Agree
Players are bigger, stronger and faster than years ago. Very hard to be a ref. I see no solution - just live with it.
Officiating - what to do?
- Thread starter acoustimac
- Start date
Players are bigger, stronger and faster than years ago. Very hard to be a ref. I see no solution - just live with it.
I agree with this 100%.
I've always thought you put a crew together and they work in a region for one week, then they move to another region the next week.
In the midwest, the Big 12 plays Tuesday/Wednesday, the Big 10 plays Wednesday/Thursday, the MVC plays Thursday/Friday, and the SEC (Missouri) typically plays Thursday.
Why couldn't you put a group together that does this for example:
Wednesday night - Lawrence, KS (Big 12)
Thursday night - Columbia, MO (SEC) or Springfield, MO (MVC), or St. Louis (A-10)
Friday Night - Des Moines, IA (MVC) or Omaha, NE (Big East)
Saturday - Ames, IA (Big 12) or Cedar Falls, IA (MVC)
Sunday - Iowa City, IA (Big 10) or Lincoln, NE (Big 10) or Minneapolis, MN (Big 10)
Monday and Tuesday off for travel to the next region
The distances are all drivable, so you could easily officiate a game at night, get up in the morning and drive to the next place, all while not being sleep deprived.
I'm always amazed when ISU plays at 5:00 pm on a Saturday, and you see an official at a game in the SEC the following day at 1:00 pm. There aren't that many late flights out of Des Moines, so they are leaving early in the morning to get to their next game.
It may not work, but why not try something, instead of an official in Ames on Wednesday, then in Columbia, SC on Thursday night?
I didn't read all the posts but, as some of you know, I could go on about this for days. Regarding the comment about not calling fouls that don't affect the play: By rule, this is actually how it is supposed to be. Not all contact is a foul. Contact that creates an advantage for one player over another is supposed to be called a foul. That's why you can see two bigs banging on each other all night without many fouls being called -- they were in "equally advantageous positions" -- while a touch on a shooter's arm is a foul. Some people see that as inconsistency, when actually they are applying advantage vs. disadvantage.
A big problem I see is that the NCAA is telling supervisors and officials they want more fouls called, to "clean up the game." In so doing, they have taken it to a level that has lost all common sense. They used to say err on the side of NOT calling fouls. Now they're telling officials to err on the side of calling fouls. IMO, it has done the game a disservice and it has resulted in officials commonly committing what used to be considered a cardinal sin: GUESSING. We used to say, "I'd rather miss a call than call something that didn't happen." Those days are gone, apparently.
Another major, major issue is that some of the best officials are not getting an opportunity to advance to the highest level. It is a true good ol' boys club, in every sense. Who you know is more important than how good you are at the job. Your physical appearance is more important than how you do the job. If you are the best official in the world but you are overweight, you will not be allowed to advance. Also -- and it's not my intention to take this to the cave -- diversity has become more important than merit. There are officials who have no business working at the highest level, but they fit a certain criteria.
The system needs a top to bottom overhaul. Not only on how officials are trained and selected, but how the game is officiated on the court. My suggestion is to go to four officials: Two on each side of the court running free throw line to free throw line, and two in volleyball style nests over the basket. An official has too many bodies to look through to be able to properly officiate the post. That person above should be the only person calling fouls on blocked shots in the lane. If another official comes in with something, it must be an absolutely egregious miss.
There is also an epidemic of poor game management that has nothing to do with judgment. Lisa Bluder said the officials wouldn't talk to her. That's a problem. You can't be expected to whip out your rule book and explain every call, but to completely stonewall a coach is not acceptable. The T on Caitlin was also a joke. I don't care if Iowa had a delay warning. You walk over to her and say, "Hey, what you just did could be considered a delay and you guys already have a warning. We don't want to call something like that at this stage in the game so be careful." Meanwhile, Mulkey is going INSANE on the sideline for 40 minutes and, to my knowledge, it was never addressed. The officials should have sat her ass down with a T very early in the game.
I could obviously go on and on and on about this. There is so much more to officiating than the calls you make and all of it from start to finish is suffering right now.
