Refs are all bad this year

[atxhawk]

Reffing has gotten worse the past 20+ years. Not sure at all who is to blame though. I remember watching the Iowa-UNLV game last year when it was on and amazed at the lack of contact that was allowed on the perimeter, and even how much less was allowed inside. Nix and his blatant hooks would have only been able to play about 5 minutes before fouling out 20 years ago. Actually, very few players would be able to last more than 10 minutes if they still officiated that way. I would have been a great defender when I played if I was allowed to grab, push, and hold like perimeter guys are today.

There's a reason why players are having to tuck the ball away like a football when driving the lane these days, it's the only way they can hold on to it with the hacking that is allowed. Back in my high school days of the late 80's, GET OFF MY LAWN, 1 of 2 things would have happened if somebody did that. The guy driving would have been called for a travel, or there would have been a hack called on a defender.

The blame can probably be shared by the coaches, players and officials.

Personally, I would love to see the officiating start calling the games tighter. The defense that they allow to be played to day slows the game down too much.

 

[hawkfan340]

Human nature? Think anytime Ed Hightower comes to IC pretty much debunks that barstool philosophy.

Beyond that, NBA stars get calls on the road as well as at home.

If you mean a home crowd can influence a game, sure. But, the only thing about human nature that isn't debatable is your misuse of the term.

Seriously? This has been academically researched for over a decade. I'm surprise any sports fan is not aware of this. Just google "officiating home bias" and click on the scholarly article page.

It's not barstool or debatable. It's a scientifically proven fact. It applies to virtually all sports (you know, human nature), and here's one specifically on NCAA basketball from the Journal of Sports Sciences:

In this study, we examined the pattern of foul calls exhibited during 365 NCAA basketball games during the 2004–2005 season. Results of the analysis indicate that officials are more likely to call fouls on the team with the fewest fouls, making it likely that the number of fouls will tend to even out during the game. This increased probability increases as the foul differential increases. In addition, there is a significant bias towards officials calling more fouls on the visiting team, and a bias towards foul calls on the team that is leading. The result is that the probability of the next foul being called on the visiting team can reach as high as 0.70. Finally, the implications of this officiating bias are explored, including the fact that basketball teams have an incentive to play more aggressively, leading to more physical play over time.

The abstract is free.

 

[hawkfan340]

Hmmm. Can't get the link to work. Just google "Officiating bias: The effect of foul differential on foul calls in NCAA basketbal".

Lead author is Kyle J Anderson.

 

[atxhawk]

Dammit. Now I'm in stats mode.

People will talk about how much better the athletes are, they are bigger, faster, stronger. . . If this is true than why is it not showing up in the offensive stats? A hand check is a hand check, whether it be by some slow, weak guy or a strong, fast guy.

Let's look at a couple things. Here's some stats from the 88-89 Iowa team.

Team scored 89.6 points a game which was only good for 14th in the NCAA, this year 89.6 points would be 9.2 PPG HIGHER than Iona that led the NCAA at 80.4 PPG and were one of only 3 teams to average 80.

Marble averaged 20.5 PPG, BJ 18.6, Horton 18.3, and Thompson 11.5. This years team was led by Marble at 14.8 and White at 13.1.

The WORST scoring defense this year was Niagra at 72.1 points allowed, in 88-89 Iowa allowed 80.3 which was bad, but still only 232 out of 293.

Must stop for now. Discuss.

 

[blubberhawk]

Huh? There is an indisputable bias that favors the home team. This is not even debatable. It's human nature.

I guess you consider it part of a home court advantage. EVERY team has gotten a break from a referee's call and EVERY team has gotten screwed.

 

[atxhawk]

Holy Hades those guys were bad tonight. Touch foul here and then allowing a mugging there.

 

[ssckelley]

Holy Hades those guys were bad tonight. Touch foul here and then allowing a mugging there.

