Big East Officiating

[JOPO]

Thanks for the feedback... just very difficult to adjust to as a fan. The fouls make the game come to a standstill it seems.

Home team always gets the calls. Aways has been the case.

We'll need to let the officials know that next time they are in the Cintas Center.

Yeah, that memo hasn't arrived at the Prudential Center either. Officiating has been pretty absymal this season. With Walter Rutecki on the officiating crew for tonight's game vs 'Nova I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially tonight.

[OutlawWales]

Just a bump to note that the officiating in BIG EAST games this weekend seemed to be even worse than it has been up to this point. In the Creighton game they were horribly inconsistent both ways -- not really favoring anyone, but just dreadful nonetheless. They went to the monitors for 5 minute stretches several times, only to do absolutely nothing every time. The last one basically gave X an extra timeout as Coach Mack was able to call all of his players over and coach them up during the ridiculous delay, all while having zero timeouts left. There were also several instances today where they waited to blow the whistle until several seconds after any kind of foul -- sort of like an old rec league official waiting to see if the shot went in before blowing the whistle. And the refs in the Butler/G'Town game were bad.

[jays911]

Just echoing Outlaw's post. The crew today was awful, but both ways. Except, X should have been teed up for that phantom TO call. Unbelievable. But props to your coach for getting away with it.

[Lavinwood]

The calls have been very inconsistent…it's fine if they call tick tacks from the jump for both teams, but you can't do to one side without doing to the other just like algebra. Also, you can't miss a clear as day flagrant foul when your best player is elbowed hard in the face and he's writhing on the ground for 10 seconds. Also not ideal to miss traveling calls right in front of the other team's bench. Or at least miss those calls for both sides. I get it. Some refs call hand checks. Some let them bang all game. Just be consistent and there won't be issues.

[XUFan09]

Just echoing Outlaw's post. The crew today was awful, but both ways. Except, X should have been teed up for that phantom TO call. Unbelievable. But props to your coach for getting away with it.

Lol if we want to talk two-shot-then-ball, I'm shocked that at least one of those Creighton fouls on Xavier bigs wasn't ruled a Flagrant 1 after the officials reviewed it. Two elbows to the face and nothing. And remember, it doesn't have to be intentional. Justin Martin got called for one against Marquette in the last game in the last minute.

[lukecu]

I was at the Creighton Xavier game today and it was god awful officiating. Xavier should have got a technical for that "timeout" and literally so many travel Xavier did not get called on. I know there was bad calls going against Xavier these are just the things I focused on since I'm a Creighton fan. Also, when Doug has 4 fouls you know their is poor officiating because he never...never has that many fouls.

[XUFan09]

I was at the Creighton Xavier game today and it was god awful officiating. Xavier should have got a technical for that "timeout" and literally so many travel Xavier did not get called on. I know there was bad calls going against Xavier these are just the things I focused on since I'm a Creighton fan. Also, when Doug has 4 fouls you know their is poor officiating because he never...never has that many fouls.

He averages 2.3 fouls per game; 4 fouls is not a crazy variance from that average. That's especially true because he was exactly the player Xavier wanted to take it to in order to try to try to draw a foul. Xavier has a couple bigs (Philmore and Stenger) that draw more than 5 fouls per 40 minutes, and three of the other four forwards (Stainbrook, Martin, and Reynolds) are right behind them on that metric, not to mention Semaj is even better at drawing the foul than all of them and had no problem driving straight at McDermott.

[aughnanure]

The officiating has been bad for two reasons. One, they are calling too many ticky-tack fouls. That has been the way games have been called in other leagues in the past, in the refs have allowed a very physical style of play in the Big East up until this year. I mean players would get hammered and there would not only be a no call, but none was expected. Remember, the Big East actually utilized a six fould rule briefly in the 1990s. This probably has more to do with the new NCAA rules. Two, the calls are widely inconsistent - within games they are inconsistent and that is just horrendous.

I actually disagree on the too- many ticky-tack fouls. That's what was supposed to happen! They changed the rules to finally call that crap hand-checking...BUT then they've been wildly inconsistent in calling it, especially since the beginning of the year. Sometimes they'll allow the mugging up the court and then 5 minutes later call everything. It's like they're trying to make a compromise between the classic tough-style of the Big East and new rules...but they suck at it. To be honest, outside of a few calls I haven't noticed the supposed 'new rule' that much since about December. The refs are going back to the classic 'we can't call everything' style of officiating, and it's causing enormous deficiencies in how one game is called versus another. The complete lack of consistency in officiating is basketball's biggest problem in my opinion.

[HoosierPal]

The officiating has been bad for two reasons. One, they are calling too many ticky-tack fouls. That has been the way games have been called in other leagues in the past, in the refs have allowed a very physical style of play in the Big East up until this year. I mean players would get hammered and there would not only be a no call, but none was expected. Remember, the Big East actually utilized a six fould rule briefly in the 1990s. This probably has more to do with the new NCAA rules. Two, the calls are widely inconsistent - within games they are inconsistent and that is just horrendous.

I actually disagree on the too- many ticky-tack fouls. That's what was supposed to happen! They changed the rules to finally call that crap hand-checking...BUT then they've been wildly inconsistent in calling it, especially since the beginning of the year. Sometimes they'll allow the mugging up the court and then 5 minutes later call everything. It's like they're trying to make a compromise between the classic tough-style of the Big East and new rules...but they suck at it. To be honest, outside of a few calls I haven't noticed the supposed 'new rule' that much since about December. The refs are going back to the classic 'we can't call everything' style of officiating, and it's causing enormous deficiencies in how one game is called versus another. The complete lack of consistency in officiating is basketball's biggest problem in my opinion.

I agree with you on the fouls. When I played the game, you didn't use your hands to push your opponent, you used your feet to move into position. In my book, they are calling games like they should be called. Now they have to start enforcing the traveling call. I hate it when Bill Raftery exclaims "Great Eurostep!" as the player takes three giant steps towards the basket. Eurostep!! Sorry Bill, that's traveling.

I have watched many leagues this year and officiating across the board is inconsistent. The re-enforced calling the game as it should be called is a challenge. But in all due respect, refereeing a game is a very difficult task. If you ever have the chance, sit at floor level and see how fast the game is and how muscular the players are. On EVERY play, there is something that could be whistled. But what do you call and what do you let go? Very humbling when you see what the refs have to deal with, on an instant basis. Much different perspective then sitting on the couch at home where you can see the replay an infinite number of times. The Big East is no more or less "physical" then any other league. Every college coach has the same challenges as what we are seeing.