JT2 blasts refs

[Deleted]

John Thompson Jr. interrupts son's postgame news conference to blast Big East refs












3:00 PM ET
Dana O'Neil
ESPN Senior Writer








Share
Tweet

Pinterest

@
Email
Email

°print


£comment


Back in his day as the head coach at Georgetown, John Thompson Jr. was never shy with his opinions, solicited or otherwise.

Age has not exactly softened his views.

Thompson, once memorably ejected after earning three technical fouls during a Syracuse game, interrupted his son's news conference following the Hoyas' comeback win against Creighton, to weigh in on the game's officiating.

"Last two games have been terrible,'' he said, according to CasualHoya.com. "You can tell the f---ing commissioner and everybody else in the Big East I said that.''

Against the Bluejays, the Hoyas were whistled for 27 fouls to Creighton's 21. A game earlier, Georgetown topped UConn in personal fouls, 27-13.

John Thompson III, still employed and thereby in need of a bit more diplomacy than the man he calls Pops, said of the officiating against Creighton, "During the course of the game we have to adjust to the officiating. You have to adjust to how they're calling the game. Sometimes it's more difficult than others to adjust to how they're calling the game and tonight was one of those nights, for one reason or another, we couldn't quite adjust to how they were calling the game, but our guys fought and kept playing.''

Big East associate commissioner John Paquette declined comment.

Thompson is a fixture at his son's news conferences, usually leaning up against a back wall of the interview room. Occasionally he pipes in with a comment or two but rarely does it merit a headline

[kchoya]

The video is back up:

JT2 interrupts JT3 presser: 'Tell the *bleep*ing commissioner I said that'

[Massholya]

It's becoming increasingly hard for me to watch these games with the way the officiating has been. It's becoming a self fulfilling prophecy whereby it seems the refs to seem to think "oh Georgetown fouls a lot therefore anytime they're near the ball it must be a foul". Clearly other coaches have picked up on this as well and have told they're players to really ham up contact when they play us. Guys are flopping like Italian soccer players against us and its working. So the cycle continues.

Is there really anyone you can bring this to officially to complain about? The whole reffing mistakes don't cost games is BS when it's one sided. When they screw up for both teams, sure it probably evens out but when one team is constantly on the short end you can't tell me it doesn't affect outcomes. Games are lost on one or two points and when guy can't stand under the opposing teams basket for a rebound and put back without getting called for a foul, it's a legitimate problem for the game. A 27-13 foul discrepancy simply doesn't make sense. What I saw happen last night didn't make sense. I applaud the team for their self control. I don't know that I would have as much. What the league is putting them through is really unfair and I feel badly for the players (and for me as a fan - the games are really frustrating and laborious to watch).

[rockhoya]

Jan 27, 2016 19:01:03 GMT -5 Massholya said:

It's becoming increasingly hard for me to watch these games with the way the officiating has been. It's becoming a self fulfilling prophecy whereby it seems the refs to seem to think "oh Georgetown fouls a lot therefore anytime they're near the ball it must be a foul". Clearly other coaches have picked up on this as well and have told they're players to really ham up contact when they play us. Guys are flopping like Italian soccer players against us and its working. So the cycle continues.

Is there really anyone you can bring this to officially to complain about? The whole reffing mistakes don't cost games is BS when it's one sided. When they screw up for both teams, sure it probably evens out but when one team is constantly on the short end you can't tell me it doesn't affect outcomes. Games are lost on one or two points and when guy can't stand under the opposing teams basket for a rebound and put back without getting called for a foul, it's a legitimate problem for the game. A 27-13 foul discrepancy simply doesn't make sense. What I saw happen last night didn't make sense. I applaud the team for their self control. I don't know that I would have as much. What the league is putting them through is really unfair and I feel badly for the players (and for me as a fan - the games are really frustrating and laborious to watch).

Reputation among refs is a real thing

[SFHoya99]

I finally got home to watch the Creighton game.

That was an abomination of officiating. There was one run in particular where four to five calls in a row were calls in which the official did not see a foul but rather called a foul because a player moved in a way he wasn't expecting.

If you can't actually referee well enough to see the foul, you don't deserve to be refereeing at the college level. That crew should NEVER call a major college basketball game again.

What a joke college officiating is. It's always been bad. With the new rules, it's intolerable.

[kettlehill]

Watching how the refs treat LJ which has to be more than just the new rules, it has to be the GEORGETOWN on his chest,, I am thinking Jabril would have fouled out of every game this year

[bostonfan]

As high school basketball official I can say with certainty that reffing basketball games is much harder than everyone thinks it is. With that being said there were some tough calls in the Creighton game. The fifth foul on Govan was just awful and the call on Peak when he was blocking out on a rebound was not much better. There should not be too many cases where one of the officials doesn't see a foul. There are three guys working each game and if they are working as a team as they are supposed to they should be in position to see most plays. As with everything in life, some guys are better at their job than others. Some of the guys working the Creighton game seemed to be anticipating calls before they actually happened because the game had gotten pretty physical and made calls that just were not there. It is frustrating, but it happens.