A big problem I see is that the NCAA is telling supervisors and officials they want more fouls called, to "clean up the game." In so doing, they have taken it to a level that has lost all common sense. They used to say err on the side of NOT calling fouls. Now they're telling officials to err on the side of calling fouls. IMO, it has done the game a disservice and it has resulted in officials commonly committing what used to be considered a cardinal sin: GUESSING. We used to say, "I'd rather miss a call than call something that didn't happen." Those days are gone, apparently.
Another major, major issue is that some of the best officials are not getting an opportunity to advance to the highest level. It is a true good ol' boys club, in every sense. Who you know is more important than how good you are at the job. Your physical appearance is more important than how you do the job. If you are the best official in the world but you are overweight, you will not be allowed to advance. Also -- and it's not my intention to take this to the cave -- diversity has become more important than merit. There are officials who have no business working at the highest level, but they fit a certain criteria.
The system needs a top to bottom overhaul. Not only on how officials are trained and selected, but how the game is officiated on the court. My suggestion is to go to four officials: Two on each side of the court running free throw line to free throw line, and two in volleyball style nests over the basket. An official has too many bodies to look through to be able to properly officiate the post. That person above should be the only person calling fouls on blocked shots in the lane. If another official comes in with something, it must be an absolutely egregious miss.
There is also an epidemic of poor game management that has nothing to do with judgment. Lisa Bluder said the officials wouldn't talk to her. That's a problem. You can't be expected to whip out your rule book and explain every call, but to completely stonewall a coach is not acceptable. The T on Caitlin was also a joke. I don't care if Iowa had a delay warning. You walk over to her and say, "Hey, what you just did could be considered a delay and you guys already have a warning. We don't want to call something like that at this stage in the game so be careful." Meanwhile, Mulkey is going INSANE on the sideline for 40 minutes and, to my knowledge, it was never addressed. The officials should have sat her ass down with a T very early in the game.
I could obviously go on and on and on about this. There is so much more to officiating than the calls you make and all of it from start to finish is suffering right now.
Which is why I would just make it a bench technical and be done with it. Punish the team and move on.
So if there is a second T for that, do you throw out the whole bench, the HC, a player of their choosing?
If we were serious about it, the NCAA needs to hire them, pay them a salary, do all of their scheduling for them to avoid overwork, and provide them training and oversight at the national level year round. Make it a career.
As to them answering questions, have a director of officials who who will communicate with the refs about any questionable calls and what they were looking at who can deal with the media.
I put the odds of this happening at .00000001%.
As to them answering questions, have a director of officials who who will communicate with the refs about any questionable calls and what they were looking at who can deal with the media.
I put the odds of this happening at .00000001%.
How about we just leave it the way it is? Or let's just stop playing all together since we can't perfect officiating? That way, everyone is protected from bad officiating.
As long as officials are consistent within a game, it seldoms impacts who wins.
Teams have to play to their strengths -- including managing how a game is being called and adjusting to be more/less aggressive both offensively (taking it aggressively to the hoop vs. jump shots) and defensively(going for steals, blocks and bodying up - we all know ISU avoids playing aggressive defense most years)...
Two ways Iowa State has taken advantage of more fouls being called over the past two years:
[1] For five years, Iowa State has benefited from the number of fouls per game drawn by Ashley Joens. Along with being a very good free throw shooting team, this played in ISU's favor. ISU free throw percentage was 80.1% this year whereas opponents' was 67.1%. Last year's made free throw % was 81% (similar year on year) and opponent's was 72.3% (don't have a good reason why opponent's % dropped this year). Unfortunately, I couldn't find stats on Joen's fouls drawn per game.
[2] More importantly, with quarters and two shots after five fouls, there is a bigger advantage to a team that can both [a] attack the basket and shoot free throws well. This has been a good balance to the premium of being a good three point shooting (which ISU has had less of a differential vs. opponents this year vs. last year). ISU's made three point shooting this year was at a 32.8% vs. opponents at 31.4%. Big drop off from 2021-2022 when ISU made three point % was 38.7% whereas opponents were at 31.3% (almost the exact same year on year). This is a big year on year drop... Roughly 150 LESS points this year just from not shooting the three as well as last year.
With the size coming in with next year's recruiting class, hopefully they can develop to be good free throw shooters (as Poppens did) and draw a lot of fouls likely Ashley did by going inside aggressively to continue benefiting from more games being physical with. more aggressive defenses.
