Officiating - what to do?

[acoustimac]

Throughout the season anyone watching an ISU women's game consistently saw officials that were average at best and often pretty bad. Prior to the final four someone on here (sorry...couldn't find the post) listed the officials and commentary about it matched what we saw. Now there is much conversation about all the fouls being called, the lack of some calls, and overall...the inconsistency in the title game. Even the latest Monday Musings voice the opinion that officials should swallow their whistles (my words) as opposed to making calls that interrupt the flow of the game. So...my big questions are these...why do we have rules and officials? Are there times when officials should ignore the rules and "let players play?" Are there "no call" periods in the game (such as the last minute of regulation) when no whistles should be blown?

 

[Cyclonepride]

Throughout the season anyone watching an ISU women's game consistently saw officials that were average at best and often pretty bad. Prior to the final four someone on here (sorry...couldn't find the post) listed the officials and commentary about it matched what we saw. Now there is much conversation about all the fouls being called, the lack of some calls, and overall...the inconsistency in the title game. Even the latest Monday Musings voice the opinion that officials should swallow their whistles (my words) as opposed to making calls that interrupt the flow of the game. So...my big questions are these...why do we have rules and officials? Are there times when officials should ignore the rules and "let players play?" Are there "no call" periods in the game (such as the last minute of regulation) when no whistles should be blown?

IMO, there should be a huge emphasis (both men and women's game) on not calling fouls that don't affect the play (unless they are egregious). That would eliminate about half of them.

 

[Clonehomer]

Creating a system to rotate officials around the country would help. Each conference plays a different style. So if you only officiate one conference then you start to blow whistles based on that style. Make it so that any official in the NCAA tournament is required to have so many games in each conference.

 

[3TrueFans]

Just get used to it, games aren't going to get easier to officiate. There's a lot of subjectivity to what is a foul, and everyone has different opinions on what they want called. Also, tv viewers see super slow mo replays from 9 different angles on tv and get upset that the ref that had one view from one angle at real time speed got a call wrong. I expect refs to **** up just as much as I expect players to **** up, just part of the game typically.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Creating a system to rotate officials around the country would help. Each conference plays a different style. So if you only officiate one conference then you start to blow whistles based on that style. Make it so that any official in the NCAA tournament is required to have so many games in each conference.

Nobody officiates just one conference. This is probably one of the most misunderstood facts about college officiating.

 

[CyLyte2]

Nobody officiates just one conference. This is probably one of the most misunderstood facts about college officiating.

It’s a football thing where officials do only officiate one conference. Basketball is not that way.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Just get used to it, games aren't going to get easier to officiate. There's a lot of subjectivity to what is a foul, and everyone has different opinions on what they want called. Also, tv viewers see super slow mo replays from 9 different angles on tv and get upset that the ref that had one view from one angle at real time speed got a call wrong. I expect refs to **** up just as much as I expect players to **** up, just part of the game typically.

Truth. Just listen to announcers arguing over whether "that's a basketball move" vs "that's a foul" vs "that's a flagrant foul!". And then flip a coin as to what will actually be called.

 

[Clonehomer]

Nobody officiates just one conference. This is probably one of the most misunderstood facts about college officiating.

Sure. But on the men's side, I don't really consider John Higgins jumping from the Big12 to the Big10 to be that much variety. Yes, the officials can officiate in all conferences. But in reality, they tend to be very regional.

Let's rotate these officials throughout the country so they see every team and just as important, teams don't see the same officials too often.

 

[surly]

Moving both MBB and WBB from five to six fouls elimination would be a big help. Also, MBB going to quarters like the rest of hoops would be nice.

 

[Clonehomer]

Another thing would be to give the sideline official in front of the monitor power to correct calls in real time. No reason for the officials on the court to review. Just let the official sitting there make the call quickly.

 

[IASTATE07]

I'm not sure what the solution is, but you could tell who hadn't watched women's basketball until the Final Four. Officiating has been pretty poor in the games I watched this year.

 

[theshadow]

The first step -- and it's an uncomfortable one for some folks -- is to acknowledge that politics plays a HUGE role in officiating assignments as the tournament progresses.

You'll notice that all 11 officials for the WFF were women, and that the 3 on-court officials for the title game were women of color.

Based on what we see night in and night out in the Big 12, there's no way that half of the WFF officials could be considered the "best" in the country. The flip side of that is...if they are the best in the country, then that's a huge indictment on the overall state of officiating in WBB.

All of that said, I thought Sunday's crew called a decent game. A couple of ticky-tack headscratchers, but all in all nothing too egregious.

 

[carvers4math]

Hollywood’s Men’s Final Four job was fairly well criticized also

 

[kcdc4isu]

IMO, there should be a huge emphasis (both men and women's game) on not calling fouls that don't affect the play (unless they are egregious). That would eliminate about half of them.

My question on this point is if the rule does not affect the play why is it a rule? One area I have an issue with is when a ball is on the floor and player A grabs it then player B jumps on top of the player and ties it up and it is called a jump ball. But if a player tries to tie a player up while standing and wraps their arms around the player it is a foul. So you can't wrap your arms around but you can jump on top of a player laying on the floor. I thought the final game last night was pretty close to being by the book with a couple phantom calls but akk I hear is bad refs let them play.

 

[ClonesFTW]

Officials should be eligible to take the podium for questioning after games, that would solve 50% of the issues and serve as a good starting point for progress.

In any situation in life, the majority of times confusion and frustration is from lack of communication.

 

[Cyballzz]

Moving both MBB and WBB from five to six fouls elimination would be a big help. Also, MBB going to quarters like the rest of hoops would be nice.

It feels weird to agree with Surly.

I would also add have the same 3 officials work together all the time.

It would be nice if you can get a 4th official and cut the court in half/slow the game down but there isn't the man power for that and likely never will be.

 

[kcdc4isu]

To officials answering questions. That would help but IMO will never happen as many officials would just quit. Last night there were complaints about the tech called on Clarke and at the time no one knew why. After the game is was stated it was due to a delay of the game after the team was warned this was the second time,

 

[Cyballzz]

That would help but IMO will never happen as many officials would just quit. Last nightthere were complaints about the tech called on Clarke and at the time no one knew why. After the game is was stated it was due to a delay of the game after the team was warned this was the second time,

My only issue with the tech is that it should be a technical on the bench, unless Clark was the specific person who received the initial warning.

So much of the officiating complaints could be solved by simply keeping the crowd/viewers informed. The long delay vs WVU for example. No one knew why WVU was getting all those FTs and the ball. The explanation made sense and was the right call... just tell us.

 

[madguy30]

Just have robot umpires.

Then we can sit back and yearn for the days of WV games that were only 2.5 hours long.

 

[kcdc4isu]

My only issue with the tech is that it should be a technical on the bench, unless Clark was the specific person who received the initial warning.

So much of the officiating complaints could be solved by simply keeping the crowd/viewers informed. The long delay vs WVU for example. No one knew why WVU was getting all those FTs and the ball. The explanation made sense and was the right call... just tell us.

The only problem with that is the first time it was Czinano who touched the ball after the basket was made so if you could only call it if she touched it the call would probably never get called as you could have different players hit the ball to help delay the game. I really is a call that needs looked at and either eliminated or make it the first time someone does it not a warning.