Big East Officiating: it HAS to improve

[DanMcQ]

God love Ed Cooley, who was classy in defeat:

"It doesn't come down to one play," Providence coach Ed Cooley said. "At the end of the day, we have the best officials in the country. It was a 50-50 call. It can go either way. It just didn't go our way tonight."

But calls like this:

www.bigeastcoastbias.com/2015/3/13/8212921/vine-heres-the-foul-that-gave-villanova-the-win-over-providence-in

...were only the tip of the iceberg. Horribly inconsistent refereeing made many games nearly unwatchable. Refs least well positioned to actually SEE contact made calls more times than I have fingers to count.

John Cahill, your crew HAS to do better next year.

[kchoya]

Sorry, but a Big East [co-] POY gets that call every time

[Talos]

Mar 15, 2015 9:07:00 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

God love Ed Cooley, who was classy in defeat:

"It doesn't come down to one play," Providence coach Ed Cooley said. "At the end of the day, we have the best officials in the country. It was a 50-50 call. It can go either way. It just didn't go our way tonight."

But calls like this:

www.bigeastcoastbias.com/2015/3/13/8212921/vine-heres-the-foul-that-gave-villanova-the-win-over-providence-in

...were only the tip of the iceberg. Horribly inconsistent refereeing made many games nearly unwatchable. Refs least well positioned to actually SEE contact made calls more times than I have fingers to count.

John Cahill, your crew HAS to do better next year.

I agree completely.  I didn't watch enough non-Big East games to comment on other conferences, but the lack of consistency from game-to-game and even within individual games was pathetic.  Either call the game consistently tight or consistently loose, but don't change from minute to minute.  It seemed almost every game we'd see many examples of players on both sides getting absolutely mauled under the basket and no calls.  And on the other hand, we'd see a ton of nickel-dimer touch fouls on the perimeter getting called that had absolutely no bearing on the flow of the game.  The biggest problem I see is the rugby match scrum that is allowed in the paint area, and the only way to get a foul called is to flop.  Poor Josh doesn't flop and other teams are allowed to maul him under the basket, but Josh breathes on an opponent and he goes flying into the third row and a foul is called.  I just don't see how Big East officials that know anything about basketball can watch this officiating and conclude it's good for the conference.

[DanMcQ]

Mar 15, 2015 9:11:42 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Sorry, but a Big East [co-] POY gets that call every time

Given your admission in another thread that you have a 2 year old and two 2 month old twins, all your posts are hereby ruled of suspect validity for at least the next decade.

[Massholya]

Rule changes and officiating seen to be geared towards making this a guards game. Just fling yourself into the big man and get yourself a call. Apparently this is what we fans think will make the game "more exciting".

Good big men are being rule changed out of the game. Perhaps that's why there are so few dominant big men in the nba game because their game is not what's exciting. Good defense is not to be rewarded and in fact has led now to the soccer phenomenon we are seeing. Guys flailing their off hand around while dribbling and flinging their heads back looking for calls.

I find this trend disgusting as a fan and yet there seems to be no concern from anyone to fix it before it gets even more out of hand. I think that if they are going further legislate playing defense that they should also put in very stringent rules about flopping including "the fall down" move after every 3 point attempt where any defender is any where close. I find this particularly unappealing as a fan. Personally, I think the league has to be able go back on those like the Barlow one against Aaron Bowen and assess some sort of penalty after video review. I don't know whether they discuss with the refs because they refuse to release that sort of info but if they do that tactic clearly isn't working.

[HoyaChris]

I am NOT saying it was a foul, but DSR was hit a lot harder on his made 2 late in the Xavier game that would have tied the game as an and one.

[DanMcQ]

The problem is DSR is not a delicate flower fake POY like Arci. He thus does not need protection.

[HoyaChris]

It would be nice to get a call like that, he said wiShut uplly.

