the ohio state buckeyes defeated the previously-undefeated and #1 ranked illinois fighting illini. being a coach, i usually attempt to take the ref's side of an argument (for the sake of the players who should respect the refs and their decisions regardless of whether they agree with it or not), but it certainly seemed to me that the refs were attempting to keep the buckeyes from getting close. what was especially upsetting was seeing 2 opposite calls against the buckeyes. the first was a charge called when the illinois defender stepped into the shooter. the second was a blocking foul called when dee brown faked a shot, then dipped his shoulder the jumped into the defender (sylvester i believe) who didn't leave the ground or make contact on his own. amazing. the nice thing is that on one can say that osu won because of home-town refs. thad matta does it again (defeats the undefeated). in honor of this victory, someone else should purchase the naming rights to the ohio state gym and rename it. i can't stand the name "value city arena".
a former student comments to me that illinois lost, i tell him, "no, ohio state won. that is the important thing."
more later. . .
peace and java
