devil58

Why is it a conflict of interest if I happen to know referees?? I know probably 70% of the 16th region officials because, to answer your previous question, I used to be a referee in this region and I called all levels including Varsity...I also umpire with one of your administators at Rose Hill...I consider him a friend and if you ask him I am positive that he would tell you that I do my job with the highest degree of professionalism...So before you lump me in with a group of "Britt Bashers", I umpired their games a couple of times last year & can guarantee you I treated every girl with the same high respect I always do...As is my reputation among coaches within the 16th region...I have never wished for her to be unsuccesful...My comments are the same as I would, and did, tell my own kids and the same I tell the kids I have the priviledge to work with now... BTW, I personally do not believe in "targeting" players and judge every player on their own merits & solely on what I witness from them, not hearsay...

I would not say it was an upset...It was upsetting how Russell played... Have not played well since Boone...Played two good teams but that is not an excuse for how the girls have responded...No one likes to lose but both games should have been much more competitive...If you lose games and you can look back & say, "we did everything we could do", you don't like the loss but you can at least be proud of the effort...

I'm not saying that is what happened...I'm just saying it could be...As for that being unprofessional?? I can tell you that officials will not tolerate their partner or fellow refs being disrespected...They will often "T" up a coach if they make derrogatory comments toward their partner...If they witness it during their game after witnessing it during the game prior to their's they may take any negative comment they hear during their game as a continuation of the disrespect to their profession that they just witnessed...Again, my point being if I do not want to be a "target" I am not going to do ANYTHING that may place a bullseye on my back...

Great deflection...Typical...Let's twist what is said to get the attention off the obvious...What does Russell have to do with what happened last night???

After reading this post I spoke to one of the officials from the JV game and they confirmed that the player at the center of the "conspiracy" was indeed making comments a good deal of the game...He stated that they were personal comments that may bother other officials but he found them comical...Here are some of the comments: "Hey, don't blink or you'll miss a call...Oh wait, you've been missing them all night"..."I saw you blink, you just missed another one"...Another one was, "Better get a head start cause I've seen you try to get up the floor"...Those may not be the "exact" words but that was how he remembered them... By the way, an assistant coach was sitting there in the area around them... Now, if I were feeling that the refs were "out to get me", I don't believe I would perpetuate my reputation of being "mouthy" or "disrepectful" to officials if I were wanting things to change...While the refs in the JV game ignored it, it could be possible that the varsity officials watching them work did not appreciate the disrepect of their colleagues and let her know it when she opened her mouth during the varsity game?? Just a thought... This is not hearsay...It came directly from one of the participants...

Congratulations!!!:dancingpa

This is really what I was trying to say...Thanks Blazer!!...I was not trying to be negative...Actually, it probably started before that tourney game but nevertheless the same attention was paid to Britt at Russell as it is now...My point being, it has nothing to do with her leaving Russell & everything to do with the way she plays the game...Fair or not that may certainly draw extra attention to her from referees...There was a boy from Lawrence Co a few years back that lead the region in technicals...It is possible that the refs had a shorter tolerance with him than other players due to his history...This may be the case with Britt as well... A friend of mine always used to tell me after they played us that we got "Kala calls"...What he was referring to was he thought Kala got superstar treatment similar to Michael Jordan...I always told him he was "full of it" when he said that...I said that she is really good at drawing contact and making you foul her...She certainly had an outstanding season last year...If the "conspiracy theory" were true, don't you think the refs would have targeted her as well?? Maybe you think they did however, that same friend told me after watching the Lady Royals several times last year that she was still getting her "Kala Calls"... Believe it or not I used to be a little ornery when I was young...:scared: I reached a point in my personal maturity where I got tired of feeling targeted because it appeared to me that others got away with things that I couldn't...Was it fair?? I don't know but it taught me a valuable lesson... I learned that I had to work twice as hard to change my reputation as I did to earn it...Maybe that's not fair but it is reality...Life is about choices...I made a choice to change my reputation...It didn't happen overnight & some may still have thought of me in the same way even after changing my actions but, had I continued doing the same things I did while earning the ornery reputation, it wouldn't have changed in anyone's eyes... Food for thought...

Britt had the same foul troubles when she was at Russell...Her foul troubles traveled with her when she transferred...Your conspiracy theory is crap!!!