[prhoya]

Mar 15, 2015 10:17:34 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

The problem is DSR is not a delicate flower fake POY like Arci. He thus does not need protection.

He just needed to fall to the ground with his arms doing wild gestures.

[lucky]

I watched the Iowa State vs Kansas final of the Big 12 last night. The refs let them play, bodies were being knocked everywhere...very few foul calls in the context of that much contact. It reminded me of mid 80s Big East. The arena was rocking, those fans appeared to be enjoying it.

[GIGAFAN99]

Mar 15, 2015 10:26:16 GMT -5 prhoya said:

Mar 15, 2015 10:17:34 GMT -5 DanMcQ said:

The problem is DSR is not a delicate flower fake POY like Arci. He thus does not need protection.

He just needed to fall to the ground with his arms doing wild gestures.

Exactly. Grand mal ball has to stop. The Bowen call against Barlow in the Butler game should get that whole crew fired.

[njhoya78]

Question: What reason is there, aside from mere sportsmanship, to keep a college basketball play from emulating a soccer striker in the World Cup at the edge of the penalty box? In the NBA, you get fined for flopping. In the NHL, you get penalized for embellishment. In NCAA basketball, there is nothing to prevent players from acting.

I believe that the "Flagrant 1" and "Flagrant 2" fouls have actually exacerbated thespianism on the court, in that a violent whiplash reaction will lead to a video review. It delays games, sometimes changing possession and momentum, and there is no downside to a potential failure to convince the officials that harm was done.

Unless and until technical fouls are imposed for bad acting, this is going to continue.

[jwp91]

As a long time referee in another sport, my least favorite aspect of college basketball is the refereeing. It is part of what I believe makes the outcome of games a bit random. Do the outcomes of the semifinals change if Arch doesn't get the call and DSR does? IMHO, it is quite possible the outcome could have been different.

I agree in general with the comments about the horrid quality of refereeing in the Big East this year. Refereeing is critical in basketball, especially when each player only has 5 fouls and the impact this can have on a game.

I will make one comment about 'consistency' discussed earler in the thread. The example I will use is from soccer, but I believe a bit of the same concept applies to basektball. One of the concepts that many soccer spectators don't understand is the referee is not directed to call every violation of the laws that he notices. He is directed to call only those that need to be called. Accordingly, the referee appears to ignore fouls that he sees.....because in his assessment they don't need to be called. This is an extremely difficult concept for a partisan fan to accept. It is a difficult concept for me to accept when I am a fan...even though I am also a long-time referee. The consequence of this is that this direction to officials strikes against so-called consistency. Why was X a foul now when it wasn't before?

How does this apply to college basketball? There are times when fouls need to be called, and our players should expect that the threshold for a foul will be reduced. For example, after Jabril bows up and squares off againt an opponent. Rest assured the threshold for a foul has likely been reduced, and the teams need to adjust. This is an extreme example, but I wonder if this changing threshold for fouls applies to basketball more than we realize.

Now having said that, Joshua was mugged at times with no call and was called for simply making eye contact at other times. The overall level of refereeing absolutely needs to improve.

[jwp91]

Mar 15, 2015 10:59:30 GMT -5 njhoya78 said:

Question: What reason is there, aside from mere sportsmanship, to keep a college basketball play from emulating a soccer striker in the World Cup at the edge of the penalty box? In the NBA, you get fined for flopping. In the NHL, you get penalized for embellishment. In NCAA basketball, there is nothing to prevent players from acting.

I believe that the "Flagrant 1" and "Flagrant 2" fouls have actually exacerbated thespianism on the court, in that a violent whiplash reaction will lead to a video review. It delays games, sometimes changing possession and momentum, and there is no downside to a potential failure to convince the officials that harm was done.

Unless and until technical fouls are imposed for bad acting, this is going to continue.

Good question/point.

I am pretty sure Tre embelleshed in our last game. He was knocked the mouth in the lane....he waited....then he reacted.