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Officiating Thread


Dr Z

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Points of emphasis and (re)interpretations are a part of each preseason. Those get filtered through assigners and association meetings in different ways. Usually, by February, 90% of officials are on the same page. (The other 10% never will be.)

Palming on a post player is highly unusual. Most officials typically ignore anything that doesn't involve an offensive player gaining an obvious advantage (a la Allen Iverson's faux crossover dribble circa 1998).

Give up on the "call it the same at both ends" mantra. No two plays are ever identical and, even if they were, the position and angle of the official would not be. (And, with respect to player control versus blocking, 99%+ of fans and 95%+ of coaches don't know the rule.)

I saw the the MTSU game and don't recall too many things that made me cringe (other than a severe offensive drought in the 2nd half).

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I have to ref little kids ball once in a while. By little kids I mean basically non-competitive 3rd-6th grade. I HATE it. I understand what is meant by the referee "anticipating" the call. Sometimes it's next to impossible to see what just happened with the naked eye.

Add to that the fact that half the crowd is upset with you, along with one of the two coaches being pissed at you, no matter which call you make & talk about an unenjoyable experience. Good grief. I have no idea why anyone would want to be a basketball referee.

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HS Stripes, it's good to have you back on the forum. I hope you'll revisit this thread occasionally throughout the basketball season, as your experience and expertise give us a different perspective from the typical fan. I guess the one thing everyone agrees on is that the palming call on Pat was highly unusual. That incident alone would cause many to be more inclined to question other calls throughout the game, especially when so many calls rely on judgment.

On the player control versus blocking issue, if 95%+ of coaches don't know the rule then they would be unable to properly teach their players how to deal with it and it's always going to remain a controversial subject. What is obvious is that the NCAA changed interpretation of the rule last season, and we saw the number of blocking calls versus charging fouls go way up. Unfortunately, almost all of those calls at both ends of the court went against the Zips in the same game where the highly unusual palming call was also made against the Zips.

Just because officiating isn't easy and fans don't understand all the fine nuances doesn't mean we shouldn't question what we've seen with our own eyes. The fact that the majority of Zips games do not generate fan comments about the officiating suggests that fans believe most games are pretty well officiated. Since refs are human like coaches and players, we can be certain that they make mistakes and have good games and bad games. If it's fair to call out coaches and players when we think they haven't had a good game, it's just as fair to question the performance of the refs.

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I wouldn't say that refs should be insulated from criticism. I think they are trying to do their best. As fast as the college game is, I think it would be very hard to even think about what happened 5 mins ago. In the heat of the battle, do you think verbal abuse would slant your vision? Is that part of the "home court advantage"? Did Bob Knight get any special treatment?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I didn't see any major problems in the officiating of tonight's WMU game. Neither did the rest of the crowd. There were only a couple of plays that were loudly questioned by fans, and after officials called a foul on WMU at the other end everyone cheered and that pretty much ended the complaining. Fans at every college basketball game always boo a few calls at every game. Tonight's game was no different.

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I didn't see any major problems in the officiating of tonight's WMU game. Neither did the rest of the crowd. There were only a couple of plays that were loudly questioned by fans, and after officials called a foul on WMU at the other end everyone cheered and that pretty much ended the complaining. Fans at every college basketball game always boo a few calls at every game. Tonight's game was no different.

Agree. Even the guy who stands and listens to the game on his walkman only got upset once!

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Funny how good the refs can be when you win by 20.

It would be interesting to graph the Ref Satisfaction Rating (RSR) vs. Point Differential. I bet I can guess what it looks like?

That formula sure didn't work in Charleston. The most upset and vocal Zips fans have been about the refs so far this season has been the Southern California game in Charleston, which the Zips won by 20. When Miami beat the Zips by more than 20 in Charleston Zips fans made only a fraction of the ref protests they made in the Southern California game.

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Funny how good the refs can be when you win by 20.

It would be interesting to graph the Ref Satisfaction Rating (RSR) vs. Point Differential. I bet I can guess what it looks like?

You may have to also put a "knowledge" factor in there too. People will bitch or commend officials for calls, and not even be knowledgeable enough about the infraction they are actually emoting about. For instance, my wife will stand up and scream her lungs out about calls that she's 100% wrong about. I want to grab her and sit here down sometimes, but I don't want to temper her enthusiasm :D

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Is that the guy who always yells "Terrible! Terrible!" down in the lower corner?

I think I know exactly who you guys are talking about. But let me just say this....minus the annoyance, I'll take 1,000 more people with his passion for the Zips.

I sit around old people, who only stand and cheer twice a game. Once when we score our opening bucket. And again when we score in the last minute of a close game. So, if the game isn't close, they stand once per game.

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I wasn't aware that Charles Barkley has been attending our games.

No, Charles says

TURRIBLE, That's Jus TURRIBLE ;)

I think I know exactly who you guys are talking about. But let me just say this....minus the annoyance, I'll take 1,000 more people with his passion for the Zips.

I sit around old people, who only stand and cheer twice a game. Once when we score our opening bucket. And again when we score in the last minute of a close game. So, if the game isn't close, they stand once per game.

I could handle his passion minus the pre-game buzz. :rofl: But, I agree with what you are saying. I'd love to be down behind French.

That section gets FIRED UP!

And, speaking of "mature" people, I can see from my vantage point that a mature woman that sits a few seats away may deck him before the year is out. :mad_flame: She's a Two-Stander.

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And, speaking of "mature" people, I can see from my vantage point that a mature woman that sits a few seats away may deck him before the year is out. :mad_flame: She's a Two-Stander.

LOL...I like that term. For now on, they will be referred to as two-standers. But in blowout games like the WMU game on Tuesday, it was definitely a one-stander.

My wife is usually standing and sitting the entire game, which is why those "inactive" people are so noticeable. But she was even bored and playing with her phone the entire 2nd half. I told her....."you were bored for a very good reason, and I hope you are bored a lot more this year"

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Sometimes the refs are wrong and can act like jerks. It is perfectly fine to point out their mistakes without making it personal. We have a very mild mannered member of this forum who was tossed out a game when a referee made an assumption that wasn't made based on the facts. Being second guessed by coaches and fans is part of the job and if you can't take it, you should consider a different career.

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