Sure it was an upset but that's what happens in the 16th...Teams know each other and Rowan was very prepared tonight...Sure, Russell didn't play their best but give Rowan credit for causing some of that...Same thing happened at Fleming last year... Congratulations to Rowan...They outplayed Russell tonight...It's January 18th and there's a lot of basketball left to be played...I don't remember there being a trophy being presented after the game although if you watched Troy Lee you would have thought there was...

Final

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Final

I can understand if I would have driven 120 miles to play & the fouls were 29 - 15, I might be screaming too...BTW, prior to the last 3 or 4 mins when Boone really started fouling to try & get the ball back, the foul count was much closer...My guess is that 8 or 9 of Boone's fouls came in the last 3 mins or so...Take the "try to" fouls out & you have a 5 or 6 foul difference...Not bad considering the difference in the way the 2 teams play defense...If Russell had been down, the reverse would have happened...Did you really get homered?? No, but few would argue with you simply by looking at the boxscore...As for the comments from a "district opponent" that this is common when you play at Russell...........How do I say this? He's full of crap...Everyone in the 16th region uses the same officials and I can't think of more than 1 strictly Varsity official, as all of those were, who is from Russell...BTW, none of the officials in this game were from Russell and as a general rule, if you have direct ties to a particular school you generally do not get their games... This game was only Russell's 5th home game out of 16 total games...For the season Russell has shot around 150 more free throws than their opponents and while not by this big a margin, Russell usually gets fouled more than they foul...There is an easy explanation for this...Russell pounds the ball inside...They have 3 athletic 6 footers who create huge mismatches for most teams they play...They account for 70% of Russell's total offense & free throw attempts...Usually, they either score or go to the free throw line...You are much more likely to shoot free throws when you pound it in rather than settling for outside shots... As you saw today, Fortman creates big mis-matches & Coach Fookes stated to me after the game that she was disappointed that they could not find anyone who could guard her...I know she was probably not happy with the foul count but she is classy enough to not blame the refs...She stated that they were a little "leg weary" after the big game on Thursday and that the girls thought they could just play for 1 half and win...She stated that they need to be tougher mentally...She was disappointed in how they shot as well, 16-60 from the field & 4-18 from behind the 3 pt arc...They made almost that many 3's against Notre Dame...She said they "needed to get back to fundamentals" because they have developed some bad habits on defense, especially with rebounding...They were out-rebounded just as they were against Notre Dame (O'koro had 20 by herself)... Also, while Russell plays man defense & presses some, they do not play the "up under your chin" man defense that many of their opponents, including Boone, play...It's more about positioning & help and they use their length to make it difficult on the opponent...95% of Russell's steals come from blocked passes caused by their length...It is rare to see one of their players pick someone's pocket...They also get good position for rebounds & try to limit you to 1 shot... I hate to think that anyone thinks they got "hosed" when they visit our region...Unlike a lot of the posters on here who bash the 16th region officials, I see a lot of games in other regions & at the state tournament...OVERALL, ours compare to most and are better than many...It does look bad when the fouls are 29-15 but once again, other than the last few minutes they were MUCH closer...I'm sure there were more fouls that could have or should have been called...There are every game...But, to say the refs took the game from Boone is a slap in the face to Russell's girls...That was a good game played by 2 pretty evenly matched teams...Let's give credit to the girls from both teams...

It is a quality win against an excellent team...Ratings are nice but our girls realize how tough it will be to get out of the region...It doesn't matter where we are ranked come district time...In fact, there's a little school who wears orange a couple miles down the road that would like nothing more than to beat us in the first round of the district if we draw one another...If we make it out of the district there are several teams that are capable of winning the 16th region...We just hope we can stay healthy and compete for a championship in March...

Russell - 10 6 19 24 - 59 Boone Co - 9 16 5 17 - 47 Russell - Fortman 34pts, 12 rebs; O'koro 7 pts, 20 rebs; Simpson 9 pts, 6 rebs; Adkins 7 pts, 3 assists; Sparks 2 pts, 5 rebs, 4 steals Boone Co - Behrens 13 pts, 6 rebs; Hicks 13 pts, 5 rebs; Reed 7pts, 7 rebs; Switzer 5 pts, 6 rebs; Bradley 5 pts; Brasseaux 4 pts, 7 rebs