Media Bashing

[DaBball]

 

[HuskyNan]

Baylor and Tennessee were involved in a controversial ending back in 2004. It was a Sweet 16 game and Baylor was called for a foul right as the clock expired in a tied game. Two players were going for a loose ball off a rebound of a missed layup. The Baylor player was called for the foul. Not only was there a question about whether a foul should have been called, but the refs had to look at replay to decide if time had expired before the contact.

Foul call was upheld. Tennessee shot two FTs and won the game.

Wasn’t there a shot clock issue that handed a game to a team one year as well?

Heck Texas A&M had two controversial game endings. Where’s the outrage?

 

[j66kicker]

THIS!!! I admittedly have not watched many of the lady's games, but watched this one. I have never seen a basketball game without at least 15 to 20 missed or non calls. You want to pick just one? Setting the bar pretty low-Ms. Mulkey, the 19 to 0 run cost your team the game, not one call.

Kim pretty much said this. “The story of this game is... [Didi getting hurt]”

 

[UConnCat]

Wasn’t there a shot clock issue that handed a game to a team one year as well?

Heck Texas A&M had two controversial game endings. Where’s the outrage?

There was Rutgers v Tennessee in 2008 but it was not a NCAA tournament game. The game clock at TBA froze at 0.02 seconds which allowed a foul to be called on a Rutgers player on an offensive rebound/put-back. The Tenn player made the FTs and Tenn won the game. That was a regular season game.

 

[Bama fan]

It is frustrating, people just want Uconn to lose, and it appears NCAA, and ESPN want anybody but Uconn. But, I like your thoughts, and lets enjoy Uconn and to hell with the Haters.

They do not care who wins or loses. They care how many views they get from making a big fuss. If it were tiddlywinks, they would create a winks/squidgers hullabaloo just to encourage people to look. And most people don't know a wink from a squidger anyway, but would be indignant about the whole thing. ESPN and other media want you to look, and it makes no difference why you look. Thank god UConn has an ice cream store and not a pizza joint! Then there would be a row and a ruction!

 

[FairView]

Totally non-related question for Topogigio (the OP):
Do you keep in touch with the plate-spinning guy?
How's he doing?

 

[UcMiami]

On The BY many posters over the years commend refs when they "let the players play", except in cases like last night when it clearly benefits the bigger and more physical team. I'm ambivalent about this. To me the let them play attitude has merit, until someone gets hurt, especially a star player. Remember, that is who most of the physicality is going to be concentrated on. But I also don't want to see the endless march to the foul line some refs prefer, especially before conference and NCAA tournaments. So what are we left with? Refs that walk that narrow line of calling it like I see it; most of the time anyway. Some then swallow their whistles in the final quarter, some don't. People on The BY have always expressed their dislike for Dee Kanter, but Dee calls the game consistent from end to end. You may not like her calls, or her style, or you may question her competence. But she is consistent.

When I say, 'let them play' about the refs, I am referring to the games where they are constantly calling touch fouls 30 feet from the basket. There are games where one team or both teams decide to play a rugby style of hard contact at all times and that kind of play is both dangerous and leads to really ugly basketball. Officials can sometimes rein that in with some decisive early foul calls, but not always.

I never want officials to ignore the kind of grabbing and swatting that prevents players from getting a shot off. Or the grabbing and clutching that allows free movement of players around the court.

I think this tournament has had a number of games where the 'let them play' attitude of the refs was really borderline or went over the line. I saw that Tara complained after I think their second round game (which I didn't watch.) One of the problems for the NCAA women is they need 46 games reffed in 4 days and you get a wide range of officials working. I don't think they even have 50 really good experienced refs, which is why during the season when the 'important' games are more spaced out you see the same faces over and over.

 

[BostonBay]

I’ve seen a few columns killing Mulkey today. Her outburst helped UConn immensely.

Mulkey is getting old. The young Mulkey would have taken her jacket off at the end of the game & thrown it into the 1st row!

 

[fly2themoon]

It's totally out of control today, social media trolls, sports writers, network announcers with the whining and complaining of the "no foul" call. Didn't see or hear the same peanut gallery when TAMU won their first two tournament games by questionable officiating. Just because everyone wants to take down the Huskies, the bandwagon is overflowing. LaBron James, of all people, who gets more calls or no calls going his way, has the audacity to pipe in his two worthless cents. Debbie Antonelli was another one spewing nonsense during the Indiana/Arizona game! Baylor, their coach, and most of their team, displayed a level of poor sportsmanship which hurts the game! It's part of the game folks, get over it!

As you stated, where were the media when Texas A&M got no calls twice in a row in the tournament? All of sudden, the media jump up and down when no call was made only when the Huskies are involved. Shouldn’t they have known any sporting events need officials who are only humans? And officiating, whether good or bad, is necessary evil. I have hard time differentiating between biased and incompetent.

 

[CL82]

This will follow UConn until Paige graduates unfortunately. Especially if they win the championship this year. It will be replayed at every Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four for the next three years, with “they were lucky” sentiments

Lol, no.

