Please don’t take this as a negative because Mike and this team has me onboard 200%, but I’m confused about the cramping that hit several players during the last few minutes. I know MA has one of the best conditioned teams in any league and was shocked that type of issue occurred. There are some good basketball minds on this board so help me understand what happened…
For one thing, they weren’t all cramps or at least didn’t appear to be. Barford was banging knees. Beard looked like it may have been a strain but it was hard to tell.
I don’t know what caused Beard and Macon’s but I noticed that MSU’s best player strained an oblique without any contact making a normal basketball play.
I’m not a doctor but I wonder if the big stage and 2 really tough games in short order had something to do with it.
I am surprised that the question regarding this was not asked by Arkansas media in the post game presser. I would like to know an official answer too. We know it is not because of poor conditioning. Barford was kneed and was not cramping as PIG says. Macon and Beard did not play that many minutes against Seton Hall, so cramping is something you would not expect. I wonder if it was some food that they ate that drained water from the body.
NBA teams have started resting their starting players when the schedule requires back to back games. I heard on a sports show today it is becoming very common because studies have shown players have 3 times more chance of getting injured when they play without proper rest.
The SEC tournament was 3 games in 3 days! This was 2 games in 3 days. I think it was the amount of stress and energy expended to come back and they were just flat out gassed. Nothing in the tank.
The other major question I would like answered. Who are those refs and where are they from!? How did they get to the floor without a see and eye dog!
This is of epic proportions when it comes to getting robbed!
Place a wanted picture of those idiots and never let them in a game again!
This was basically what CMA said after the game. He said they left it all on the floor. I think they spent so much energy trying to come back and got the lead but it was just too much to ask. Don’t think it had anything to do with conditioning, just a hard run against a very good team that caused issues.
Reading today’s paper, Barford and Beard had ankle injuries and Macon was the only one cramping. That puts a different spin on this. A single player can cramp in any game.