NCAA ref from Omaha receives threats; angry Kentucky fans inundate business with negative reviews
Kentucky fans unhappy with Omahan John Higgins’ calls in their team’s loss to North Carolina in the Elite Eight, for example, posted so many negative reviews on his roofing company’s Facebook page that its Google ranking dropped and the page eventually was shut down.
Hostile phone calls, tweets and emails also have flooded in, and Higgins now has “extra attention” from police because of the death threats he has received.
The reaction to Higgins is one of the most extreme examples of fans taking their passion to unhealthy levels, said Rick Boyages, an associate commissioner for men’s basketball in the Big Ten.
“This is the first situation of this sort I’ve seen become public,” Boyages said. “John is one of the more recognizable officials. That has an impact.”
Jon Dolliver, an assistant director of the Nebraska School Activities Association, which oversees high school competitions in the state, said he’s shocked, though, to see that it’s gone so far with Higgins. He’s more used to unhappy parents calling the NSAA and asking for a review after what they consider to be a poor officiating performance.
“With Twitter being as readily available as it is, it’s easy for fans to get on there and have access to say whatever they want,” Dolliver said. “It’s really unfortunate. (Officials) just want to have the best game they can, just like the players and coaches. I feel for the guy.”
The fan attacks on Higgins’ roofing business began soon after Kentucky’s loss to North Carolina in the Elite Eight. The business’ Facebook page was shut down after more than 875 reviews were posted.
There's also examples of some of the reviews in the article
This is what happens when you have zero accountability.
Apparently Higgins and UK also have negative history going back years (much like WV had issues with one of the officials in their game with Gonzaga).
I'm always amazed how these upper levels can't solve problems that lower level basketball solves rather easily.
example: Hack a Shaq in the NBA is quite simply an intentional foul with 2 shots and the ball at the sub NBA level. Simple. Easy. Clean. But the NBA claims there's no good answer for it.
Solve the Higgins issue before it starts: in CT HS basketball before the state tournament you can basically block a specific amount of officials from doing your games. UK almost certainly would've put Higgins on their list, and this doesn't happen, and UK likely is in the FF. That sounds like a win-win situation.