 

[Obrero]

I tried to catch as much of the media reaction to the non-call as I could this morning. It was very easy to tell who watched the game and who just watched the super-slo-mo replay of those last five seconds over and over again (probably on their cellphones). To put it as simply as possible, if they’d called a foul on that play it would’ve been completely inconsistent with how the previous 39:55 had been called. Easy to take those five seconds into the lab and diagnose a foul, but if it had been called and UConn lost, I think the dominant opinion among those who watched the game would’ve been that UConn got jobbed.

 

[tchalla1]

I suppose Baylor fans and all have a right to be upset by the "call", but the thing that goads me most is that all the UFC ninja mugging and the bear hugging and mauling that those Baylor women were giving Paige, CW and UConn were completely fine until the "Call". Had they had been complaining about ref calls all along, they wouldn't come across as such hypocrites. I meant the foul calls during the first half was something like 11-2 in Baylor's favor....

 

[JordyG]

When I say, 'let them play' about the refs, I am referring to the games where they are constantly calling touch fouls 30 feet from the basket. There are games where one team or both teams decide to play a rugby style of hard contact at all times and that kind of play is both dangerous and leads to really ugly basketball. Officials can sometimes rein that in with some decisive early foul calls, but not always.

I never want officials to ignore the kind of grabbing and swatting that prevents players from getting a shot off. Or the grabbing and clutching that allows free movement of players around the court.

I think this tournament has had a number of games where the 'let them play' attitude of the refs was really borderline or went over the line. I saw that Tara complained after I think their second round game (which I didn't watch.) One of the problems for the NCAA women is they need 46 games reffed in 4 days and you get a wide range of officials working. I don't think they even have 50 really good experienced refs, which is why during the season when the 'important' games are more spaced out you see the same faces over and over.

I agree. Rarely though when people say "let 'em play" do they mean touch fouls on the perimeter. Just sayin'.

 

[WillB4]

It's totally out of control today, social media trolls, sports writers, network announcers with the whining and complaining of the "no foul" call. Didn't see or hear the same peanut gallery when TAMU won their first two tournament games by questionable officiating. Just because everyone wants to take down the Huskies, the bandwagon is overflowing. LaBron James, of all people, who gets more calls or no calls going his way, has the audacity to pipe in his two worthless cents. Debbie Antonelli was another one spewing nonsense during the Indiana/Arizona game! Baylor, their coach, and most of their team, displayed a level of poor sportsmanship which hurts the game! It's part of the game folks, get over it!

I have not see anyone mention the no call just before when CW took it to the basket on a breakaway and was fouled TWICE before putting it in with the ref right there. Should have been an 'and one'. But -no call.

 

[fomalhaut]

As much as I intensely disliked Tennessee back in the day, it's nothing compared to Baylor. I loathe them. But they're still the third best team in the country in my view.

 

[Deadrody]

LeBron and UConn women's basketball both seem to draw an irrational amount of ire from fans...

If only there was some obvious common bond...

Except there isn't. You're thinking of MJ or Bill Russell, perhaps

 

[Deadrody]

Kim pretty much said this. “The story of this game is... [Didi getting hurt]”

Only problem there is her +/- for the 30 minutes she played was ZERO

 

[CL82]

A lot of envy and jealousy going down. McGraw's Bench and Volnation are in overdrive. Its safe to say we're back.

UConn is bad for women's basketball.

Well, to be fair they have a lot of time on their hands so it is nice that they have something to occupy themselves this time of year.

 

[npignatjr]

Doubt it. ESPN picks a play or player to focus on each season. How many times did we see Arike hit the game winning shot? Anyone but UConn and ND fans remember it now?

They replayed that, but not the endless loop of the uncalled foul on Morgan William that allowed ND to win the NC. The 2018 FF 3 games, all badly one sided officiated.

 

[cohenzone]

It is frustrating, people just want Uconn to lose, and it appears NCAA, and ESPN want anybody but Uconn. But, I like your thoughts, and lets enjoy Uconn and to hell with the Haters.

Yep. And the stupid thing this year is you know they all would rather follow how Paige does in the tournament than report on anything Baylor does.

 

[Orangutan]

Except there isn't. You're thinking of MJ or Bill Russell, perhaps

I imagine the online discourse around them would also have been insufferable had they played in the social media age.

 

[GoUconn7961]

My tweet this morning:

 

[willie99]

Love the hate, wear it like a badge of honor. As for the game itself

1) yes it was a physical game, yes they let Baylor play physical with us a game long, yes they missed calls against Baylor, let them cry and rejoice in their tears

2) why is nobody talking about the pathetic execution of offense by Baylor on the last possession. Carrington pounded the ball into the ground going nowhere, an abysmal failure. Then she dribbles into a double team of taller defensive players and wants to get bailed out on a pathetically weak fade away. Get outta here with that poppycock

3) The worst call of the game had to be when the Baylor defensive player was standing with both feet two feet inside the restrictive area, and they called a charge. Are you kidding me? ESPN didn't even show the replay, that would have been a crime

GO HUSKIES, I love watching this team