Mon Feb 23rd, 1G - Xavier at St John's...

[PMThor]

Right before that play, Abell bumps into Harrison and steals the ball. No call. Good no call on both plays.

See, I agree with you in a way. That bump to steal the ball SHOULD have been called too. I don't care what time in the game a foul happens, a foul is a foul, no matter what. What happens, at the 2 minute mark fouls just don't get called? That's just horrible officiating, and it implies that more physical play is acceptable closer to the end of the game, but not during the rest of the game.

Take the plays we both referenced, if they happened in the first minute of a game, they would have both been called, of that I have no doubt. A foul is a foul at 19:58 same as it is at 0:07.

And the argument that "This is the Big East"....well that's just asinine. Hey we are the Big East, fouls don't get called at the end of the game just because!

(In no way am I trying to say that Xavier should have won that game, I'm just really tired of seeing refs just decide to not ref, or then ref too much, then not ref again....I mean the game had 3 fouls called in the first half, and 27 in the second, that's just horrible inconsistency)

[R Jay]

I obviously have no stake in this argument, but I will say that I'm a little tired of the "Big East is tough so not all fouls are fouls." If it's a foul it's a foul, no matter what time in the game, no matter who's playing, no matter the conference, no matter if it's in-conference or out of conference. A foul is a foul. So call it right. Being in the last two minutes of a close game should not mean that a team is allowed to play overly physical and foul without worry of it being called. I'm also a bit tired of the "refs shouldn't decide the outcome of the game." A player fouls another player, a ref just calls it. The player in the end is responsible for their actions. Again, if it's a foul, it should be called.

[stever20]

I obviously have no stake in this argument, but I will say that I'm a little tired of the "Big East is tough so not all fouls are fouls." If it's a foul it's a foul, no matter what time in the game, no matter who's playing, no matter the conference, no matter if it's in-conference or out of conference. A foul is a foul. So call it right. Being in the last two minutes of a close game should not mean that a team is allowed to play overly physical and foul without worry of it being called. I'm also a bit tired of the "refs shouldn't decide the outcome of the game." A player fouls another player, a ref just calls it. The player in the end is responsible for their actions. Again, if it's a foul, it should be called.

Very well said. I absolutely despise the old "refs shouldn't decide the outcome of the game" bit. Because by not calling fouls, guess what, they are deciding the outcome of the games.

[RDinNY]

I take the opposing view. Too much ticky-tack crap is called throughout the game. They need to back off a bit and let the players play. No one is saying that no foul should be called at the end of the game. An obvious foul should be called. Abell's play might have been a foul but I was more upset with Harrison allowing the ball to be taken away rather than screaming why was no foul called. If St. John's had lost and fans came on here complaining about that no call, we would have gotten blasted.

The reality is that, historically, different conferences have had different styles of play. It exists in the NBA, NFL and college football as well. The Big East was always a tough league. Touch fouls were not routinely called. That's just based on the style of play that the teams adopted early on. If every foul was called, the games would have to be stopped when teams ran out of players. Like it or not, that's the way it was. It is less the case today than in the past but to an extent it still exists.

[TheBall]

Home teams get the home whistles in the big east. Always have, always will. The sooner you learn that, the better off you will be.

Anyway, I thought the atmosphere was pretty nice for a monday on Broadway.

[WaitingPatiently]

They also swallowed the whistle to end the 1st half too. After that travel the X defender needed to give back the arm he ripped off on the drive as the clock was nearing 0:00

[gofriars08]

I get the "foul is a foul" argument, but I think folks need to understand there's a lot of grey area in that and in the Big East, we have historically preferred shading towards not calling a foul. Maybe it is the NY/East Coast "tough" style of hoops vs. the West Coast/Pac-12 free-wheeling style, but that's the way the league always has been. Frankly I'd be disappointed if the Big East weren't regularly viewed as the most physical, defense-oriented league in the land.

[PMThor]

Hard play is fine with me in the Big East, and that's not my complaint. My complaint is consistency. A ref needs to be calling fouls the same way throughout an entire game, otherwise players can't find a balance on how to play and what to expect from the refs. You can't have the refs call so few fouls in a first half of the game, then have them go hog wild with fouls in the second, and THEN have them swallow the whistle at the end of the game. I mean, nearly 30 fouls were called in the second half, to me, a coach might diagram a play that plays to the refs calling so many fouls, ala Abell driving to the hoop and drawing (or initiating, however you want to look at it) contact. Instead, the refs let go a call that had to be made, either a charge there or a blocking foul, something. Same with the steal, lots of contact, should have been called I think. The "play on" mantra doesn't wash, seeing as through the whole second half so many fouls were called otherwise. All I want is consistency, and recently I haven't seen it in some Big East games (and not just X games either).

[hoyahooligan]

Hard play is fine with me in the Big East, and that's not my complaint. My complaint is consistency. A ref needs to be calling fouls the same way throughout an entire game, otherwise players can't find a balance on how to play and what to expect from the refs. You can't have the refs call so few fouls in a first half of the game, then have them go hog wild with fouls in the second, and THEN have them swallow the whistle at the end of the game. I mean, nearly 30 fouls were called in the second half, to me, a coach might diagram a play that plays to the refs calling so many fouls, ala Abell driving to the hoop and drawing (or initiating, however you want to look at it) contact. Instead, the refs let go a call that had to be made, either a charge there or a blocking foul, something. Same with the steal, lots of contact, should have been called I think. The "play on" mantra doesn't wash, seeing as through the whole second half so many fouls were called otherwise. All I want is consistency, and recently I haven't seen it in some Big East games (and not just X games either).

I get it, but technically this is how BE games have been being called all year so they actually are being consistently inconsistent. The Refs almost always call way more fouls in the second half and swallow their whistle in crunch time, so it kind of is something you can anticipate at this point.