No, I would say the officials did not cost Iowa the game today. That being said: I have watched the officials pretty closely in person against Maryland and Minnesota and on TV against NW. Not going to mince any words, if these guys that work BT games don't have the guts to make the kids play basketball rather than ice hockey on a dry floor, they should resign and never work another game. Maryland mugged Iowa the entire game, but Iowa was so hot in the shooting department that it did not matter...still, the only reason MD got with 13 in the second half was that they absolutely physically attacked Iowa in the second half. Minnesota? The officials let the goofers slap, hack, push Iowa and we could never get a decent position on the offensive end. Why, all of a sudden, do you think we could not post up successfully? Why, all of a sudden, do we have 16 turnovers? NW certainly learned from MD and MN. They came out very physical...blocked 9 shots in the first half and no fouls were called? Give me a break. We have not had 9 shots blocked in the last 5 games.
The reason I still conclude that the refs did not cost Iowa this game is simply that this has become BT basketball and Iowa's athletes are ill equipped to compete in a game that is physical. We are going to have to learn to do it or be satisfied with mediocrity. I am not writing anything new in this regard. It has been this way for quite a while.