Mulcahy

[Greene Rice FIG]

This hasn’t been how Paul has behaved all year. I am surprised he hasn’t reigned it in after the Purdue game.

the season is long, he has played a lot, and most importantly his role has changed significantly.

disappointed what he did. However I give more slack for players who dive on the floor and play almost every minute like it is game 7 of the NBA finals . Not every player that wears the uniform is like that.

 

[Yeah Baby]

I must be watching a different Paul Mulcahy, who the refs are starting to target since his and our little 4 game ranked winning streak.

MSU 31 minutes, 6-9, 15pts, 12 ast. 2 PFs
OSU 37 minutes, 4-8, 12pts, 6 ast, 3 PFs
@ Wisc 37 minutes, 6-9, 18pts, 5 ast, 1 PF
Illinois, 36 minutes, 6-10, 13pts, 7ast, 2 PFs

last 4 games,
@ Purdue 33 minutes, 6-8, 15pts, 6ast, 5 PFs
@ Michigan, 22 minutes, 2-8, 5pts 2ast, 4 PFs
Wisconsin, 26 minutes, 3-6, 7pts 1ast, 4 PFs
@ Indiana 37 minutes, 2-8, 5pts, 3ast, 3 PF, ejected

He had 4 PFs, 3 times in the first 25 games this season.

It’s true they have been going after him on the road especially. He’s a key player and the refs like to do this to physical players on the road or just any player on the road but guys like Paul and Caleb get caught on help D plus they are physical. First foul on Cliff last night was a joke. He had to play soft for the entire first half but turned beast in the 2nd half to shut down the Indiana bigs.

Paul is getting frustrated and Johnson was grabbing and pushing him all game and getting away with it. He’s a fiery guy so it’s hard to just turn that off when you’re getting pushed around but it’s what he has to do.

 

[AntiG]

Also.. teammates shave his head... buzzcut is enough.

don't make him look even more like Taylor Mason from Billions

 

[Scarlet1984]

I think everyone is way too critical of Mulcahy. The Indiana kid ( 0) earlier in the half got away with a foul when it looked like he hooked Mulcahy and , incredibly , it was Mulcahy who got the foul and not Johnson. And I think it was this earlier play that caused the flare-up at the end. And yes Mulcahy threw his arm out but it looked like Johnson pushed Mulcahy deliberately but was not called for a flagrant foul.

I could be mistaken, but I recall thinking that Paul stayed "hooked" a bit deliberately and then hammed it up.

And (much more obvious when you are at the game) he seems to plead his case to the ref on almost every call against him in a rather whiny and protracted manner. It's a bit much.

 

[rob kight]

Johnson was pushing RU players and taunting them the whole game. He got called for the foul and then proceeds to push Paul in the chest into the bench. How is that not a flagrant foul. Paul’s arms go up and behind his head and as he rights himself his arms come down with his left elbow near Johnson’s head. Johnson goes into a flop routine. I watched 15 times and did not see Paul swinging. Other than that , one of the things I admired about our team and Pike was we always seemed to be professional and respectful. Didn’t like Ron’s showboating at the end.

 

[GORU2014]

Johnson was pushing RU players and taunting them the whole game. He got called for the foul and then proceeds to push Paul in the chest into the bench. How is that not a flagrant foul. Paul’s arms go up and behind his head and as he rights himself his arms come down with his left elbow near Johnson’s head. Johnson goes into a flop routine. I watched 15 times and did not see Paul swinging. Other than that , one of the things I admired about our team and Pike was we always seemed to be professional and respectful. Didn’t like Ron’s showboating at the end.

Ron could run up and give me the double bird at the next game after that shot, I don’t care

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

Guys. Paul got played last night. xavier Johnson was in his head and Paul could not get him out. Again three major possessions Johnson punked paul.

The first when paul, instead of playing good defense, pretended he got hit by a bus giving johnson a wide open foul line jump shot which he converted.

2nd was the hook and hold but again paul exaggerated so much the call went away from him. it really should have been a no call. this gave indiana the ball when possession were at a premium.

Last was the foul at the end when paul brought his hands high after getting pushed into bench. the ref should have called a flagrant on both. the problem is two fold. 1. swinging at someones head is different than being pushed. they are not the same. if paul wasnt swinging at his head than what was he doing? if he wanted to push johnson he would have pushed him. He didnt he swung his arms. if we argue paul didnt throw a punch then Johnson could easily argue he was off balance.

