice had 23, but I don't have the stats in front of me to verify this).
At least 4 of those fouls came in the last 2 minutes when Texas began
deliberately fouling, so the final difference was really not that big.  Rice
shot 42 of 55 from the free throw line (the most free throws in an SWC game
since 1955!) and Texas was 22 of 27.  But you have to remember that Texas
plays a pressing defense and goes for alot of steals, which typically will
generate alot of turnovers, and many times alot of fouls.  I think UT had
about 25-30 steals, so... Texas scored alot of points off of forced
turnovers (especially in the last 9 minutes), but also committed alot
of fouls in the process.

As for Penders and the technicals...  I couldn't hear what he was saying.
On the first one, he claimed that he said "28 fouls! 28 fouls!" referring
to his belief that the refs had called 28 fouls against both teams up
until that point in the first half (about 40-45 seconds left in the half).
Actually there had been only 23 fouls called at that point, but that's
not really important.  I don't think he was called for what he said.  While
it didn't really show up on the replay, Penders had been carrying on and
storming around on the sideline and tearing his coat off and wandering
onto the floor and out of the coaching box and baiting the referees for quite
some time before he got the first technical.  I think the refs just got
tired of being shown up and finally hit him with the T.  As for the second
technical, he had been even more excessive than in the first half, almost
daring them to call him;  you could tell for a minute or two before he
got it that he was *really* close to getting one.  He claimed that he
wasn't trying to get one; he claims to have said "Now, *that* was a foul!"
But I think you could argue that he was really trying to fire up the team
and the crowd, which he certainly did; the team was playing poorly and the
crowd was being very quiet with Rice holding a 15-20 point lead at the time.
While the score didn't immediately reflect a difference, it did get the crowd
into the game and that was a big turning point for Texas.  Unfortunately for
those watching at home, the cameras didn't catch much of Penders' sideline
show.

As for the 3 intentional fouls...  I saw 2 of them and agreed with the calls,
and I never was able to see the other one, even on the replay.  I thought
there could have been 3 more called, two against Texas and one against Rice,
but by that point the refs were feeling pretty intimidated and didn't want
to egg on the crowd.  The first one, I believe, was against Gerald Houston,
who attempted to stop a steal and breakaway layup by running Marvin Moore
out of bounds; he made no attempt to reach for the ball or to even grab
Moore as he started to go up for the layup.  He just laid his body on him,
deliberately smashing him to the floor behind the basket.  No question
about this one.  The second one was the one I never saw and it went against
Terrence Rencher.  My guess is that he was trying to fight through a pick
and threw a punch or forearm into someone's face;  he had seemed to be
very upset even before that and was starting to play a bit out of control.
Indeed, after this call he was called for two more personals within a
minute or two and each time, after the foul was called, he appeared to
deliberately "bump" the player he had just fouled.  I was actually surprised
that he didn't get a technical here.  Anyway... the third one was also
against Rencher and when I saw it at the game I thought it was a questionable
call.  He appeared to at least have a chance to get the ball and was going
for it.  When I saw it later on the replay it looked more like he was
trying to get in a free "shot" at the player rather than going for the
ball; and (in my opinion) when considered in light of how Rencher had been
bumping people and had already been called for an intentional foul it
wasn't a bad call.  UT should have pulled him after he lost his cool
the first time or two.  As for the other three intentional fouls which
weren't called, one was a body slam of Marvin Moore on a driving layup, and
the crowd taunted the refs about *not* calling that one intentional.  They
probably should have, as it just left the door open for an escalation of
the rough play.  The last two were much later in the half, and one should
have been called against Rice and one against Texas, in that order.  When
the Texas player was fouled (was it Rencher?), the Texas players and coaches
rushed onto the floor.  Somebody even had to "hold back" BJ Tyler.  I felt
that at this point the fans were very close to also rushing the floor if
there had been a fight, though really the crowd was incensed by the
officiating, not by the Rice team which had been pretty calm.  I think this
one should have been called intentional too, but at this point the refs had
been letting the play get very physical and this had been working to Texas'
advantage.  The last one should have been called against Texas and seemed
like a retaliation for the one which wasn't called, as it was on the next
two trips down the floor.  It got pretty rough, but both teams shook
hands and talked after the game, so there didn't seem to be any animosity
between the teams.  Really the only consistently "dirty" play during the
game seemed to come from Rencher, who was obviously frustrated at point guard
and whose game has not been up to the expectations he generated during
his freshman year.