Yep, both sides. I cannot remember a time I have watch any game (Hawks or another) where I did not complain about the officiating. It has gotten bad across the board.

 

[LG210]

Fixed it for you.

Duff, we understand your sacred allegiance to the referee's union or whatever, but not all games are equally called.

Like everything else, there is a bell-curve that applies to the quality of the performances of the refs.

Some games are poorly called compared to the average game. This was one of them.

That said, I don't think the refs impacted the outcome of the game. The right team won the game and the spread was not in play tonight.

If anything, Iowa would have won by 20 if the refs were on it tonight.

 

[LG210]

Its comical people think refs have biases during basketball games.

Yeah--next thing you know, they will have favorite coaches....

(I'm looking at you Valentine.)

 

[BeerZaux]

I'm still confused on the elbow Whitey took to the nose. I thought those were automatic "flagrant 1" and reviewed to see if intentional. It's a stupid rule but I thought it was a rule nonetheless

 

[atxhawk]

I'm still confused on the elbow Whitey took to the nose. I thought those were automatic "flagrant 1" and reviewed to see if intentional. It's a stupid rule but I thought it was a rule nonetheless

I think he got popped by the ball in that case, I think. Too lazy to go back and find it on the DVR right now, but if you happen to remember the time on the clock I may go back and look at it.

Agreed that they were bad both ways. UVA fans are probably complaining about how bad it was, and you could clearly hear the complaining on the broadcast. Trouble for them is that for every horrible call/non-call that went against them, we could easily find one that went against Iowa.

 

[BeerZaux]

I think he got popped by the ball in that case, I think. Too lazy to go back and find it on the DVR right now, but if you happen to remember the time on the clock I may go back and look at it.

thank you- that makes sense if the ball hit him

 

[ssckelley]

I think he got popped by the ball in that case, I think. Too lazy to go back and find it on the DVR right now, but if you happen to remember the time on the clock I may go back and look at it.

Agreed that they were bad both ways. UVA fans are probably complaining about how bad it was, and you could clearly hear the complaining on the broadcast. Trouble for them is that for every horrible call/non-call that went against them, we could easily find one that went against Iowa.

This is true and I would not blame them for being upset but the refs sucked both ways. My biased opinion says they got more calls than Iowa did.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

Agree with this post - terrible and inconsistent officiating right now in the college basketball across the board. Also, there is a real need to clean up the pushing, grabbing, holding, hand-checking, bumping, etc. that is killing the flow of games (ie. No more Wisconsin b-ball). No one wants to see ugly 40 point games.

I'm not sure who was on the crew down in Iowa City last Friday night against Stonybrook but that was the best officiated game I have seen this year. They called a great game on both sides and I could disagree with very few if any calls. Fouls were fouls on both ends. As a result that was one of the best basketball games I saw this year.... lots of good flow and action.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Agree with this post - terrible and inconsistent officiating right now in the college basketball across the board. Also, there is a real need to clean up the pushing, grabbing, holding, hand-checking, bumping, etc. that is killing the flow of games (ie. No more Wisconsin b-ball). No one wants to see ugly 40 point games.

I'm not sure who was on the crew down in Iowa City last Friday night against Stonybrook but that was the best officiated game I have seen this year. They called a great game on both sides and could disagree with very few if any calls. Fouls were fouls on both ends. As a result that was one of the best basketball games I saw this year.... lots of good flow and action.

I think there's an old saying that the officiating is good if you don't notice the refs or the calls that are made (or not made).

 

[SpecialKHawk]

I think there's an old saying that the officiating is good if you don't notice the refs or the calls that are made (or not made).

Agree 100%. The stonybrook game was fabulous and that was a really good team. The officiating was excellent both ways/both teams. Was very impressed with Stonybrook as it took a consistently great effort for 40 minutes to beat them.

 

[oregonhawkeye]

The no call on White's breakaway layup smashed across the arms was a jaw dropper. As bad as any bad call this year.