The most likely truth is refs are tired of Paul's acting. Refs talk. As a matter of fact refs actually get rated by the coaches and coaches complain. So when Paul is flopping around like a fish out of water and a ref makes a bad call because of it, coaches complain to the league after the game and make the ref look bad. Believe it or not refs do not like that. So when in doubt the calls will go against you.

This is a great learning experience for paul

 

[fluoxetine]

Guys. Paul got played last night. xavier Johnson was in his head and Paul could not get him out. Again three major possessions Johnson punked paul.

The first when paul, instead of playing good defense, pretended he got hit by a bus giving johnson a wide open foul line jump shot which he converted.

2nd was the hook and hold but again paul exaggerated so much the call went away from him. it really should have been a no call. this gave indiana the ball when possession were at a premium.

Last was the foul at the end when paul brought his hands high after getting pushed into bench. the ref should have called a flagrant on both. the problem is two fold. 1. swinging at someones head is different than being pushed. they are not the same. if paul wasnt swinging at his head than what was he doing? if he wanted to push johnson he would have pushed him. He didnt he swung his arms. if we argue paul didnt throw a punch then Johnson could easily argue he was off balance.

The most likely truth is refs are tired of Paul's acting. Refs talk. As a matter of fact refs actually get rated by the coaches and coaches complain. So when Paul is flopping around like a fish out of water and a ref makes a bad call because of it, coaches complain to the league after the game and make the ref look bad. Believe it or not refs do not like that. So when in doubt the calls will go against you.

This is a great learning experience for paul

Great post.

Regarding "punch" I didn't really think it was a punch when I saw it while watching the game but I haven't gone back for deep analysis or anything.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Last was the foul at the end when paul brought his hands high after getting pushed into bench. the ref should have called a flagrant on both. the problem is two fold. 1. swinging at someones head is different than being pushed. they are not the same. if paul wasnt swinging at his head than what was he doing? if he wanted to push johnson he would have pushed him. He didnt he swung his arms. if we argue paul didnt throw a punch then Johnson could easily argue he was off balance.

The most likely truth is refs are tired of Paul's acting. Refs talk. As a matter of fact refs actually get rated by the coaches and coaches complain. So when Paul is flopping around like a fish out of water and a ref makes a bad call because of it, coaches complain to the league after the game and make the ref look bad. Believe it or not refs do not like that. So when in doubt the calls will go against you.

This is a great learning experience for paul

Agreed that Paul is better playing basketball than acting.. should stop acting. It doesn't matter if others act better and cost him fouls. Doesn't matter if the refs owe him calls because they suck at their job.

What matters is that the advantage to Rutgers Basketball is in Paul making plays.. not his acting talents.

HOWEVER... I took a look at that last foul sequence again very carefully.

I was under teh impression last night that #0 fouled him going for the ball to stop the clock and then went overboard with the shoulder/forearm push into the bench....

BUT... what really happened is that #0 shoved Paul's face with his left hand.. nowhere near the ball... then he grabbed at the ball and shoulder/forearm shoved him into the bench while Paul was reacting to the shot he got to his face.

So the sequence was...

- #0 smashed Paul's face...
- "common" foul begins to get called...
- Paul recoils and begins his swing while..
- #0 continues to attack grabbing the ball with both arms and shoving Paul back into the bench with a shoulder/forearm
- Paul's slap connects with #0's head
- nearby ref and Rutgers bench separate them while..
- #0 reels as if Paul's slap is the most powerful thing in the universe (and while I don't normally talk like this.. #0 is a little ***** who deserved that)

BOTH should have been ejected.. but of the two of them, I can tolerate Paul's reaction more than I can a frustrated #0 lashing out at Paul's face like that.

I think the conference should take a look at #0's action on that play.. his foul to Paul's face was nowhere near making a play on the ball. If all he wanted was to stop the clock or get a turnover he could have fouled Paul's arm and the ball. He was over-aggressive and struck Paul's face... I think, on-purpose.

While I did not like Paul's reaction last night.. I can certainly understand it better today. It was very clear to Paul that #0 hit him in the head on-purpose. Look at the reaction of everyone on Rutgers bench.. everyone there saw it was on-purpose.. their teammate was just attacked by #0 who was upset that Harper had just hit a three to win the game.

Refs should have done something about that. They saw it happen.

