About the Refs...

[Lobot]

We just love to complain about officiating around here but let's be honest. The second half of yesterday's game was the some of the most clueless officiating I've ever seen in my life. Multiple obvious missed calls and garbage calls. The one on David Dejulius stands out for sure. The ref, Anthony Jordan, was trailing the play, was screened out and just flat out guessed. And, he got it really wrong.

I thought that last night's crew was lucky that 2nd half didn't devolve into a brawl toward the end. We like to say that the Refs have money on the game and I doubt thta's really true but I think that's the second game this year that Jordan has called where we've had issue like this at home. There's a reason the SEC fired the guy. It really does seem like something's up with him.

Meanwhile we've got Reynolds chucking people on the head and Dunn stiff-arming people all over the court with nothing called. Amazingly MAW ends up bleeding in the corner of the arena and I guess no one touched him? Dunn looked concussed after that play on TV but I couldn't see when he hit his head on replay but it wasn't Mika's head that he hit.


This is getting to a bigger question. Are referees in sports actually getting worse or is the broadcast quality and frequency of TV replays just making them look bad?

I'd honestly hate to be an official these days with the way fans behave. I was a pretty terrible ref hater in my college days but it does seem to me that the over the years, the quality of officiating has dropped off. Where's Ed Hightower when you need him?

It's not just CBB, The NFL refs seem to have gotten significantly worse recently mostly because no one knows what a catch is anymore. Don't get me started on VAR in soccer. I would say that officials across sports are using replay as a crutch but looking at last night, some of them are straight out terrible.

[richard k.]

We just love to complain about officiating around here but let's be honest. The second half of yesterday's game was the some of the most clueless officiating I've ever seen in my life. Multiple obvious missed calls and garbage calls. The one on David Dejulius stands out for sure. The ref, Anthony Jordan, was trailing the play, was screened out and just flat out guessed. And, he got it really wrong.

I thought that last night's crew was lucky that 2nd half didn't devolve into a brawl toward the end. We like to say that the Refs have money on the game and I doubt thta's really true but I think that's the second game this year that Jordan has called where we've had issue like this at home. There's a reason the SEC fired the guy. It really does seem like something's up with him.

Meanwhile we've got Reynolds chucking people on the head and Dunn stiff-arming people all over the court with nothing called. Amazingly MAW ends up bleeding in the corner of the arena and I guess no one touched him? Dunn looked concussed after that play on TV but I couldn't see when he hit his head on replay but it wasn't Mika's head that he hit.


This is getting to a bigger question. Are referees in sports actually getting worse or is the broadcast quality and frequency of TV replays just making them look bad?

I'd honestly hate to be an official these days with the way fans behave. I was a pretty terrible ref hater in my college days but it does seem to me that the over the years, the quality of officiating has dropped off. Where's Ed Hightower when you need him?

It's not just CBB, The NFL refs seem to have gotten significantly worse recently mostly because no one knows what a catch is anymore. Don't get me started on VAR in soccer. I would say that officials across sports are using replay as a crutch but looking at last night, some of them are straight out terrible.

The number of "phantom" calls last night was absurd. I will readily admit that some fouls were called, and I didn't think so, but were verified watching the replay. That said, the number of fouls called which replay showed were non-existent was ridiculously high - just because someone drives to the basket doesn't mean automatically they were fouled. However that's pretty much what went on, which makes Nolley's decision to chuck up a 3 rather than drive so much more silly.

[bearcatbret]

During the Christmas/New Year holidays, there was a guest host on one of the radio shows. He once was a football player who turned to Fox/ESPN host then converted to conservative radio. He is African American. He said that he is absolutely insulted how sports officiating have evolved. He said that there is a reason why officiating is so bad right now. He said that he almost does not want to watch sports anymore. You may probably be able to guess his reasoning.

[bearcatjd]

Apparently there is no accountability on how refs performed. The guy who called the foul on Dejulius was not in position to make the call & there was not freaking foul. A clean strip of the ball.