The new rules on freedom of movement for offensive players make the game harder to officiate and make it very difficult to play effective defense against the type of athletes that are playing division 1 basketball. Anyone hoping that we can get back to the "good old days" of playing physical Georgetown defense is going to be disappointed. Some teams and players seem to have adjusted better to the way the game is being called now than other teams. I actually think this years team, as a whole, has improved their ability to play defense without fouling as the year has progressed. Some of the players, Peak and Hayes, are still really struggling with these rules.

[calhoya]

Jan 28, 2016 11:14:46 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

I finally got home to watch the Creighton game.

That was an abomination of officiating. There was one run in particular where four to five calls in a row were calls in which the official did not see a foul but rather called a foul because a player moved in a way he wasn't expecting.

If you can't actually referee well enough to see the foul, you don't deserve to be refereeing at the college level. That crew should NEVER call a major college basketball game again.

What a joke college officiating is. It's always been bad. With the new rules, it's intolerable.

Unfortunately it's going to take a major screwup in the tournament before the NCAA reviews the manner in which the new rules are being enforced. That said under any set of rules that performance by the officials was atrocious.

[HoyasAreHungry]

It's one thing if the new rules are being enforced to the letter of the rules, but there seems to be so much inconsistency. I'm not even talking just about Gtown games, but others I watched, some teams get away with one thing on one end, and the same play is whistled on the other. It seems that our cutters get grabbed all the time without getting whistled.

The Creighton game was beyond terrible. There's a reason that everyone booed the heck out of them. I'm not one to complain about refs deciding games, but these guys almost did. I don't even think the UConn game was one such example. They were pressing the issue and driving, we were shooting jumpers...there was a reason for the disparity. But the Creighton game was an abomination

[Deleted]

Jan 28, 2016 11:14:46 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

I finally got home to watch the Creighton game.

That was an abomination of officiating. There was one run in particular where four to five calls in a row were calls in which the official did not see a foul but rather called a foul because a player moved in a way he wasn't expecting.

If you can't actually referee well enough to see the foul, you don't deserve to be refereeing at the college level. That crew should NEVER call a major college basketball game again.

What a joke college officiating is. It's always been bad. With the new rules, it's intolerable.

It's so bad... smh

Can't wait for tourney time so I can hear the NBA guys particularly Barkley's thoughts on this soft @## basketball, and the frequent whistles from the slightest contact.

[hoyalove4ever]

If only they could put Charles Barkley in charge of NCAA officials...

[aleutianhoya]

Jan 28, 2016 11:44:24 GMT -5 HoyasAreHungry said:

It's one thing if the new rules are being enforced to the letter of the rules, but there seems to be so much inconsistency. I'm not even talking just about Gtown games, but others I watched, some teams get away with one thing on one end, and the same play is whistled on the other. It seems that our cutters get grabbed all the time without getting whistled.

The Creighton game was beyond terrible. There's a reason that everyone booed the heck out of them. I'm not one to complain about refs deciding games, but these guys almost did. I don't even think the UConn game was one such example. They were pressing the issue and driving, we were shooting jumpers...there was a reason for the disparity. But the Creighton game was an abomination

The flat-out missed calls are one (big) thing.

But I think the basic problem is actually pretty simple: The new rules can't be enforced consistently and everyone knows it. If there really was a whistle every time a defender did something violative, there would be a foul literally every time down the court. Referees simply aren't going to do that. I know it feels like there is a whistle every trip when we are on defense, but obviously that's not true. So the refs are in the untenable position of trying to figure out how to comply with the spirit of the new rules in the context of the game. That level of subjectivity is difficult for anyone in the best of circumstances, but when you're dealing with three guys who probably have at least slightly different thoughts, it's impossible.

The way the NBA game is officiated right now is absolutely perfect, and rarely has that been the case. Offensive players are given advantages in the sense that minor moving picks are never called, they are protected if they are in the air and don't initiate the contact, and if they get hit in the arm while shooting it's a foul. But defensive players are allowed to use their body to impede progress -- even if they are alongside the offensive player while both are going to the basket (in a way that would always be a defensive foul in the college game). That makes complete sense to me -- the offensive player is in control of where he's going, so he can opt to take a wider angle and avoid the contact.

[johnnysnowplow]

To me, that officiating was the worst I've seen in a while not because of these "new rules," but because almost every single one of their egregiously bad calls had nothing to do with enforcing these "new rules," which seems to be so difficult for the officials to grasp consistently. The biggest failing of the officials was that they were making calls that were abominable at any level of basketball in any era with any set of rules - the calls on Jessie and LJ in particular. Those calls, as well as the moving screens and the offensive foul on DSR, were made outside the context of enforcing these freedom of movement rules.

Enforcing new rules can be tricky and inconsistency from the officials is certainly to be expected to a degree. The reason, at least in my opinion, that these guys did such a deplorable job the other night was they were making (or not making) patently ridiculous calls that had nothing to do with adjusting to new rules. It was just a flat out horror show of a performance.

