tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
The officiating in last night's Indiana game was the worst I have seen in a D1 game in a long, long time. I say that as an Iowa fan whose team won going away.
I have long criticized Ted Valentine and Ed Hightower, who I believe to be two of the weakest officials in NCAA Division 1 basketball. But this crew tonight absolutely was not up to the task.
Before I proceed let me explain that I am a professional referee in another sport other than basketball or football. And professionally I should not call into question the work of another official, either in my sport or another one. But the performance I witnessed last night was an embarrassment to my profession, and I feel compelled to speak out.
As a sports official working with others as part of our own team, I have developed a sort of WTF meter. The first two letters stand for What The, and I will let you guess the third. I use that when I work with other referees in my team on specific games. If my WTF meter rises to a cerain level of discomfort, I will request to no longer work with one or two of those specific partners.
My WTF meter was extraordinarily high this game. Some calls went against Iowa; some went against Indiana. There were a number of calls that simply were not made. I was left wondering on Andrew Brommer's drive to the basket whether the Big 10 had obtained an NCAA exception that allowed a defender to grab an attacker's hand and/or arm to strip the ball, because that was clearly what occurred in plain sight of the referee. Yet nothing was called. That was probably the least of the instances in which I felt the officials swallowed their whistles.
I am amazed that Big 10 officials allow Tom Crean to walk so far outside of the coach's box, to walk on the floor and to engage in discussion with the officials and to not get a technical foul. He clearly has earned one. If the conference uad decided to crack down on such behavior, this simply would not happen. Tom Crean would be made an example of behavior not to emulate.
Moments after switching the channel at the end of the Iowa-Indiana game I caught the replay of the Syracuse-Villanova game. Watching the entire game, I was struck by the competency of the Big East crew that handled this game relative to that of crews for recent Big 10 games.
They allowed play to continue, yet largely in what I felt was a fair and consistent manner. Only the fouls that needed to be called were called. The game had a flow, a beauty, a continuity. I would imagine the players appreciated playing in such a manner, having a pretty good idea of what would and would not be called, and playingcordingly. My WTF meter was pretty low, and mostly dealt with a couple of balls out of play.
I feel that consistency is sorely lacking in Big 10 officiating, leading to basketball that unfortunately often is ugly to watch. I suspect that Big 10 teams pay the price when it comes to tournament time -- the aggressive bumping or hacking that is allowed in Big 10 games becomes a foul in the NCAA or NIT tournaments.
I am left wondering what sort of evaluation takes place in the Big 10 and what sort of re-training or upgrading takes place. Because it clearly is not having the intended effect of producing a better game.
I have long criticized Ted Valentine and Ed Hightower, who I believe to be two of the weakest officials in NCAA Division 1 basketball. But this crew tonight absolutely was not up to the task.
Before I proceed let me explain that I am a professional referee in another sport other than basketball or football. And professionally I should not call into question the work of another official, either in my sport or another one. But the performance I witnessed last night was an embarrassment to my profession, and I feel compelled to speak out.
As a sports official working with others as part of our own team, I have developed a sort of WTF meter. The first two letters stand for What The, and I will let you guess the third. I use that when I work with other referees in my team on specific games. If my WTF meter rises to a cerain level of discomfort, I will request to no longer work with one or two of those specific partners.
My WTF meter was extraordinarily high this game. Some calls went against Iowa; some went against Indiana. There were a number of calls that simply were not made. I was left wondering on Andrew Brommer's drive to the basket whether the Big 10 had obtained an NCAA exception that allowed a defender to grab an attacker's hand and/or arm to strip the ball, because that was clearly what occurred in plain sight of the referee. Yet nothing was called. That was probably the least of the instances in which I felt the officials swallowed their whistles.
I am amazed that Big 10 officials allow Tom Crean to walk so far outside of the coach's box, to walk on the floor and to engage in discussion with the officials and to not get a technical foul. He clearly has earned one. If the conference uad decided to crack down on such behavior, this simply would not happen. Tom Crean would be made an example of behavior not to emulate.
Moments after switching the channel at the end of the Iowa-Indiana game I caught the replay of the Syracuse-Villanova game. Watching the entire game, I was struck by the competency of the Big East crew that handled this game relative to that of crews for recent Big 10 games.
They allowed play to continue, yet largely in what I felt was a fair and consistent manner. Only the fouls that needed to be called were called. The game had a flow, a beauty, a continuity. I would imagine the players appreciated playing in such a manner, having a pretty good idea of what would and would not be called, and playingcordingly. My WTF meter was pretty low, and mostly dealt with a couple of balls out of play.
I feel that consistency is sorely lacking in Big 10 officiating, leading to basketball that unfortunately often is ugly to watch. I suspect that Big 10 teams pay the price when it comes to tournament time -- the aggressive bumping or hacking that is allowed in Big 10 games becomes a foul in the NCAA or NIT tournaments.
I am left wondering what sort of evaluation takes place in the Big 10 and what sort of re-training or upgrading takes place. Because it clearly is not having the intended effect of producing a better game.