[Rufus]

I don't like to come across as a conspiracy theorist. I consider myself a realist though. With the introduction of sports betting prevalent today couple with human nature and the quest to get rich quick you cannot convince me that that could influence some officiating.
. Obviously if a game is a blowout the officiating could not effect the outcome as easily. Example the Bengals going into Buffalo and just dominating the whole game. But then in AFC championship game this year and the super bowl last year with a close game the officials could realistically call a phantom pi that could give the other team a new set of downs. Or you have one team who is the lowest penalized team all year only penalized three times the previous game and gets to the AFC championship and commits seven holding penalties in just the first quarter.
The point I'm making is if the oppurtunity presents itself why wouldn't a ref make a call to make some coin or to help his team out. Refs are fans as well. Pat McAfee done one of his podcasts about how the NFL is scripted and how many people would have to do be paid to insure the outcome of a game. But He didn't address how a ref could place a bet on a team to win and then be in a position to call a pass interference to give his team three more chances to score the winning td.
If the SEC found some questionable things about this Jordan dude why would another conference use him. Is there not supposed to be a system in place where refs and officials are graded like the NFL on their performance.?

[GoBearcats31]

As both a UC and an IU fan, I can tell you that both fan bases are constantly complaining about their refs (both BB and FB) and are convinced they have the worst refs in their leagues.

I can speak more from an IU side than UC, as I've missed all the ESPN+ UC games... but have seen some egregious stuff this season.

When IU played at Iowa in early January, Fran McCaffrey picked up a technical foul and later picked up a second -- after he crossed midcourt and confronted an IU assistant. Somehow the refs changed their minds and didn't eject him, despite the clear signaling of a T (and Fran's working over of the refs seemed to have a big impact on the game, as Iowa went on a huge run amidst all that stuff).

IU lost at Northwestern last week on a game winning shot, in which Northwestern's player had one of the biggest push offs I've ever seen (but refs swallowed their whistles https://twitter.com/JordanJamie/stat...69826786435072). The main ref, a former fired police officer, is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Police and Command. Hmm... Some would argue you can't call a foul at the end of the game like that, but the foul called on UC at the end of the Crosstown Shootout leading to GW free throws from Souley Boum seemed fair. Who cares if it was at the end of the game? A foul is a foul.

Let's be clear, it goes both ways. UC has benefitted and been on the wrong end of calls. But it is definitely frustrating. I'm not sure of the solution, but there certainly seems to be no accountability.

[Lobot]

I don't like to come across as a conspiracy theorist. I consider myself a realist though. With the introduction of sports betting prevalent today couple with human nature and the quest to get rich quick you cannot convince me that that could influence some officiating.
. Obviously if a game is a blowout the officiating could not effect the outcome as easily. Example the Bengals going into Buffalo and just dominating the whole game. But then in AFC championship game this year and the super bowl last year with a close game the officials could realistically call a phantom pi that could give the other team a new set of downs. Or you have one team who is the lowest penalized team all year only penalized three times the previous game and gets to the AFC championship and commits seven holding penalties in just the first quarter.
The point I'm making is if the oppurtunity presents itself why wouldn't a ref make a call to make some coin or to help his team out. Refs are fans as well. Pat McAfee done one of his podcasts about how the NFL is scripted and how many people would have to do be paid to insure the outcome of a game. But He didn't address how a ref could place a bet on a team to win and then be in a position to call a pass interference to give his team three more chances to score the winning td.
If the SEC found some questionable things about this Jordan dude why would another conference use him. Is there not supposed to be a system in place where refs and officials are graded like the NFL on their performance.?

This is NBA but do you remember this guy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_betting_scandal

Or this mess with players during the Metro conference days?

https://vault.si.com/vault/1985/04/0...uble-at-tulane

I'm old enough to remember UC playing Tulane after they came back from the death penalty in MBB. That team was all freshman and walk ons and got destroyed in Shoemaker.