Shame on Roger Ayers

[UCann]

Welcome to the land of winning and feeling what it’s like to being a Duke fan.

Except Duke gets all the calls.

 

[gampelcrazies]

One of the worst refs in the game. Matt Potter who was reffing that game is awful too.

 

[LandOtter]

I kept noticing Brian O'Connell looking downcourt and not at the DePaul player taking a free throw shot. It happened every foul shot. It was hard to determine what O'Connell was looking at but my imagination made me think he was staring at Hurley as if to challenge Hurley into a technical. Did you happen to notice O'Connell in this situation and observe what he was looking at?

The officiating has been very lopsided so far early in the BE schedule. Some of it is our players learning defense. Some of it is home cooking. But It is not out of the realm of possibility that officials abuse their position and retaliate against a coach they dislike.

I found it interesting that in this game our centers were spared the whistle and the players most critical to this game were getting the calls. If I were a ref wanting to hurt Hurley I would have targeted Liam and Hassan in this matchup.

O’Connell was in a pretty cheerful mood yesterday. Interacted with fans during timeouts and let a lot of different kids hold the game ball. He was joking with fans of both teams, but never about anything happening on the court.

From court level, the officiating yesterday was pretty brutal. Agree on the comment regarding the swallowing of the whistle when it came to the big men. But all 3 officials were way too quick on the whistle anytime DePaul’s Conner Enright made it seem like he was contacted. He is a smart player, so he started flopping all over the place on both ends of the floor. He alone caused at least 7 to 10 questionable calls. Can’t blame him, because he was getting the whistles, but annoying nonetheless.

 

[LandOtter]

One of the worst refs in the game. Matt Potter who was reffing that game is awful too.

Matt was his same old miserable self.

 

[jdb50]

Enright has a future after Depaul as a crash test dummy. He would try and run into our screeners or drivers and throw himself on the floor. On D Depaul was doing the grab and hold routine- like other teams this year- of our guys and most of it was overlooked until late in the second half the refs called one. Our D has gotten better with most of the fouls called on players being upfaked.

 

[UCTitleTown]

At the risk of sounding ignorant, who is this guy? And since I don't know him, I care even less what he did.

 

[jibsey]

It was a very difficult environment in which to win a basketball game. I think there are clear issues with the roster construction of this team but the fact that they won by double digits with everything going against them speaks to the toughness of the team.

Not related to the thread but the national TV announcers (Lappas and some other dude) was as one sided for UConn’s opponent as I can remember. It was disgusting.

Watched it and disagree with you on that. The game was a blowout and the announcer are trying to keep eyes from dropping out so they tease a comeback. SOP.

 

[uconnfan68]

O’Connell was in a pretty cheerful mood yesterday. Interacted with fans during timeouts and let a lot of different kids hold the game ball. He was joking with fans of both teams, but never about anything happening on the court.

From court level, the officiating yesterday was pretty brutal. Agree on the comment regarding the swallowing of the whistle when it came to the big men. But all 3 officials were way too quick on the whistle anytime DePaul’s Conner Enright made it seem like he was contacted. He is a smart player, so he started flopping all over the place on both ends of the floor. He alone caused at least 7 to 10 questionable calls. Can’t blame him, because he was getting the whistles, but annoying nonetheless.

And it looked like he was woofing at us on some of those calls. I guess taunting is acceptable in Chicago.

 

[Rich]

Sitting courtside at yesterday’s game versus DePaul, I witnessed something I had never seen before. An official encouraging fans to direct chants at the visiting team.

I was sitting right beside two older couples. The men remained relatively quiet throughout the game, but both women were annoying me from the tip, yelling “that’s a foul” on every DePaul possession and “he’s a baby” on every UConn possession.

What set me over the top was when both women laughed at and cheered Liam’s injury.

Late in the game, during a timeout, the women started chanting “Girly Hurley.” That is when Roger Ayer’s approached them and whispered something to them. He then winked at them as he walked away and gestured at them to chant louder.

Maybe I was still fuming at the thought of two elderly adults cheering the injury of a college kid, but I lost a ton of respect for Ayer’s in that moment.

Hurley may be a baby, but he's OUR baby, dammit!

 

[auror]

At the risk of sounding ignorant, who is this guy? And since I don't know him, I care even less what he did.

One of the best refs in the country. He's worked 6 Final Fours, including last year's national championship vs. Purdue and our Final Four game against Miami.

 

[UCTitleTown]

One of the best refs in the country. He's worked 6 Final Fours, including last year's national championship vs. Purdue and our Final Four game against Miami.

Thanks. I thought he was a 60's counterculture figure.

 

[Slick]

They started chanting, Ayer’s approached them, whispered something and winked, and then gestured to them to chant louder.

Not exactly a reach to assume that he was encouraging them since he physically encouraged them to make more noise.

He was probably trying to be funny, but after watching these particular women laugh at an injured Liam, I had no patience for them or for him encouraging them.

Maybe the girls needed a beer accidentally spilled on them?