 

[Colonel HR]

Agree, that #0 began the confrontation and was shouldering Paul into the bench, which is dangerous, also think that #0's acting made Paul's slap look worse. That being said, Paul needs to tone it down a little bit in general, and take better care of the basketball. If he didn't overreact at center court on that hook in hold it is a no-call and we have possession.

 

[G- RUnit]

He was called for the initial foul, not the shove which caused Paul’s reaction.

That’s the weird thing. It was the shove by Indiana that was never addressed.

 

[ScarletDave]

He will not be suspended give me a break. This was in the heat of play, totally different than the Michigan game which was after the game, in the handshake line. What happens on the court is treated differently than what happens off the court

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

That’s the weird thing. It was the shove by Indiana that was never addressed.

Paul's reaction was to the initial foul.. which was a hand push to his face.. WHILE Paul was reacting he got shoved with shoulder/forearm. I had to look again today to spot that.. that the initial foul was a dirty push to the face.. nowhere near making a play on the ball. Ref clearly saw that.. the whole bench did too.. ref should have tossed #0... but Paul's wild slap/swing was wrong too.

 

[goru7]

What the Indiana kid did wasn't all that bad. Paul has to keep his cool there.

But we won, I think we should be able to laugh about it now. If we lost it would have been a different story.

And Pike needs to get it into all the guys heads the importance of keeping their composure.

I suggest you watch the play again. Johnson first fouled Paul hard and a foul was called. Johnson then reached in again and pushed Paul and Paul reacted inappropriately. Johnson should have been called for the first foul and should have been whistled for the second lunge as excessive and a Flagrant 1 and then Paul called for the Flagrant 2 , but even that can be partially explained because he was trying to get Johnson off of him. We should have had 4 foul shots , 2 for the first foul and 2 for the missed Flagrant 1 , then they get 2 foul shots . When you say what the Indiana player did was “not so bad” , that is not close to being accurate. Paul has to control himself but the refs should have identified the instigator and culprit first. Total fail by the refs.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

I suggest you watch the play again. Johnson first fouled Paul hard and a foul was called. Johnson then reached in again and pushed Paul and Paul reacted inappropriately. Johnson should have been called for the first foul and should have been whistled for the second lunge as excessive and a Flagrant 1 and then Paul called for the Flagrant 2 , but even that can be partially explained because he was trying to get Johnson off of him. We should have had 4 foul shots , 2 for the first foul and 2 for the missed Flagrant 1 , then they get 2 foul shots . When you say what the Indiana player did was “not so bad” , that is not close to being accurate. Paul has to control himself but the refs should have identified the instigator and culprit first. Total fail by the refs.

As shown below.. the foul was not called until Paul lost the ball. There were 2 fouls before that.. hand on Paul's bicep then same hand pushing Paul's face. There could be some argument that that was unintentional and brought on by Paul's arm motion.. but its not like johnson took a stab at the ball then withdrew his offending arm... he also later launches into Paul for no reason.. before Paul connects with his head.

Clearly, some non-basketball contact by Johnson and everyone on the Rutgers bench saw it and that ref must have seen it also.

 

[SBP]

As shown below.. the foul was not called until Paul lost the ball. There were 2 fouls before that.. hand on Paul's bicep then same hand pushing Paul's face. There could be some argument that that was unintentional and brought on by Paul's arm motion.. but its not like johnson took a stab at the ball then withdrew his offending arm... he also later launches into Paul for no reason.. before Paul connects with his head.

Clearly, some non-basketball contact by Johnson and everyone on the Rutgers bench saw it and that ref must have seen it also.

After watching this, Johnson is a bigger di#k than I thought. He MUGGED him, and the refs should have thrown HIM out TOO!! Johnson pulls the over reaction card after Paul throws the elbow, selling it to the refs. I can't stand them, even more now..

THAT SAID...You GOTTA just back away and do some smart play acting if you are getting mugged and pushed like that.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Glad we won and, after watching that.. glad Paul fought back... it is at least tolerable that he reacted in defense of himself.

That said.. let's end Paul's acting career today. Just play basketball and take what comes. Sure, show distaste for bad calls within the acceptable limits.. but no more acting to help refs even calls up. Taking time to ACT takes away time from playing BASKETBALL. I get that it's crazy that Nutts Russel and that Johnson guy and other get away with a lot and generate calls... but that's on the refs. Stop acting.

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

Was he a Pen St fan growing up?