OT: More gripes about WCBB referees

[jaydee602]

Spurlock-Welsh did several Connecticut games this year, I'm fairly sure. her name is familiar to me, though not the other two.

Yes, Spurlock- Welsh called the UCONN/ South Carolina game this season. She contributed to 43 fouls called in that game.

 

[Zarathustra]

Maybe if her defense wasn't to just beat Clark up it might have been a different game. The officials were weak, uncertain, and diffident and Mulkey got away with more fouls than are countable by her players on Clark. Shows you why you need a flopping rule in womens basketball. Mulkey has perfected it.

I agree about the flopping, note the "staged" IMO of the Coach's Review, by Kim M.,
on the play by Cinzano. That Player played the hit to her (which did happen, but.)
and Kim Mimicked the same motions on the sidelines... clearly a planned reaction!! Oh Well..

 

[Zarathustra]

Absolutely disgusting. Please go to the WNBA if you can.

Caitlin does her form of showboating to the IOWA fans in the stands. Angel
is the "in your face" type. Angel's use of her tiara is also VERY INTERESTING! IMO

 

[JJTB]

Interesting that Clark was called twice for fouls she got away with all year…warding off defender with left arm. Of all days to tighten that up!

 

[NutmegDog]

They’d had a delay warning earlier, second one is a tech.

It's a violation when it's done "to gain an advantage". Ball was dead as a foul shot was coming up. Clearly, no advantage gained and no basis for a tech... in any game in any league, let alone the national championship.

 

[HopJim]

If in a baseball game the coach ran onto the field without a time out and he wasn't thrown out, there would be an uproar (i.e. at times, its seemed that Kim spent more time on the court than in the coaching box). If the umpire changed the strike zone dramatically, it would be on every sports show. Hopefully the growth in TV attendance will motivate the powers at be to work towards inforcement of a more consistent set of women's basketball rules. Shouldn't be one of the top discussion points.

 

[EdSaid]

Caitlin does her form of showboating to the IOWA fans in the stands. Angel
is the "in your face" type. Angel's use of her tiara is also VERY INTERESTING! IMO

Sure looks like this is directed towards Hailey Van Lith

 

[EdSaid]

Caitlin does her form of showboating to the IOWA fans in the stands. Angel
is the "in your face" type. Angel's use of her tiara is also VERY INTERESTING! IMO

This isn't much better

 

[BRS24]

Most, if not all coaches, step on the court from time to time. Mulkey and Shaka Smart are probably the two that I've noticed that do it a lot, and push the envelope more than others. Being on the court, along with KM's histrionics (taking off and throwing jacket) have been allowed for a long time. So what can be done? If the officials don't give her a warning, and then a technical, the behavior will never change, unless perhaps there's a collision between an opposing player and the coach.

I didn't pay attention to who was reffing the semis, however, wondering if the more "experienced" refs were doing the SC/Iowa game? We'll never know, but imagine if the final was SC/LSU? Woo boy.

My dad, who is not a college hoop fan, texted me during the game yesterday and asked what I thought of the officiating. I said "it @#$%^&* sucks." Also said it set women officials back ten years. I get it, women's tourney, celebration of women, yada yada, however, assuming there needs to be 4 officials for the final 3 games, were there really 12 women refs qualified to officiate this level of play?

This is a bit similar to the conversations in WBB regarding women coaches - yes, players want to see role models, someone that looks like them, however if the pipeline isn't robust enough, then teams end up with coaches that aren't quite ready yet and it's bad for the game.

 

[Cornell Lt]

We need more consistency in calling games. I watched plenty of WCBB games this season as well as almost every NCAA tourney game. The game today proved that the refs need to work on a few things. Some of the calls were worse then terrible and its not just this game. Most of the games are called differently every time. Lets get it right and lets be consistent in all games.

When the NCAA decided they were going to assign the games to an all-female crew you knew something was going to happen. I watched a ton of women's basketball, and I don't recall an all-female crew. Now I'm not saying that there aren't good female officials, there are and some very good ones, but none of the good ones were at the Final Four.

 

[SCHuskiedad]

This.

It’s hard to get stops when everyone is in foul trouble

 

[bovwa10]

It’s hard to get stops when everyone is in foul trouble

When LSU made their big run in the 2nd quarter, they had 3 starters on the bench with foul trouble. The awful officiating affected both teams equally in the 1st half imo, and LSU pretty much won the game in that half.