As for the referees being intimidated...  when Penders was tossed with
about 14:30 left, the crowd went nuts, especially after Penders went after
the refs on the court and walked across to talk to the players and to
talk to the TV announcers and the SWC official at the table.  I wouldn't have
been surprised if he was suspended by the conference for a game.  The
crowd became a real factor at this point, even though Texas fell further
behind until about 9:30 left.  It was hard to tell on TV how much a
factor the crowd was, because the broadcast attenuated the crowd
noise *significantly*.  The crowd booed every call, threw ice, cups,
and goodness knows what else onto the floor; more like a championship
wrestling crowd.  When Texas got a couple of steals and the crowd *really*
got into the game, the refs allowed the play to become much more physical,
though I also thought that Rice tired quite visibly and never was able to
catch a breather while bringing the ball up the court, this seemed to happen
to them during the Michigan game as well, but they had a much larger lead
in this one.  One thing I thought was unusual was that Rencher played the
last 10+ minutes of the game with 4 fouls in a full-court pressing defense
without committing another foul.  Rice should have tried to isolate someone
on him and tried to draw his 5th foul, but they never did.

As for the crowd...  I have never seen a group of fans which behaved more
adbominably than the UT fans at this game; two times the announcer had
to ask fans not to throw things on the floor and when the game was over
the fans sitting above the exit where the referees left the floor, poured
drinks on them and I saw several people spitting on the referees as the
police escorted them through the mob.  While I am not typically offended
by profanity, there seemed to be many people there with children who
I believe probably were offended and may never return to a UT game, at
least with their children; the number of people standing and shouting
obscenities and making obscene gestures was astonishing; and this wasn't
just at the end of the game, but for most of the second half.  I was embarassed
for the University and the program, as I am an active member of the Texas
Exes and a supporter of Longhorns sports programs in general.  Actually
I think some of the blame for this falls on Penders.  The fans take their
cues from him about how the game is being officiated and when he pitches a fit,
they feel justified in pitching one too.  I think he, and other coaches,
should be a little more aware of this; the crowd at the Erwin Center was,
in my opinion, uncomfortably close to violence.  Anyway... while I can
understand their feelings that the officiating was questionable, and can
understand booing and sarcastic commentary, I see no real justification for
endangering the players and assaulting the referees.

>  To hell with it. It's time Texas got out of SWC.  These officials 
>  stink. It is not worth it.

While I don't think this was the best officiating I've ever seen, it seems
that there has been a big improvement since Penders entered the conference.
Penders even stated that he thought that the referees hadn't beaten Texas,
though his statements indicated that he didn't feel the techical fouls
against him were justified.  Also, in the vein of Texas getting out of the
SWC, I just read an article in the last day or two about the SWC/Big Eight
talks.  It seems that the Big Eight basketball coaches voted unanimously
AGAINST any sort of merger with the SWC; so it looks like this very likely.

>
>  GO HORNS !
>
>  Jay  (why am I in California ?..)

Just exactly why are you in California, Jay?  Looks like grad school from
your address.  Good luck out there, I'll try to post more about the Horns.

>  PS:  Hey, Penders' son looked good ! can he play point ?..

Tommy Penders played surprisingly well and was a calming influence; this was
all the more amazing given that his father had been ejected from the game.
He played with alot of poise, though a couple of the shots he made were
off-balance leaners off the backboard, which were pretty low percentage shots
(though I will note that since he hit both, maybe that's his shot?).  The
Statesman indicated that Tommy was going to redshirt until BJ Tyler went down,
but he had been activated to replace Tyler.  He does look to be a decent
ballhandler, but we'll just have to see about his passing.  The crowd gave
him alot of applause every time he entered the game and sat down; this
game definitely raised his stock, I wouldn't be surprised to see him play
20 minutes a game.  The Statesman quoted someone as saying that he was
"a scrappy competitor, just like his dad had been a few years ago at
Connecticut(?)".

-----------------------
Allen Chambers
ADE Project Leader
HaL Computer Systems
Austin, TX/Campbell, CA


--
Allen Chambers -- ADE Project Leader -- HaL Computer Systems
address: 8920 Business Park Dr.              email: lac@hal.com
         Suite 300                           phone: (512) 794-2855
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