What I think Winky means is that it takes a plane to Spokane, a bus trip and most of a day to get to Moscow, Idaho. WHen teams have tough travel situations, they often are a bit more tired than normal...and it usually shows in their energy on both ends and in their shooting percentages. USU also had lost on the road to IUPUFW (ooey pooey fooey), a much inferior team to Idaho. Their one road win at BYU was a "local" rivalry without tough travel. So to me they hadn't demonstrated they could win outright, let alone by doubles, in a true road game spot like this....even against a "bad" team with a lousy record. Vandals do play outstanding defense (36%). So IMO lwhen an unproven road favorite loses on the road to a good defensive team in a tough place to play, it isn't really all that much of a surprise. And your comment about hot streaks...Hot streaks in college hoops, usually born in home games, often last only as long as a tough road trip or two.
Also, i think you were a bit premature there on the USF game. They won by double digits. Congrats on your W.
Also, i think you were a bit premature there on the USF game. They won by double digits. Congrats on your W.
I spoke out of frustration on the SF game. The only stat I could see was at the end of 1st half, something was wrong with the scoretrackers on most sites. Judging by what you just told me about USU, I did terrible background searching on that one. Where was your writeup when I needed it? lol......Coast2Coast said:
Coast is DEAD ON here
i have spoken to between 50-100 people from the big west - players, coaches, administrators, refs, etc. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has stated Idaho is BY FAR the TOUGHEST place to get to in the conference - and one of the toughest in all of college sports - if not the toughest.
coast is right about getting there and the effect it has on teams - as well as getting out of there, too. consider that schools playing idaho in the end of the B2B are coming from logan, utah - and altitude. add in the tough travel plans and it is very easy to see why teams don't play all that well in idaho.
to show you how bad it is: when the L.A. Times had beat writers covering fullerton and irvine - they would follow the team on all road trips since the 2 were travel partners. when these 2 played - for instance - at san jose and pacific - the writers would cover the first game (say @ SJSU) then make the drive to UOP for the next game. the ONLY exception was the idaho/utah state trip. in this case - say fullerton played first at utah state and irvine at idaho. the day after the game fullerton would travel to idaho and irvine to utah state. but this was the ONLY trip where the writers STAYED PUT! because the travel expenses as well as the time getting to/from the 2 schools were so outrageous - in this case - the fullerton writer STAYED in utah to cover the irvine game there while the irvine guy stayed in idaho to cover fullerton.
this should tell you just how tough and time consuming it is to get to idaho and why whatever happens there shouldn't be a shock. when idaho leaves the big west (next season or the year after - i think next season but not 100% sure) NO ONE will miss them - as far as the travel to idaho to play a game.
i have spoken to between 50-100 people from the big west - players, coaches, administrators, refs, etc. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has stated Idaho is BY FAR the TOUGHEST place to get to in the conference - and one of the toughest in all of college sports - if not the toughest.
coast is right about getting there and the effect it has on teams - as well as getting out of there, too. consider that schools playing idaho in the end of the B2B are coming from logan, utah - and altitude. add in the tough travel plans and it is very easy to see why teams don't play all that well in idaho.
to show you how bad it is: when the L.A. Times had beat writers covering fullerton and irvine - they would follow the team on all road trips since the 2 were travel partners. when these 2 played - for instance - at san jose and pacific - the writers would cover the first game (say @ SJSU) then make the drive to UOP for the next game. the ONLY exception was the idaho/utah state trip. in this case - say fullerton played first at utah state and irvine at idaho. the day after the game fullerton would travel to idaho and irvine to utah state. but this was the ONLY trip where the writers STAYED PUT! because the travel expenses as well as the time getting to/from the 2 schools were so outrageous - in this case - the fullerton writer STAYED in utah to cover the irvine game there while the irvine guy stayed in idaho to cover fullerton.
this should tell you just how tough and time consuming it is to get to idaho and why whatever happens there shouldn't be a shock. when idaho leaves the big west (next season or the year after - i think next season but not 100% sure) NO ONE will miss them - as far as the travel to idaho to play a game.