 

[bovwa10]

If in a baseball game the coach ran onto the field without a time out and he wasn't thrown out, there would be an uproar (i.e. at times, its seemed that Kim spent more time on the court than in the coaching box). If the umpire changed the strike zone dramatically, it would be on every sports show. Hopefully the growth in TV attendance will motivate the powers at be to work towards inforcement of a more consistent set of women's basketball rules. Shouldn't be one of the top discussion points.

The officials need to set an example out of her early next season for this. You can't have a coach out on the floor when the opposing team is running their offense.

 

[BBallF]

Interesting that Clark was called twice for fouls she got away with all year…warding off defender with left arm. Of all days to tighten that up!

She was being mugged on every possession just like Lou was for most of the year. It's not basketball. If those restraint of movement fouls were called it would have been a different game. The refs were terrible and Mulkey took full advantage of it. She was 15 feet onto the Court at one point during play and nothing.

 

[YKCornelius]

Aluminy69- - - The refs listed in the box score on the NCAA site are:
Lisa Jones
Pualani Spurlock-Welsh
Michol Murray

With the NCAA's biggest game of the year they pick 3 refs no one ever heard of!
How do you not pick your BEST refs for the biggest game? Even tho they ALL stink you have refs that have 10+ years experience to chose from!

RSHERMVIKES, Lisa Jones (crew chief of yesterday's championship game) has been working Final Fours since 2008 (12 overall, with 11 on the court and once as the back-up). Yesterday was her fourth championship (2026, 2012, and 2010 being the others).
Jones primarily does PAC-12 games, which might be why she is not familiar to many.

That said, terrible, terrible officiating last night. We shall see if the NCAA does anything during the off-season to minimize the possibility of such a debacle from ever happening again.

 

[maple]

It’s hard to get stops when everyone is in foul trouble

It’s not like Iowa was renowned for their defense coming into the game.

 

[BBallF]

It’s not like Iowa was renowned for their defense coming into the game.

That's true but you are helpless when you can't foul. You don't do anything then. Clark's defense sagged after her second BS foul.

 

[maple]

That's true but you are helpless when you can't foul. You don't do anything then. Clark's defense sagged after her second BS foul.

And LSU had three starters sitting on the bench in the first half as well. Both teams were plagued by fouls. It’s not like Iowa was at a significant disadvantage.

 

[RoadMaster]

Even tho they ALL stink you have refs that have 10+ years experience to chose from!

Agree... I would go with Sustained-Stinkage every time!

 

[NoSpamHere]

I think two of the refs come from the PAC-12 and were unfamiliar with either team and their respective leagues styles.

 

[Huskee11]

When the NCAA decided they were going to assign the games to an all-female crew you knew something was going to happen. I watched a ton of women's basketball, and I don't recall an all-female crew. Now I'm not saying that there aren't good female officials, there are and some very good ones, but none of the good ones were at the Final Four.

Consider the reaction if only referees with the last name beginning in A to N could be selected. Or how about if only teams with mascot names beginning A to N could make it into the tournament?

The teams made it on the basis of meritocracy. If the referees had done well or even just ok, the NCAA would have been fine. But unfortunately the process followed by the NCAA this year, essentially excluding a large number of qualified referees from the selection process, leaves it vulnerable to criticism when the end result of that process is so unsatisfactory. Not a great position for the NCAA to be in right now.

 

[snowkot]

I think two of the refs come from the PAC-12 and were unfamiliar with either team and their respective leagues styles.

Not an excuse.

Just like the players prep, so must the officials. They're about to ref the national championship game broadcast nationally, streamed throughout the world. One would expect they'd invest time watching game film from both teams, once the competitors were determined, in order to avoid making fools of themselves.

For whatever reason, the only thing they avoided was enabling the two teams to have it with their best. For all the reasons cited above in this thread, their performance was a disgrace. Going forward, the only way these lugnuts should sniff a women's college basketball game of any import should be if they pay for a ticket.

 

[Stinger92860]

Iowa lost for multiple reasons:
1. Officiating was as bad as it could be.
2. Clark is a great player (a healthy Paige is better) but she tried to do too much single handily, made a number of poor decisions and failed to get her teammates involved.
3. Iowa just is not a good defensive team.
4. A couple of LSU players had the greatest performance of their careers and likely will never come close to that again.

Iowa was a terrible defensive team for that game.

 

[Pharos]

I totally agree that the officiating was terrible, but it was terrible against both teams. Iowa lost because they rely too much on Clark, the same as Uconn relied too much on Paige two years ago.

"... but it was terrible against both teams..." I want to be gentle and softly note that this is like saying "... at least other people were mugged..." Maybe there is nothing to be done about officiating WCBB. Or maybe there is a process for establishing standards, reviewing performance, and improving performance over time. If not, oh well. If so, I've very curious to know more about it.