[lda05816]

In watching college basketball I have seen "phantom" calls similar to the ones made in the Creighton game plenty of times before. However, I have never seen that many in 1 game and all against the same team at that.

[SSHoya]

Jan 28, 2016 12:52:49 GMT -5 lda05816 said:

In watching college basketball I have seen "phantom" calls similar to the ones made in the Creighton game plenty of times before. However, I have never seen that many in 1 game and all against the same team at that.

I seriously thought that the refs had money on the game.

[hoyalove4ever]

Jan 28, 2016 12:57:54 GMT -5 SSHoya said:

Jan 28, 2016 12:52:49 GMT -5 lda05816 said:

In watching college basketball I have seen "phantom" calls similar to the ones made in the Creighton game plenty of times before. However, I have never seen that many in 1 game and all against the same team at that.

I seriously thought that the refs had money on the game.

Who says they did not???

[FLHoya]

Jan 28, 2016 12:02:57 GMT -5 johnnysnowplow said:

To me, that officiating was the worst I've seen in a while not because of these "new rules," but because almost every single one of their egregiously bad calls had nothing to do with enforcing these "new rules," which seems to be so difficult for the officials to grasp consistently. The biggest failing of the officials was that they were making calls that were abominable at any level of basketball in any era with any set of rules - the calls on Jessie and LJ in particular. Those calls, as well as the moving screens and the offensive foul on DSR, were made outside the context of enforcing these freedom of movement rules.

Enforcing new rules can be tricky and inconsistency from the officials is certainly to be expected to a degree. The reason, at least in my opinion, that these guys did such a deplorable job the other night was they were making (or not making) patently ridiculous calls that had nothing to do with adjusting to new rules. It was just a flat out horror show of a performance.

This is basically right IMO. You have to separate Tuesday's game from discussions of the new rules.

What's more, unsatisfying as it is, you probably have to accept that whatever your opinion of the overall quality of current college officiating, getting such a poor performance from one crew that was so disadvantageous to your team essentially amounts to random bad luck. It stinks, but it happens from time to time, and nothing more you can do except be thankful that we escaped with a win somehow.

As for consequences, I wouldn't expect anything. Two of those three officials don't work Big East games that often anyway, so even not seeing them in a Big East game for a while isn't necessarily indicative of anything (I wouldn't be surprised if none of the three works another Georgetown game though. Mike Eades has already worked five as it is). The conference already looks at every game, and even if we bothered to complain about this specific game, the Big East likely won't say anything publicly (and they've already no-commented JT2's rant). As bad as the officiating was, there wasn't one specific call or sequence that had a direct and clear impact on the end-game or result, which is when conferences often say something publicly and/or suspend a crew.

[DanMcQ]

Jan 28, 2016 11:38:45 GMT -5 bostonfan said:

As high school basketball official I can say with certainty that reffing basketball games is much harder than everyone thinks it is. With that being said there were some tough calls in the Creighton game. The fifth foul on Govan was just awful and the call on Peak when he was blocking out on a rebound was not much better. There should not be too many cases where one of the officials doesn't see a foul. There are three guys working each game and if they are working as a team as they are supposed to they should be in position to see most plays. As with everything in life, some guys are better at their job than others. Some of the guys working the Creighton game seemed to be anticipating calls before they actually happened because the game had gotten pretty physical and made calls that just were not there. It is frustrating, but it happens.

The new rules on freedom of movement for offensive players make the game harder to officiate and make it very difficult to play effective defense against the type of athletes that are playing division 1 basketball. Anyone hoping that we can get back to the "good old days" of playing physical Georgetown defense is going to be disappointed. Some teams and players seem to have adjusted better to the way the game is being called now than other teams. I actually think this years team, as a whole, has improved their ability to play defense without fouling as the year has progressed. Some of the players, Peak and Hayes, are still really struggling with these rules.

Great points about how tough a job it is.

I agree with the others who have said that the calls that were the least explicable were not calls made to adhere to/enforce the new rules. Most all of them were anticipatory calls for things that actually didn't happen. If I had a dollar for every call made by the one official least in position to actually be able to SEE the foul s/he is calling I would be a very rich man. It is rare to see any of the 3 man teams act like a team and overrule a blatantly blown call by one of the three and that is sad.

[SSHoya]

Jan 28, 2016 12:59:59 GMT -5 hoyalove4ever said:

Jan 28, 2016 12:57:54 GMT -5 SSHoya said:

I seriously thought that the refs had money on the game.

Who says they did not???

Well, we will never know, will we?

[hoyainspirit]

Jan 28, 2016 12:57:54 GMT -5 SSHoya said:

Jan 28, 2016 12:52:49 GMT -5 lda05816 said:

In watching college basketball I have seen "phantom" calls similar to the ones made in the Creighton game plenty of times before. However, I have never seen that many in 1 game and all against the same team at that.

I seriously thought that the refs had money on the game.

I (half) jokingly said the same thing during the game.