I apologize in advance for the length of this post.
Every game it's the same thing -- substandard officiating. The only thing that will fix this is for the NCAA to put all the officials for MBB and WBB in one pool. Otherwise, this problem will continue for at least another decade until there are a select group of experienced and competent officials who deserve, and are qualified to officiate tournament level games.
Some would point to the female officials who are working game, but it's not the female refs, its all the refs. They're just not up to the level of the game. Also, there are three referees on the floor, but they all seem to be limiting their calls to their area of the floor rather than calling everything they see, as if they're more afraid of offending their co-worker than of working as a team and getting the call correct, which should be their primary objective.
As a former official of high school basketball, football and soccer, and a college and semi-pro baseball umpire, I can attest to the fact that your peripheral vision, and overlapping views and responsibilities goes a long way to "Getting the calls right." It takes teamwork.
The replay that failed to overturn the foul call of CW is blatant proof that Getting the Calls Right was not the priority of the crew that worked the UConn-AZ game. And I see it again and again in WBB. There's little teamwork, and a lack of priority in making the correct call. All officials make mistakes; good crews fix correctable mistakes rather than letting a bad call stand. And they do it immediately with communication and teamwork.
Getting the call right is not showing up another official, it's simply the hallmark of a good officiating crew. Watch any NFL, MLB, NBA, or NCAA MBB game and you see team officiating. While this is easier to do in a sport that doesn't have continuous action, you can still see it in MBB, and even ice hockey. Get the call right -- nothing else matters.
Atrocious officiating is hurting WBB, even as overall, and top tier, talent and competitiveness continues to improve. It's not just the usual missed calls that are part of every sports event, it's the repeated failure to call the most obvious, egregious and even dangerous plays, such as Paige getting violently pushed and later steam-rolled by opposing players. Both of these happened within view of all three officials. And all of them ignored it.
This isn't just bad officiating, this is bad administration of the sport by the NCAA.
With the rules being almost identical between the men's and women's game, there's no reason to not mandate that officials work both. It would remove the one albatross from WBB, while also making the game safer for all players, but especially smaller players. Most of all it would make the game better. Overall officiating will also continue to improve because less experienced officials will get to work with better and more experienced officials. It will also help ensure that the outcome of important games are less likely to be decided by bad officiating. It's time for the NCAA to address this problem and make a change.
Every game it's the same thing -- substandard officiating. The only thing that will fix this is for the NCAA to put all the officials for MBB and WBB in one pool. Otherwise, this problem will continue for at least another decade until there are a select group of experienced and competent officials who deserve, and are qualified to officiate tournament level games.
Some would point to the female officials who are working game, but it's not the female refs, its all the refs. They're just not up to the level of the game. Also, there are three referees on the floor, but they all seem to be limiting their calls to their area of the floor rather than calling everything they see, as if they're more afraid of offending their co-worker than of working as a team and getting the call correct, which should be their primary objective.
As a former official of high school basketball, football and soccer, and a college and semi-pro baseball umpire, I can attest to the fact that your peripheral vision, and overlapping views and responsibilities goes a long way to "Getting the calls right." It takes teamwork.
The replay that failed to overturn the foul call of CW is blatant proof that Getting the Calls Right was not the priority of the crew that worked the UConn-AZ game. And I see it again and again in WBB. There's little teamwork, and a lack of priority in making the correct call. All officials make mistakes; good crews fix correctable mistakes rather than letting a bad call stand. And they do it immediately with communication and teamwork.
Getting the call right is not showing up another official, it's simply the hallmark of a good officiating crew. Watch any NFL, MLB, NBA, or NCAA MBB game and you see team officiating. While this is easier to do in a sport that doesn't have continuous action, you can still see it in MBB, and even ice hockey. Get the call right -- nothing else matters.
Atrocious officiating is hurting WBB, even as overall, and top tier, talent and competitiveness continues to improve. It's not just the usual missed calls that are part of every sports event, it's the repeated failure to call the most obvious, egregious and even dangerous plays, such as Paige getting violently pushed and later steam-rolled by opposing players. Both of these happened within view of all three officials. And all of them ignored it.
This isn't just bad officiating, this is bad administration of the sport by the NCAA.
With the rules being almost identical between the men's and women's game, there's no reason to not mandate that officials work both. It would remove the one albatross from WBB, while also making the game safer for all players, but especially smaller players. Most of all it would make the game better. Overall officiating will also continue to improve because less experienced officials will get to work with better and more experienced officials. It will also help ensure that the outcome of important games are less likely to be decided by bad officiating. It's time for the NCAA to address this problem and make a change.
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