 

[superjohn]

Thanks. I thought he was a 60's counterculture figure.

Or an enormous media executive with a bad reputation.

 

[Greg]

Sure, best to ignore the DePaul fans. If you're cheering a player getting injured, then you're scum - and not even worthy of our attention. Plus, being a DePaul fan is punishment as it is. But as to Roger Ayers -- that's unacceptable and shows his bias towards UConn. Quite frankly, he shouldn't be officiating our games.

Ob iously you have never been to an Eagles game

 

[willie99]

C'mon, we all know these a$$w!pes are not biased

Everyone we play deserves a 30 - 10 free throw advantage

We hack, they don’t. They're all lightning fast, they know how the reach in. It's called superior coaching and preparation

And then March happens, the clock strikes midnight and our fundamentals improve 10,000%

 

[willie99]

PS: At the end of the game, just yell something like 35 straight and talk about how the Big East should replace DePaul with CCSU

Tell them DePaul is single handily keeping two Big East teams out of the dance every year

And laugh

 

[Leebo]

Do we know what he said to those women? Or why they responded was because he encouraged it?
Without that info how do you come up with that?

Yeah, without knowing what was said, all we have to go on is that the gesture was "encouraging them to chant what they were chanting louder".

Not convincing enough to decide the man should be slandered. The women do sound like crap stains though.

 

[bazz&boujee]

He was an official yesterday? Do we know what he said to those women? Or why they responded was because he encouraged it?
Without that info how do you come up with that?

Don’t let facts…. good story….

 

[LandOtter]

Yeah, without knowing what was said, all we have to go on is that the gesture was "encouraging them to chant what they were chanting louder".

Not convincing enough to decide the man should be slandered. The women do sound like crap stains though.

No slander. He was the best referee on the floor that day. I just took issue with him encouraging fans to openly cheer against Hurley. If the situation was flipped-flopped there is a 0% chance he urges fans at Gampel to target Holtmann with chants.

I don’t believe Ayers was acting maliciously. I think he believes he was being funny. However the actions didn’t leave much to the imagination. The women started their chant. He came over, whispered something and winked. The women laughed and started chanting louder, which is when Ayers turned to them with the motion below.

Clearly not the end of the world, and not the most egregious thing that happened on the court that day. Simply surprised and disappointed it came from such a professional referee.

 

[jibsey]

No slander. He was the best referee on the floor that day. I just took issue with him encouraging fans to openly cheer against Hurley. If the situation was flipped-flopped there is a 0% chance he urges fans at Gampel to target Holtmann with chants.

I don’t believe Ayers was acting maliciously. I think he believes he was being funny. However the actions didn’t leave much to the imagination. The women started their chant. He came over, whispered something and winked. The women laughed and started chanting louder, which is when Ayers turned to them with the motion below.

Clearly not the end of the world, and not the most egregious thing that happened on the court that day. Simply surprised and disappointed it came from such a professional referee.

This could be 100% opposite of his intention if it were actually known what was said by him and those women. Referees are not openly biased even if he hates Hurley or UConn.
He could have said keep it up ladies, derisively which would have caused them to cheer louder. That would be most likely compared to what you are inferring the “open cheering” against Hurley.

 

[Old blue]

I was at the game courtside, and I can definitely tell you he was favoring the Depaul side. In fact he was standing in front of me the whole game. He seemed very friendly with a few depaul fans right next to me, and I got the impression he knew them. Even let their kid hold the ball during game stops. He absolutely ignored me and my kid head to toe in Uconn gear and the surprising amount of Uconn fans sitting around me. For whatever that's worth.

 

[jibsey]

I was at the game courtside, and I can definitely tell you he was favoring the Depaul side. In fact he was standing in front of me the whole game. He seemed very friendly with a few depaul fans right next to me, and I got the impression he knew them. Even let their kid hold the ball during game stops. He absolutely ignored me and my kid head to toe in Uconn gear and the surprising amount of Uconn fans sitting around me. For whatever that's worth.

Being friendly to kids in a home crowd? Cuff him.

 

[Rocktheworld]

No slander. He was the best referee on the floor that day. I just took issue with him encouraging fans to openly cheer against Hurley. If the situation was flipped-flopped there is a 0% chance he urges fans at Gampel to target Holtmann with chants.

It’s like dad holding you back for a couple seconds when you start a race against your little brother and you wind up blowing by anyway. Obviously he’s not going to hold your little brother back.

Of all the people to encourage to cheer louder, yeah, probably not those bimbos. But no harm no foul

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I hate that rule. Like it only matters then? What if we lost 10 possessions like that before that magical time stamp? Then the opposing teams gets one reviewed and overturned under 2 min? That doesn't make sense to me. Either all game or none at all. Every possession can matter.

When 10 calls like this regularly occur in the first 38 minutes of the game,I have faith that the issue will receive requisite attention.

 

[jibsey]

We did deserve more fouls than they did because they were driving to the rim on nearly every play but the problem I have is the discrepancy in what was a foul.