Rather than spend time complaining about officiating, control what you can and adjust based on how the game is being called.
Teams have to play to their strengths -- including managing how a game is being called and adjusting to be more/less aggressive both offensively (taking it aggressively to the hoop vs. jump shots) and defensively(going for steals, blocks and bodying up - we all know ISU avoids playing aggressive defense most years)...
Two ways Iowa State has taken advantage of more fouls being called over the past two years:
[1] For five years, Iowa State has benefited from the number of fouls per game drawn by Ashley Joens. Along with being a very good free throw shooting team, this played in ISU's favor. ISU free throw percentage was 80.1% this year whereas opponents' was 67.1%. Last year's made free throw % was 81% (similar year on year) and opponent's was 72.3% (don't have a good reason why opponent's % dropped this year). Unfortunately, I couldn't find stats on Joen's fouls drawn per game.
[2] More importantly, with quarters and two shots after five fouls, there is a bigger advantage to a team that can both [a] attack the basket and shoot free throws well. This has been a good balance to the premium of being a good three point shooting (which ISU has had less of a differential vs. opponents this year vs. last year). ISU's made three point shooting this year was at a 32.8% vs. opponents at 31.4%. Big drop off from 2021-2022 when ISU made three point % was 38.7% whereas opponents were at 31.3% (almost the exact same year on year). This is a big year on year drop... Roughly 150 LESS points this year just from not shooting the three as well as last year.
With the size coming in with next year's recruiting class, hopefully they can develop to be good free throw shooters (as Poppens did) and draw a lot of fouls likely Ashley did by going inside aggressively to continue benefiting from more games being physical with. more aggressive defenses.
Rather than spend time complaining about officiating, control what you can and adjust based on how the game is being called.
Last edited:
What is overworking them? They are on the court for roughly 2 hours a night. Their season is from November to the middle of March, so basically 4 months. I know there is education part of it, but if you are going to make it a full time career, then 5 games a week, maybe 6 should be very reasonable.
A bench technical is an "indirect" technical on the head coach. A coach needs two direct, or any combination of three to be ejected. So, for example, if a coach has one indirect and one direct, he/she would need one more of either kind to get tossed.
They are responsible for scheduling all of their own travel and hotel stays. Traveling every day, waking up in a different place, etc. is taxing people.
And it's not uncommon at all for refs to work multiple games in a day on the weekends, unless I'm wrong about that.
One negative of the quarters versus halves is the free throw situation. The 1 and 1s give the foul situation some excitement for the end of games and other times. The 2 shots right away is a little anti-exciting.
Thanks for always providing great insight as always on this.
Officials are completely incompetent and in some cases most likely corrupt across all sports.
I dont think they can keep up with the speed of college basktball which is why it seems the worst to me in all the major sports.
The solution instead of issuing apology letters would be that the refs are held accountable publicly in some way.
I dont think they can keep up with the speed of college basktball which is why it seems the worst to me in all the major sports.
The solution instead of issuing apology letters would be that the refs are held accountable publicly in some way.
Isn't that kinda like being an on the road salesperson? I know several that are only home on weekends.
That's kinda my point. The T has to be hooked to someone. If you don't give it to the player, the HC will get it, and while it may be 3 instead of 2 at that point, it still gets assigned to someone.
Travel is the killer part of the equation. Also, asking (sometimes) geriatric dudes to run intermittent sprints for 2.5 hours a night, 6 nights a week, could be a bit much.
No one will like this, but the short-term answer is more fouls. ISU’s style of play has served them well the last 2 years, but it doesn’t really resemble basketball. There’s a reason the NBA implemented the freedom of motion stuff, and NCAA should go back to it.
And for the love of God, stop this “6 fouls” nonsense. That’s not going to help keep things moving, and the foul-per-8-minutes is consistent with the NBA.
Perhaps we've found our problem here. Why do we have geriatric dudes trying to keep up with 18-22 yr olds running up and down the court?
I believe technical assessed to the bench are directed to the head coach but it would be non direct. The other thing would just be make a delay of game an administrative technical (1 shot, doesn't add to foul total)
Edit: I see ruxcy got the answer already